Remote Desktop for Mac - issue with JavaFX app - PDFBOX - macos

I have written a JavaFX app running on Windows 10 machine in the office which has problems showing (painting/rendering) certain embedded controls such as a Pane with PdfBox when I connect to it with Remote Desktop for Mac. It shows only a black screen in the app instead of the pdf document.
When I connect using RDP from my Windows 10 machine at home to my Windows 10 machine at work, the app works just fine (the pdf is shown in the app).
I have the same problems using AnyDesk and Teamviewer.
The app only shows PDFs properly using a connection from Windows 10 to Windows 10 with Microsoft RDP.
It might be a JavaFX issue. Similar issues are described here (although not 100% identical):
https://bugs.openjdk.java.net/browse/JDK-8239589
https://bugs.openjdk.java.net/browse/JDK-8229394
However, since I guess Microsoft Remote Desktop for Mac is using the same technology as the Windows Desktop client, I would have expected it to work fine.
I have a Mac Mini M1 running the latest OS (Monterey) at the time of writing this post. I am also using the latest Remote Desktop client for Mac.
This problem is not new and was also present in older releases.
I have tried to play around with screen resolutions, both on Host and Client but nothing good came out of those tests.
Disabled also hardware acceleration in Remote Desktop for Mac preferences but it didn't change anything.
The machine at the office has the following specs (which I cannot change nor update)
Edizione Windows 10 Pro
Versione 20H2
Data installazione: ‎10/‎09/‎2021
Build sistema operativo 19042.1415
Esperienza Windows Feature Experience Pack 120.2212.3920.0
Anyone else who has seen this problem and perhaps resolved it?
Could it be a bug in either PdfBox or Remote Desktop for Mac?
Except for the above issue, the Remote Desktop Client for Mac is working great (not lagging as TeamViewer or AnyDesk) and the user experience is phenomenal.
PS: While this might be considered a programming question (since I wrote the app with JavaFX) but it might be better to post on another forum? If yes, which one? On the other hand, many similar posts (look at the suggested thread on the right) have been upvoted despite not dealing with programming issues.
Thanks.

How do you use PDFBox? I ask because this is not a JavaFX component. If you use a SwingNode for that it might be interesting to try one of my two PDFViewer demos here and see whether the problem persists.
https://github.com/mipastgt/JFXToolsAndDemos#awtimage
The difference is in how I do the rendering and maybe that makes a difference for your use-case too. But of course this is just a wild guess and I can't promise anything.

Related

Android Emulator UI too large on Windows 10 20H2

I am using Android Studio 4.1.1 on Windows 10 20H2 with Hyper-V enabled on a computer with high DPI. Recently whenever I launch an AVD, the UI of the emulated device window becomes extremely large and impossible to use (as in the following screenshot). Other windows (including the AVD manager and the Android Studio itself) remains normal.
I have not used the emulator for a while, but I can make sure that the UI issue did not exist before I update my Windows to 20H2. I have also found similar questions on Stack Overflow (including this question), but the existing answers suggesting overriding its high DPI behavior does not work for me, because when I apply this setting, the emulator screen becomes so blurry that I cannot even recognize the texts on the screen.
How can I solve (or work around) this issue? Any help will be appreciated.
You can fix the scaling issue when using the Hardware rendering by simply making windows override the scaling setting. How?, it's very easy. Simply locate the .exe file for the emulator that you are using, (e.g. "qemu-system-armel.exe" for ARM and "qemu-system-x86_64.exe" for x86). To make sure which .exe file, just run the emulator then use task manager to locate the .exe file is running, see the screenshot. locate the .exe file using task manager
In my case it was in this location:
C:\Users[Username]\AppData\Local\Android\Sdk\emulator\qemu\windows-x86_64\qemu-system-x86_64.exe

Debugging IE11 on Mac

This may already have a question somewhere, but I am at a loss as to how to debug IE11 on my Mac.
I currently run a full Win10 instance in a Virtual Box, but it is so bloated that it is nearly impossible to move nimbly between coding and debugging. IE dev-tools are also inaccessible using this method because it just cripples the VM, so I am flying blind with coding.
I have looked up tutorials as to how to run IE on a Mac direct using Wine/Remote Desktop, but these instructions are out of date or the supporting software does not work as intended. Also, Microsoft (being the evil empire that they are) discontinued support for debugging with Azure so that is another option off the table.
If there is anything that actually works without having to shell out $$$ please let me know as it is so painful currently to debug the worst browser that will never die.
From your description, I can see that you had already try to use the Windows 10 VM but it get hangs.
You can try to go to Windows Features on or off inside Control Panel-> Programs-> Programs and Features and try to turn off the features that you are not using may help to reduce the load.
It is possible that you are running your VM in a very less memory that downs the performance of the OS.
If possible for you than try to install a VM with some more memory.
Otherwise you can try to install Windows 7 in your VM and upgrade to IE 11 in that.
It can help you to solve your issue with the OS and you can debug the code on IE 11.
Below are some helpful references that may give you some additional information.
How to test your website with Internet Explorer on a Mac
How to Debug in IE on a Mac

