Hi Thomas,

Sorry, I didn't want to clutter up the posting with code as I have verified
that the code is OK, as it runs correctly everywhere apart from my Windows ME
laptop. Just though someone might immediately be aware of a Windows ME issue.

The code is actually from the book "Beginning Java 2" by Ian Horton. To reduce
the posting size, I have stripped it down to contain just one menu:

Main file Sketcher.java:
========================
import java.awt.Toolkit;
import java.awt.Dimension;

public class Sketcher {
  public static void main(String[] args) {
        window = new SketchFrame("Sketcher");
        Toolkit theKit = window.getToolkit();
        Dimension wndSize = theKit.getScreenSize();

        window.setBounds(wndSize.width/4, wndSize.height/4,
                wndSize.width/2, wndSize.height/2    );

        window.setVisible(true);
  }

  private static SketchFrame window;

}

SketcherFrame.java:
===================
// Frame for the Sketcher application
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JMenuBar;
import javax.swing.JMenu;
import javax.swing.JMenuItem;

import javax.swing.JCheckBoxMenuItem;
import javax.swing.JRadioButtonMenuItem;
import javax.swing.ButtonGroup;

import javax.swing.KeyStroke;
import java.awt.Event;

public class SketchFrame extends JFrame {
  // Constructor
  public SketchFrame(String title) {
    setTitle(title);                             // Set the window title
    setDefaultCloseOperation(EXIT_ON_CLOSE);

    setJMenuBar(menuBar);                        // Add the menu bar to the window

    JMenu fileMenu = new JMenu("File");          // Create File menu

    // Construct the file pull down menu
    newItem = fileMenu.add("New");                // Add New item
    openItem = fileMenu.add("Open");              // Add Open item

    menuBar.add(fileMenu);                       // Add the file menu
  }

  private JMenuBar menuBar = new JMenuBar();     // Window menu bar

  // File menu items
  private JMenuItem newItem, openItem;

}

On my Windows 98 machine, if I click on the "File" menu then it drops down and
the "New" and "Open" options are highlighted as I move the mouse over them -
as they should.

Investigating this stripped down version I have found further odd behaviour
on my Windows ME laptop. I need to double-click on the "File" menu to get it
to drop down, but then nothing is highlighted if I move the mouse over it.
I've also notice that when I close the window down it has a tendency to leave
behind residual graphics on the desktop.

The laptop is a Toshiba Satellite (2001 vintage) and I recently did an OS
re-installation with the manufacturer supplied recovery disk - so the
video drivers are as supplied by Toshiba. However, I have just downloaded
and installed the latest available drivers from the Toshiba web site and
I still get the same behaviour. I've used the laptop from new as my main
machine and this is the first time I have have any graphics related problems.

Out of curiosity I installed the Jedit program, since it is a Java application.
I've found that the drop down menus work, but are a bit sluggish and there is
a tendency for two items to be highlighted simultaneously. Again, if I try on
my Windows 98 machine then everything is OK.

This is really frustrating, at the moment the only way I can do java
development on my laptop is to start an x-server and connect wirelessly
to my linux desktop machine!

Regards,

Joe

   

Hi Thomas,

I did a bit more research and have discovered that the problem is
due to the use of a Trident Cyberblade graphics card:

    http://bugs.sun.com/bugdatabase/view_bug.do?bug_id=4839812

I found that if I add the "-Dsun.java2dd3d=false" switch to the Java
call then the gui acts as it should.

Thanks for pointing me in the direction of graphics card bugs.

Regards,

Joe