FAQ for the RIBAX framework

1. FAQ Info

   1. Who is responsible for this FAQ?
   2. How can I contribute to this FAQ?
   3. Where do I get the latest version of this FAQ?

2. Overview

   1. What is RIBAX?
   2. What does RIBAX stand for?
   3. Where is the RIBAX home page?
   4. Where are the RIBAX mailing lists and forums?
   5. Where is the RIBAX documentation?
   6. How is RIBAX licensed?

3. Getting Started

   1. Where do I download RIBAX?
   2. How do I install RIBAX?
   3. How do I uninstall RIBAX?
   4. How do I ask questions?
   5. How do I submit bugs, patches, or feature requests?

4. Fixing Errors

   1. I get an "Applet org.ribax.RIBAXApplet notinited" or "Loading Java Applet Failed" error, how can i check what is going on?
   2. An error message in the Console says something about "Class Not Found" - what does that mean?
   3. An error message in the Console says something about "Invalid magic number" - what does that mean?
   4. I get the error message " java.io.IOException: Post failed, response=Method Not allowed" - what does that mean?

1. Who is responsible for this FAQ?

   The current version of this FAQ is maintained by Damian Hamill .

2. How can I contribute to this FAQ?

   Your contributions to this FAQ are greatly appreciated! The RIBAX community thanks you in advance.

   To contribute to this FAQ, simply write a RIBAX-related question and answer in an email to damian @ ribax.org. Corrections to this FAQ are always appreciated, as well.

   No reasonable contribution will be denied. Your name will always appear along with any contribution you make.

3. Where do I get the latest version of this FAQ?

   The master copy of this FAQ is available online at http://www.ribax.org/faq.php.

1. What is RIBAX?

   RIBAX is an Open Source Rich Internet Business Application framework to create web applications and software system GUIs in XML. RIBAX features include:

   • Support a pluggable look and feel (e.g. Substance)
   • Support binding to 2 way synchronized merging data models
   • Support live streaming data
   • Modular application architecture
   • Extensible framework

   RIBAX was originally written by Damian Hamill.

2. What does RIBAX stand for?

   RIBAX stands for Rich Internet Business Application Framework

   The Business part means that it is oriented towards managing data. If you want to present multimedia or you want to build a web application that uses a lot of multimedia then you might consider using Flash based alternatives.

3. Where is the RIBAX home page?

   The official RIBAX home page is http://ribax.org.

4. Where are the RIBAX mailing lists and forums?

   There are 2 mailing lists for RIBAX:

   • RIBAX users
   • RIBAX developer list

5. Where is the RIBAX documentation?

   Most documentation is currently in the RIBAX tutorial. Over time this will move to the RIBAX Wiki. There is also the RIBAX FAQ which you are reading now.

6. How is RIBAX licensed?

   RIBAX is Open Source Software, released under an LGPL license and hosted on SourceForge.

1. Where do I download RIBAX?

   The latest version of RIBAX is available on SourceForge. You can download the ribax.jar file which contains the binary classes to run a RIBAX application and a zip or tar gzipped archive of the source code.

   You can also access the source from the SVN repositry on sourceforge, use the server name svn.sourceforge.net and a project path of /svnroot/ribax.

2. How do I install RIBAX?

   1. First, download the latest version of RIBAX. You can download either the JAR file ribax.jar and/or the source for RIBAX in either .zip or .tgz format.

   2. Then copy the ribax.jar into a directory on your web server where you want to create your (web) application.

   3. Download the additional required libraries (see read the documentation.

3. How do I uninstall RIBAX?

   1. Delete the jar files from the directory containing your (web) application.

   RIBAX does not modify the registry so simply removing all the files will fully uninstall it.

4. How do I ask questions?

   Questions that are not answered in the FAQ or in the documentation should be posted to the RIBAX Help discussion forum or the RIBAX user mailing list.

   Please stick to technical issues on the discussion forum and mailing lists. Keep in mind that these are public, so do not include any confidental information in your questions!

   You should also read "How to ask questions the smart way" by Eric Raymond before participating in the discussion forum and mailing lists.

   NOTE:
   Please do NOT submit bugs, patches, or feature requests to the discussion forum or mailing lists.
   Refer instead to "How do I submit bugs, patches, or feature requests?".

5. How do I submit bugs, patches, or feature requests?

   RIBAX is hosted on SourceForge. Please use the tools provided by SourceForge for your submissions.

1. I get an "Applet org.ribax.RIBAXApplet notinited" or "Loading Java Applet Failed" error, how can I check what is going on?

   Open the Java Console and see what error messages are appearing. In IExplorer select "Sun Java Console" from the Tools menu. In Firefox right click inside the box where the Applet should appear and select "Open Java Console"

2. An error message in the Console says something about "Class Not Found" - what does that mean?

   The Java Class Loader could not find a class in the classpath. Check that you have included all the necessary jar files in the classpath.

3. An error message in the Console says something about "Invalid magic value" - what does that mean?

   The Java Class Loader is trying to load a class from your webserver and your webserver is producing HTML output. This usually happens when you have an ErrorDocument handler for the 404 error (file not found), the web server issues a redirect (302) to another web page rather than issuing a 404 status to the client. Remove any 404 error document handler from your web server config file.

4. I get the error message "java.io.IOException: Post failed, response=Method Not allowed" - what does that mean?

   That means that your webserver is configured to not allow data to be posted to a web page, this could be the case with web pages with the file extension .xml. Allthough your web page may be an XML file and does not handle submitted data the RIBAX Applet posts the values of certain variables in every network request. The method used for all HTTP requests is always POST.