I installed the latest version fetched from your website on a Mac OS X 10.5 (32bit) but simply can't launch it, or it crashes after giving this error message

Cannot launch Java application
Uncaught exception in main method: java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: com/apple/eawt/AboutHandler

As I'm new to Mac (a mainly Linux user) I don't quite know what to do... I thought of re-installing Java but the Sun website says you should use the one that comes with the Mac OS.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Yo

Here's the output of the log


Aug 16, 2011 6:41:06 PM mpi.eudico.client.annotator.ELAN main
INFO: Java version: 1.5.0_20
Aug 16, 2011 6:41:06 PM mpi.eudico.client.annotator.ELAN main
INFO: Runtime version: 1.5.0_20-b02-315
Aug 16, 2011 6:41:06 PM mpi.eudico.client.annotator.ELAN main
INFO: OS name: Mac OS X
Aug 16, 2011 6:41:06 PM mpi.eudico.client.annotator.ELAN main
INFO: OS version: 10.5.8
Aug 16, 2011 6:41:06 PM mpi.eudico.client.annotator.ELAN main
INFO: User language: en
Aug 16, 2011 6:41:06 PM mpi.eudico.client.annotator.ELAN main
INFO: User home: /Users/yo
Aug 16, 2011 6:41:06 PM mpi.eudico.client.annotator.ELAN main
INFO: User dir: /Users/yo/Downloads/ELAN_4.1.2
Aug 16, 2011 6:41:06 PM mpi.eudico.client.annotator.ELAN main
INFO: Classpath: lib/elan.jar:lib/JavaQTMovieView-1.4.2.jar:lib/mfsearch-1.3.1.jar:ext/nl.mpi.guk__V07.jar:ext/nl.mpi.lookup__V09.jar:lib/batik-1.1.1.jar:lib/jlfgr-1.0.jar:lib/xercesImpl-2.9.0.jar:jmf2.1.1a/jmf.jar:jmf2.1.1a/sound.jar:lib/jhall-2.0.0.5.jar:lib/xalan-2.4.1.jar:lib/help.zip:lib/mpi-util-1.0.0.jar:lib/mdsearchapplet-1.3.2.jar:lib/hsqldb-1.8.0.7.jar:lib/log4j-1.2.14.jar
Aug 16, 2011 6:41:06 PM mpi.eudico.client.annotator.ELAN main
INFO: Library path: lib:extensions:$java.library.path
Aug 16, 2011 6:41:06 PM mpi.eudico.client.annotator.integration.ExternalLauncher start
INFO: External launch thread started...
[LaunchRunner Error] mpi.eudico.client.annotator.ELAN.main(String[]) threw an exception:
java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: com/apple/eawt/AboutHandler
at java.lang.ClassLoader.defineClass1(Native Method)
at java.lang.ClassLoader.defineClass(ClassLoader.java:675)
at java.security.SecureClassLoader.defineClass(SecureClassLoader.java:124)
at java.net.URLClassLoader.defineClass(URLClassLoader.java:260)
at java.net.URLClassLoader.access$100(URLClassLoader.java:56)
at java.net.URLClassLoader$1.run(URLClassLoader.java:195)
at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
at java.net.URLClassLoader.findClass(URLClassLoader.java:188)
at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:316)
at sun.misc.Launcher$AppClassLoader.loadClass(Launcher.java:280)
at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:251)
at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClassInternal(ClassLoader.java:374)
at java.lang.Class.forName0(Native Method)
at java.lang.Class.forName(Class.java:164)
at mpi.eudico.client.annotator.ELAN.main(ELAN.java:189)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:39)
at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:25)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:592)
at apple.launcher.LaunchRunner.run(LaunchRunner.java:115)
at apple.launcher.LaunchRunner.callMain(LaunchRunner.java:50)
at apple.launcher.JavaApplicationLauncher.launch(JavaApplicationLauncher.java:52)
Aug 16, 2011 6:41:06 PM mpi.eudico.client.annotator.prefs.PreferencesReader parse
WARNING: Preferences file does not exist: /Users/yo/Library/Preferences/ELAN/shortcuts.pfsx
ortcuts.pfsx

Hi, there were not many similar problems that I could find with google,
but there was one in a Chinese blog. Babelfish translates the answer to
the problem as follows:

The question lay in cannot find com.apple.eawt.AboutHandler, this interface was in Java for Mac OS X 10.6 Update 3, Java for Mac OS X 10.5 Update 8 only will then later have, therefore please renew your Java.

So maybe updating to a newer Java version can help.

PS: About AboutHandler:
http://developer.apple.com/library/mac/documentation/Java/Reference/JavaSE6_AppleExtensionsRef/api/com/apple/eawt/AboutHandler.html

Yes, updating the Java version should fix the problem. On a Mac that can be done through the Software Update menu item in the main Apple menu.
It was not our intention that this should be necessary, but one type of error that could occur when loading the "AboutHandler" is not handled correctly. (We've fixed that)

-Han

Thanks, with the update it's been fixed okay.

Yo