wrongly automatic failure

[Hans Crol]

Hi all,

Today I found out on the CertManager that my submission was failed automatically. Following are the details :

Automatic failure. Your submission does not contain the mandatory top-level "code" directory.

I checked my submitted jar file again and again. And it is simply not true, the top level 'code' directory IS there.
I do not want to resubmit, because I really see nothing wrong and it would probably fail again.
Any suggestions on what to do next will be greatly appreciated !

Regards,
Hans

[Khaled Mahmoud]

Have you done the essay exam ???

[Barry Gaunt]

It may help us to back you up if you can post the output of "jar -tf" on your submitted jar file. Trim it a bit by deleting the lines with files if it is too long.

[Hans Crol]

First of all : yes I took the essay exam :-) 4 weeks ago.

Here is the output of the jar -tf. I deleted the file entries that were not in the root to keep it small. I hope it gives you a clue to what is wrong with it. I really do not see it.

META-INF/
META-INF/MANIFEST.MF
runme.jar
db-2x1.db
readme.txt
version.txt
code/
code/suncertify/
code/suncertify/client/
code/suncertify/client/gui/
code/suncertify/client/gui/command/
code/suncertify/client/gui/validation/
code/suncertify/client/gui/view/
code/suncertify/common/
code/suncertify/common/command/
code/suncertify/common/model/
code/suncertify/common/propertyeditor/
code/suncertify/common/validation/
code/suncertify/common/view/
code/suncertify/db/
code/suncertify/server/
code/suncertify/server/dao/
code/suncertify/server/gui/
code/suncertify/server/gui/command/
code/suncertify/server/gui/validation/
code/suncertify/server/gui/view/
code/suncertify/server/network/
code/suncertify/server/service/
resources/
resources/suncertify/
resources/suncertify/client/
resources/suncertify/server/
docs/
docs/client/
docs/diagrams/
docs/javadoc/
docs/javadoc/resources/
docs/javadoc/suncertify/
docs/javadoc/suncertify/client/
docs/javadoc/suncertify/client/gui/
docs/javadoc/suncertify/client/gui/command/
docs/javadoc/suncertify/client/gui/validation/
docs/javadoc/suncertify/client/gui/view/
docs/javadoc/suncertify/common/
docs/javadoc/suncertify/common/command/
docs/javadoc/suncertify/common/model/
docs/javadoc/suncertify/common/propertyeditor/
docs/javadoc/suncertify/common/validation/
docs/javadoc/suncertify/common/view/
docs/javadoc/suncertify/db/
docs/javadoc/suncertify/server/
docs/javadoc/suncertify/server/dao/
docs/javadoc/suncertify/server/gui/
docs/javadoc/suncertify/server/gui/command/
docs/javadoc/suncertify/server/gui/validation/
docs/javadoc/suncertify/server/gui/view/
docs/javadoc/suncertify/server/network/
docs/javadoc/suncertify/server/service/
docs/server/
docs/choices.txt
docs/instructions.html
docs/userguide.html

Thanks.
Hans

[Khaled Mahmoud]

Should the submitted jar file contain a readme.txt. I have never seen such a requriment in the instructions.
One more question? What is the resources directory used for???
My submitted jar file is the same as your but without the resources
and the readme.txt.
Does this mean i will fail too.
[ December 29, 2006: Message edited by: Khaled Mahmoud ]

[Hans Crol]

The resources directory and the readme file are not a requirement.
The resources contains some images for the help files, its is not really source code so I kept them apart, and the readme file is just good practice if you make a release.

This is in my instructions file :

All elements of your submission must be packaged in a single JAR file. The JAR file must have the following layout and contents in its root:

* The executable JAR containing the programs. This must be called runme.jar.
* The original, unchanged database file that was supplied to you. Note that you must keep a copy of the original database file supplied to you, and this must be the file you submit. The marking process will expect the exact same data without any changes.
* A directory called code, containing all the source code and related parts of your project. You must create subdirectories within this to reflect your package structure and distribute your source files within those directories.
* A file called version.txt. This must contain pure ASCII (not a word processor format) indicating the exact version of JDK you used, and the host platform you worked on.
* A directory called docs, containing the following items at the top level:
o This html file.
o A subdirectory called javadoc, containing HTML/Javadoc documentation for all classes and interfaces you are submitting.
o A file called choices.txt that containing pure ASCII (not a word processor format) text describing the significant design choices you made. Detail the problems you perceived, the issues surrounding them, your value judgments, and the decisions that you made. This document should also describe any uncertainties you had regarding the project, and the decisions you made when resolving them.
o User documentation for the database server and the gui client. If your user documentation is online then you may omit this file. However, if the documentation is not online, you must provide either a single plain ASCII (not word processor format) text document, which must be called userguide.txt, or multiple HTML files which must all be accessible from a starting point document that must be called userguide.html.

