On 2013-06-26 André Warnier wrote: > honyk wrote: > > Dear All, > > > > I have a JSF2.0 app that executes (via ProcessBuilder) an external > script. > > This script opens PPTX via PowerPoint ActiveX object, manipulate it > and > > save. It runs on Windows Server 2008 R2 64-bit, 4GB RAM, JDK 7. > > > > When tomcat 7 is launched using startup.bat (with original settings), > it > > works fine. > > > > When tomcat runs as a service, opening the PPTX in the PowerPoint > fails > > because of Out Of Memory error regardless Xmx settings > (tomcat7w.exe). > > > > I originally asked PowerPoint forum, but haven't get any explanation > yet: > > http://answers.microsoft.com/thread/37cbebf6-4003-4ab0-9295- > 92413aaecc2e > > > > But as the entry point is Tomcat and the only difference between > problematic > > and non problematic behavior is the 'service' mode, maybe there is > something > > related in the tomcat7.exe code base. Just guessing. > > > > Has anybody an idea why both modes behave differently? > > > > Hi. > The problem has nothing to do with Tomcat per se. > It is due to running a Microsoft Office program (or library modules > such as the "Interop" > series) as a sub-process of a Windows Service (and thus in the same > Service context) which > is something that is not in the design of Microsoft Office, not > supported by Microsoft, > and even actively discouraged by Microsoft. > See : http://support.microsoft.com/kb/257757 > > The problem is basically that a Windows Service does not run in the > same "environment" as > a "user session" environment, and as they say in that article, you will > certainly > experience "unstable behavior and/or deadlock" somewhere, and will get > no help for it.
I read this article but because I do not need intraction and my code doesn't run simultaneously and tomcat is launched using my credentials - I still thought it could be possible. Now realizing that tomcat launched using my credentials do not necesarily mean that Office use the same... > Personal experience : some things will work with one MS-Office program, > and totally fail > with another; even simple things like opening or saving a file. It may > work with one > file, and fail with another, for no apparent reason. > You get an OOM error in this case, but other cases may be "file not > found" (although it's > there) or whatever other bizarre failures. > Ultimately it is unpredictable, frustrating and time-consuming. I was an optimist when everything worked in the user mode... > Solutions : > 1) instead of MS-Office, use LibreOffice or OpenOffice. Both can run > in "headless" mode, > and provide an API to have them "do things with documents". And both > can open and > manipulate MS-Office documents. Depending on what you do, there may be > some differences > in the results, but it works fine for many things. > Or try one of the other solutions suggested in the above article. > (I have not tried them, I use OpenOffice/LibreOffice). I'll give it a try. I originaly tested Apache POI, but required functionality is not implemented yet. > 2) do not run Tomcat as a Service. Create a virtual Windows machine, > and run it in a user > console (with startup.bat). You can restrict access to the VM, and > since it is a VM, it > can run unattended, just as a service would. > (I am also using this scheme, when circumstances permit). > But in that case, also pay attention to the licensing considerations at > the end of the > article. I am quite lost in this ;-) But I'll investigate further. Thanks a lot for your exhaustive analysis! Finally it looks my way is no way :-) Regards, Jan PS: And sorry for blaming the Tomcat. --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: users-unsubscr...@tomcat.apache.org For additional commands, e-mail: users-h...@tomcat.apache.org
