Specifying a different config file for Log4J
Sep 2nd
Generally, adding a log4j.properties file to the classpath is all that needed to bootstrap your Log4J runtime. In certain cases though you might want to override this behaviour.
I needed to do this recently and it took me a while to find out how to do it in the Log4J docs, so I though I’d make [...]
Getting a “Netscape security model is no longer supported” error when using IntelliJ
Aug 6th
I’ve been working on a JMS application that uses encryption with JNDI authentication and have encountered the following error message when running it:
Netscape security model is no longer supported. Please migrate to the Java 2 security model instead.
It turns out that this is a problem with the JDK’s plugin.jar file and can be fixed quite [...]
Getting Maven to work from behind a firewall
May 28th
Maven needs to access the Internet to download a number of things including POM files and dependent JAR files that are not held in your local repository. If you are trying to do this from behind a corportate firewall then you’ll need to configure Maven to work around it or you’ll get a load of [...]
Java 1.4 Debugger Not Working?
May 13th
There’s a bug that I’d encountered running the debugger in JDK 1.4.2 ages ago that reared it’s head again today. I’ve been working on a system that uses this old JDK and thought I’d note the solution here in case I ever came across it again.
The problem is encountered when the JVM is launched [...]
Using Mockito to Unit Test Java Applications
Feb 25th
If you’ve spent any time writing unit tests then you’ll know that it’s not always straight-forward. Certain things are inherently hard to test. In this post I’ll show you the basic principles of creating mock objects with a little help from the Mockito mocking tool.
One common problem faced when unit testing is how to test [...]
Using Assertions in Java
Feb 18th
I’ve been working on a project this week and have been delighted to see that the original team of programmers who developed it have made the effort to use assertions in their code.
The assert keyword was introduced in Java 1.4 and has since been a sadly under-used language feature. Assertions offer developers a neat [...]
Counting the Days Between Two Java Dates using a Gregorian Calendar
Dec 2nd
Today I needed to figure out a way to count the number of days between two dates in Java. There are no API methods that will do this for you so a little work is required to achieve this. This post illustrates the solution I came up with.
The Details of Member Level Inner Class Syntax
Nov 17th
Inner classes offer are a powerful extension to Java’s object model. However, the syntax for some of the more advanced features of member inner classes is quite tricky to get to grips with. In this article I’ll explain the full details of this syntax.
An Explanation of ‘this’ in Java
Nov 8th
As every Java programmer should know, code within any non-static method can access the current object via a special reference called ‘this’. Just how this works may not be immediately obvious so I’ve taken a moment to explain it here.
Programming with Inner Classes in Java
Nov 8th
Inner classes are an advanced programming feature in Java. They add another dimension to the concept of Object Oriented programming by allowing objects to not only reside alongside one another, but also within one another too. In this post I’ll explain how inner classes work with the help of an example that illustrates their most common use: Swing GUI programming.