Internet Explorer times out when using Windows 8.1 VM

When using my virtual machine, I'm trying to gain access to the Internet, but unable to get IE to start, when clicking the icon it doesn't react. I've done some research and a couple of hours troubleshooting, but no luck. It does appear to be a problem for some, but they don't have the exact same problem I do.
Here's what I've come across while troubleshooting:
1) OS is windows 8.1 32-bit, but my host machine is 64-bit, because of this there might be compatibility issues. Not much more on this though, no explanation on whether that is the problem at all.
2) My network settings could be wrong, but I'm attached to a bridged adapter, my IP's match for both VM and Host, and I can access the web when I use a web browser app (but the app that can't download anything, so I can't download google chrome or the necessary files I need to study).
3) Others say that the problem is Windows 8.1 itself. That VMs just don't work as they should like Windows 7.
I clicked to uninstall Windows explorer, but it seems it doesn't exist, and it doesn't have an icon on the home screen.
Could it be that the .iso I downloaded did not have IE included?
The original need for the VM was to test Docker containerisation for a report. Should I scrap the whole idea and try for Windows 7 64-bit instead? That's all I can do if I can't find a solution.
Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

Apple and Internet Explorer

Someone smart who I know just mentioned that the idea of downloading Internet Explorer onto a Mac seems counterintuitive, even though it might make sense to do since Safari seems to have problems on a certain site for a project we're working on. I'm just wondering why this is and would greatly appreciate any clarification. In summary:
Why does it not make sense to download Internet Explorer onto a Mac?
Much thanks in advance!
If you're looking for a serious answer:
The best way to test something with IE7 for Windows is to use IE7 for Windows. Just because you have a Mac doesn't mean you can't do that. You can run Windows through BootCamp. Or buy a used $99 Windows box and borrow the Mac's keyboard/mouse/etc. Of course it's much more convenient, and almost certainly good enough, to run Windows in a VM under OS X via Parallels, VMware, etc. Wine will mostly work, but it can be fiddly to configure, and may crash and/or have visual glitches that don't happen with real Windows; if you really want to get serious about that you may want to look at Crossover.
But the next best way to test IE7 for Windows is actually Opera. Of course in the case of bugs and quirks that are still present in later versions of IE, they'll do a perfect job of emulating IE7, but for bugs that were fixed, that's not a particularly important focus. Opera, on the other hand, works hard to be able to emulate the quirks of all of the important browsers. Make sure to enable IE quirks mode, and set the user agent to pretend to be IE7 for Windows, and you should be golden.
But for the question you actually asked, there is no blanket answer to this that could possibly be correct. There are many reasons it may not make sense to download Internet Explorer onto a Mac, and also many reasons why it might.
You can't run IE for Mac on any modern Mac.
If you have an ancient Mac, and it's running 10.2 or 10.3 rather than 10.4, it already has IE (and if you want to reinstall it, it's part of the OS X install), so there's no reason to download IE.
You also can't legally download IE for Mac from anywhere anymore (except as part of old versions of OS X).
And IE for Mac is actually far less like IE7 for Windows than any modern browser is.
You can't run IE for Windows (or Pocket IE for Windows Mobile) on Mac OS X.
But you can run it under wine.
And you can run it in a virtual machine running Windows.
Except that Windows comes with Internet Explorer, so there's no reason to download it.
Unless your Windows comes with an older version and you want to update it.
And a Mac can run Windows instead of OS X if you want (e.g., via BootCamp).
Same caveats as with a VM.
And there may be other reasons to download it other than running it.
If your Mac has access to a fast internet connection and your Windows box doesn't, you might want to download the installer on the Mac to copy it locally to Windows.
Sometimes you just want to use up internet bandwidth.
Maybe you're testing your download speeds.
Maybe you're about to dump your boyfriend, and first you want to run him $300 over his monthly bandwidth limits.
Someone at Microsoft might find it entertaining when they notice in the logs that you've downloaded IE on a Mac, and it's always nice to bring a smile to a stranger's face.
The last version of Internet Explorer for Macintosh was 5.2, out in 2003. It wouldn't even run on a modern machine. The build is just not compatible.
If you want to try a different browser, both Chrome and Firefox run on OSX.
To run internet explorer on the Mac, you'd need to use some sort virtualization, running Windows either through Boot Camp or Parallels.
I had to do it because I'm developing software and the client wants to have it styled for IE 7 (the version they have on all their machines).
If I had my druthers, I'd run it under virtualization (e.g., VMWare), but I've misplaced my old XP CDs, so I settled for Wine (which works 'okay', but crashes from time-to-time).
I suggest using VirtualBox which would enable you to run MSIE on your Mac directly:
https://www.virtualbox.org/
...and here are the VMs for MSIE 6, 7, 8 and 9:
https://github.com/xdissent/ievms
Good luck!
It's definitely not a good idea to install Internet Explorer for Mac. It simply doesn't work properly as it was discontinued by Microsoft in 2005. However, if you have to use it to view certain websites that will only work in IE, this is the easiest way to download and install it for Mac: http://machow2.com/download-internet-explorer-for-mac/

