Hey everybody,

Sun's new Java 2 Runtime Environment, version 1.4.0, appears to work
well enough with the DB2 V7.2 Control Center that I may stop using
IBM's 1.2.2 JRE permanently. Most importantly, the 1.4.0 JRE offers
support for the mouse wheel, which I use a lot. The new JRE also
behaves properly with my dual-head video display card, while the older
JRE complained strongly when I tried to move a Control/Command Center
window over to the second monitor. The various list windows in the
right half of the Control Center seem to load faster as well.

The only downside I've found so far is that the default background
color for the Control Center list window (right of the tree) is gray
instead of white. As a result, smaller windows like Databases, Buffer
Pools, and User-Defined Distinct Datatypes will show up as a little
bit of black on white text with a whole lot of gray in the unused
area. Clearly, it's not too great a price to pay for mouse-wheel
support.

Good luck,

Fred

This sounds interesting. I have found the control center to not be
very stable under Win98 and sometimes NT4.0. (Seems solid on Win2000.)
I wonder if changing to Sun Java would improve stability?  How do you
make Control Center use Sun Java? Do you have to change some
parameters or replace files?

Thanks in advance.

Tom Boardman

IBM uses a batch file called db2cc.bat and a wrapper program called
db2javit.exe to call their JRE and run the CC class that starts the
Control Center. I simply added a -t flag to the call to db2javit.exe
to specify an alternate Java executable.

Although the graphics seem a little quicker with Java2 1.4.0, the
database connection list in Control Center now steals focus away from
other Control Center child windows, like Command Center for example,
every time the list of connections in the Control Center window is
refereshed. Minimizing the main Control Center window while using the
Command Center is one workaround to this focus-stealing issue. It's
also possible to run multiple instances of the Control Center at once,
so one instance can be dedicated to showing the connection list. I'm
not blaming IBM for this minor problem, since I was the one who was
crazy enough to attempt to run CC on an unsupported JVM.

Good Luck,

Fred