I have a program that uses OpenOffice and the associated classes.  This is
not an OpenOffice problem, but a strange problem of trying to run a
program.  For several reasons, my program uses a script to run programs.
This lets me set arguments in the script (with some programs, others don't
need it) and it makes it a bit easier to keep track of paths across
different platforms.

I have a DOS .bat file that runs OpenOffice on Windows XP.  I've never had a
problem with it in several years.  If I run it from the command line, I can
see it's working just fine.  But if I run that same .bat file from within
Java, the file runs but it doesn't run OpenOffice.  Here's the .bat file:

SET ooo_file=$ooo_dir\program\soffice
if "%1" == "" "%ooo_file%" -quickstart >nul
if "%1" == "-quickstart" "%ooo_file%" -quickstart >nul
if "%1" == "-headless" "%ooo_file%" -headless >nul

Which I shortened, while testing, to this:

SET ooo_file=$ooo_dir\program\soffice
"%ooo_file%" -quickstart >nul

As I said, it works just fine (in either version) from the command line.
Then I run it in Java, using this:

  try {
     Runtime.getRuntime().exec(sFile);
  } catch (Exception e) {
     sysConfig.log("error", "Cannot Run Command (RunFile): " + sFile + ",
        Error: " + e);
     TNConfig.printTrace(e);
  }

While the functions in the error trapping section are my own, they're not
the issue and when I'm having problems, they're never used, so no error is
thrown when I try this.

I've used this setup, on Windows XP, for a few years and there hasn't been a
problem.  Now when I use it, the script works fine from the command line.
I know it is being run from within Java.  I changed the ">nul" to redirect
to a file, the file was created but was empty.  (There is no output from
OpenOffice normally, so I didn't expect output.)  That tells me Java is
running the batch file and, supposedly, running OpenOffice, but the program
just isn't running (or is running quickly and exits).

Previously I had used Java 1.4.2 or Java 5, but this system is running Java
6.  I've tested this on another XP system using Java 6 and I don't have
this problem.

I figure there must be something different about the environment within the
Runtime.getRuntime().exec() environment that a program can detect that
varies from the command line.  It might also be likely that this change is
in Java 6 but not in earlier versions.

Can anyone shed some light on this problem?

Thanks!

Hal