Blackberry Development on Mac OS X

I recently started creating applications for mobile devices and have successfully completed an application for the iPhone. I am now turning my attention to the Blackberry but haven't been able to find a convincing article or website that states that it can be done or a tutorial on how to do so. Can Blackberry apps be developed on Mac OS X? If yes, how do I go about doing so? Can anyone please point me in the right direction as I only have access to a Mac and really want to get this project on the road. Thanks in advance for your help.
UPDATE:
RIM has released a MacOS Eclipse plug-in for Blackberry Development: http://na.blackberry.com/eng/developers/javaappdev/macosx.jsp
While there is no built-in simulator, the plug-in DOES support USB tethered device debugging for the Torch 9800 handhelds. I plan to get one; they are ~$499 w/no contract. With a Torch and the new plug-in, Blackberry development is possible without using a VM. (Finally!)
PREVIOUS POST:
Building on MacOS works well once you set it up. I've had less luck with the simulator. On the whole though, being able to run Eclipse natively in MacOS and flip to a Windows VM only for debugging is a big win in my book.
You can get a MacOS version of preverify (see link below for details). I do my development with Eclipse on MacOS X and use Ant to build BB apps.
This blog is excellent and has many of the details to get you started:
http://www.azizuysal.com/2009/07/blackberry-development-on-mac-os-x.html (original link is dead. The "wayback machine" provides us with the original text content, but images and styling are lost to the sands of time. Still worth a read.)
The tricky part is getting the simulator to work. There is a Wine-based work-around, but on my computer, while the simulator was able to run under Wine, the LCD output was scrambled.
Currently, I build COD files from Mac, and my Ant build process drops them into a directory that is shared with a WinXP VM. I can run the simulator stand-alone in this VM. Debugging is also possible by installing Eclipse inside WinXP and pointing the debug configuration it at the source directories.
I've actually got a bit more magic. I enabled some of the Java 1.5 features by compiling against 1.5 and then translating the bytecode to 1.3 prior to the preverify script. (Blackberry only speaks a barbaric 1.3 java, flashback to circa 1992). It's not a silver bullet as some features still don't work, but it does cut down on the need to make everything an untyped Object reference.
Lately, I've been working on a x-platform framework to allow me to write app code once and build against both Android and Blackberry (both are Java). The Android part was easy. It's just a bitch to debug anything in Blackberry. Someone working at RIM decided that Blackberry didn't need to keep Exception stack traces unless there was a catch(Throwable), and then they could do something bizarre, non-standard, and undocumented (catching Throwable behaves weird). I've only kinda-sorta figured out a hack to get stack traces using JavaLoader.exe without breaking into the debugger, and it's barely worth it.
p.s., I now do x-platform development with a single code-base targeting Android, Blackberry, and Desktop. Desktop is great for testing app functionality, with very little Blackberry on-device testing needed once features work in the desktop 'simulator' (a Swing GUI built for debugging our games).
Even though certain components of the RIM development platform are java-based, such as the JDE - other components such as the preverifier and device simulators are implemented as native Windows executables.
Basically, the easiest way to do it is to install Windows on your Mac using Bootcamp or Parallels and run inside a real Windows environment on your Mac.
However, there are other "hackier" ways to do it using Wine, MacPorts, and a number of other tools - as an example see this blog post

Resources