DCH class error with JavaMail

Question

I'm attempting to set up a simple logging test with JavaMail in Java EE 6, using the jar files provided with Glassfish 3.1. There seems to be a wealth of questions out there on this subject, but I haven't found any answers that have helped yet. My test code looks like this:

import java.util.logging.Logger;

public class MyClass {
  private static final Logger LOGGER = Logger.getLogger("MyClass");

  public static void main(String[] args) {
    LOGGER.severe("This is a test");
  }
}

My logging.properties file contains this:

com.sun.mail.util.logging.MailHandler.mail.smtp.host={my mail hub FQDN}
com.sun.mail.util.logging.MailHandler.mail.smtp.port=25
com.sun.mail.util.logging.MailHandler.mail.to={me}
com.sun.mail.util.logging.MailHandler.mail.from={support address}
com.sun.mail.util.logging.MailHandler.level=WARNING
com.sun.mail.util.logging.MailHandler.verify=local
com.sun.mail.util.logging.MailHandler.subject=Application Error
com.sun.mail.util.logging.MailHandler.formatter=java.util.logging.SimpleFormatter

I build the class using:

javac -cp $AS_INSTALL/glassfish/modules/javax.mail.jar:$AS_INSTALL/install/lib/external/jaxb/activation.jar:. MyClass.java

Then I run the program using:

java -cp $AS_INSTALL/glassfish/modules/javax.mail.jar:$AS_INSTALL/install/lib/external/jaxb/activation.jar:. -Djava.util.logging.config.file=logging.properties MyClass

This results in the following error:

Sep 22, 2011 4:19:25 PM MyClass main
SEVERE: This is a test
java.util.logging.ErrorManager: 3: SEVERE: no object DCH for MIME type multipart/mixed;
        boundary="----=_Part_1_26867996.1316722766145"
javax.activation.UnsupportedDataTypeException: no object DCH for MIME type multipart/mixed;
        boundary="----=_Part_1_26867996.1316722766145"
        at javax.activation.ObjectDataContentHandler.writeTo(DataHandler.java:877)
        at javax.activation.DataHandler.writeTo(DataHandler.java:302)
        at javax.mail.internet.MimeBodyPart.writeTo(MimeBodyPart.java:1476)
        at javax.mail.internet.MimeMessage.writeTo(MimeMessage.java:1772)
        at javax.mail.internet.MimeMessage.writeTo(MimeMessage.java:1748)
        at com.sun.mail.util.logging.MailHandler.toRawString(MailHandler.java:2196)
        at com.sun.mail.util.logging.MailHandler.send(MailHandler.java:1597)
        at com.sun.mail.util.logging.MailHandler.close(MailHandler.java:552)
        at java.util.logging.LogManager.resetLogger(LogManager.java:693)
        at java.util.logging.LogManager.reset(LogManager.java:676)
        at java.util.logging.LogManager$Cleaner.run(LogManager.java:221)

javax.mail.MessagingException: IOException while sending message;
  nested exception is:
        javax.activation.UnsupportedDataTypeException: no object DCH for MIME type multipart/mixed;
        boundary="----=_Part_1_26867996.1316722766145"
        at com.sun.mail.smtp.SMTPTransport.sendMessage(SMTPTransport.java:1141)
        at javax.mail.Transport.send0(Transport.java:195)
        at javax.mail.Transport.send(Transport.java:124)
        at com.sun.mail.util.logging.MailHandler.send(MailHandler.java:1594)
        at com.sun.mail.util.logging.MailHandler.close(MailHandler.java:552)
        at java.util.logging.LogManager.resetLogger(LogManager.java:693)
        at java.util.logging.LogManager.reset(LogManager.java:676)
        at java.util.logging.LogManager$Cleaner.run(LogManager.java:221)
Caused by: javax.activation.UnsupportedDataTypeException: no object DCH for MIME type multipart/mixed;
        boundary="----=_Part_1_26867996.1316722766145"
        at javax.activation.ObjectDataContentHandler.writeTo(DataHandler.java:877)
        at javax.activation.DataHandler.writeTo(DataHandler.java:302)
        at javax.mail.internet.MimeBodyPart.writeTo(MimeBodyPart.java:1476)
        at javax.mail.internet.MimeMessage.writeTo(MimeMessage.java:1772)
        at com.sun.mail.smtp.SMTPTransport.sendMessage(SMTPTransport.java:1099)
        ... 7 more

I've verified that my javax.mail.jar file contains the multipart handler:

unzip -l $AS_INSTALL/glassfish/modules/javax.mail.jar | grep multipart
     2617  01-14-2011 15:37   com/sun/mail/handlers/multipart_mixed.class

I've even run the program with the activation debugging enabled. This shows me the following related parts:

parse: multipart/*;;            x-java-content-handler=com.sun.mail.handlers.multipart_mixed; x-java-fallback-entry=true
  Type: multipart/*
    Command: content-handler, Class: com.sun.mail.handlers.multipart_mixed

MailcapCommandMap: createDataContentHandler for multipart/mixed
  search DB #1
  search DB #2
  search fallback DB #1
    got content-handler
      class com.sun.mail.handlers.multipart_mixed
Can't load DCH com.sun.mail.handlers.multipart_mixed; Exception: java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: com/sun/mail/handlers/multipart_mixed

I even get a duplicate of the above for type text/plain.

MailcapCommandMap: createDataContentHandler for text/plain
  search DB #1
    got content-handler
      class com.sun.mail.handlers.text_plain
Can't load DCH com.sun.mail.handlers.text_plain; Exception: java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: com/sun/mail/handlers/text_plain

What am I missing here?

Thanks, Steve

Answer 1

Add these before you send your message:

MailcapCommandMap mc = (MailcapCommandMap) CommandMap.getDefaultCommandMap();
        mc.addMailcap("text/html;; x-java-content-handler=com.sun.mail.handlers.text_html");
        mc.addMailcap("text/xml;; x-java-content-handler=com.sun.mail.handlers.text_xml");
        mc.addMailcap("text/plain;; x-java-content-handler=com.sun.mail.handlers.text_plain");
        mc.addMailcap("multipart/*;; x-java-content-handler=com.sun.mail.handlers.multipart_mixed");
        mc.addMailcap("message/rfc822;; x-java-content-handler=com.sun.mail.handlers.message_rfc822");
        CommandMap.setDefaultCommandMap(mc);

I got the problem in my Android app and it works.

Answer 2

In my case I was able to solve this by adding this before send():

Thread.currentThread().setContextClassLoader( getClass().getClassLoader() );

This was suggested in linked blog, so if you want to know more details, read it. Thanks to Jerry Gu for linking it here and original blogger.

URL: http://blog.hpxn.net/2009/12/02/tomcat-java-6-and-javamail-cant-load-dch/

Answer 3

I found the solution here:

http://blog.hpxn.net/2009/12/02/tomcat-java-6-and-javamail-cant-load-dch/

Though I would love to know more about the details behind why this is an issue and what this -Xbootclasspath option is doing to correct the problem. If I run my class like this:

java -Djava.util.logging.config.file=logging.properties -Xbootclasspath/p:/app/glassfish-3.1/glassfish/modules/javax.mail.jar MyClass

It finds the necessary classes and I get my email. Now I just have to figure out how to translate this configuration into my Glassfish server and try a more "real" test from this simple test case.