As far as I can see, my submission conforms to the requirements. The requirements do not say I must not add anything else in addition to the files and directories stipulated.


Regards,
Hans

[Khaled Mahmoud]

I have a question regarding exam failure.
If someone fails, will he have to do the essay exam again???
SCJD waitint period is really a nightmare.
[ December 29, 2006: Message edited by: Khaled Mahmoud ]

[henry ang]

Hi..

Do you have this file in your current working directory?

"Such configuration information must be stored in a file called suncertify.properties which must be located in the current working directory"

[Khaled Mahmoud]

This file should not be in the jar file.In my application, i create
the properties file if it does not exist.I create this file in the working directory.Therefor this file should not be a part of the submitted jar.

Would anybody who passed the exam please help ???

[Barry Gaunt]

Khaled, please keep to the topic. It is Hans' automatic failure that we are concerned about. If you have issues regarding your own assignment, then please start your own topic.

[Barry Gaunt]

Hans, is it possible that there is some kind of file protection problem that prevented the code directory being restored to disk during the extraction process?

[Barry Gaunt]

Just throwing in ideas: If the assignment marker was new to the job, I wonder if he was looking for the code directory in the runme.jar file instead of the submitted jar file.

[Barry Gaunt]

Brainstorming - Regarding extra top level directories: if extraction is an automatic process, then the resources directory would not be extracted. So some files in that directory would be missing. But Sun wrote that the "code" directory was missing, not some file could not be found.

[Jeroen T Wenting]

Most likely the message is an automated one, selected from a list, and there's no message "required directory with name XXXXX missing" or "required file XXXXX missing from code directory".
Seen that before in other places.

Best ask for clarification.

[Barry Gaunt]

See Andrew's response to a previous jar query. The structure Andrew sketched is very similar to yours.
[ December 30, 2006: Message edited by: Barry Gaunt ]

[Hans Crol]

Thanks all for your concern and brainstorm.

Hans, is it possible that there is some kind of file protection problem that prevented the code directory being restored to disk during the extraction process?

Not that I know of. I did not use any protection. And I extracted the jar file myself on different machines, one Linux and two Windows, to test the release before I submitted. It worked everywhere. Extraction was OK, running the programs was OK too.

Brainstorming - Regarding extra top level directories: if extraction is an automatic process, then the resources directory would not be extracted. So some files in that directory would be missing. But Sun wrote that the "code" directory was missing, not some file could not be found.

The extra top level directory 'resources' is of no importance for running the program. If for some reason it is not automatically extracted, it will not harm the running program in any way. I just have tested that to be sure :-)

So I suppose I 'd better ask Sun for an explanation ?
Any ideas how to do this ?
Thanks.

Hans

[Mark Spritzler]

Yes, you need to contact Sun and ask them.

It might take a few weeks to get a response back, but that was back in 2002, so they might get back quicker now.

Mark

[Barry Gaunt]

Thanks Mark. (Mark was once a long time moderator of this SCJD forum.)

Regarding contacting Sun, I have the following at the bottom of my assignment instructions:

If you feel you must ask your question, you should address it to [email protected]. Clearly indicate that the question relates to the Sun Certified Developer Exam, provide your candidate ID number, name, and include your return email address in the body of your message. Describe your issue as briefly as reasonably possible; you will be asked for more information if necessary.

You should have the same. Be prepared for delays and keep on mailing 'em to get on with it.

Search this forum (Search link above) for "appeal" and you will be able to see other peoples' experiences with this kind of problem.

Good luck, Hans.

[Hans Crol]

OK, I will contact Sun and ask for an explanation.
I hope I can convince them to reconsider my assignment.
Thank you all for your support.

Regards,
Hans

[Hans Crol]

Hi all,

Sorry to reopen this thread, but I think I have a problem.
I appealed to Sun on December 30 2006 at [email protected].
I clearly stated everything I could to identify myself, the exam and the problem.

Until now I have not had any response from Sun. Not even a notification that my mail was arrived.

Three days ago I sent reminder. Again no response.

Is this normal ?

Regards,
Hans

[Chulwoo Choi]

Try:
[email protected]
[email protected]

(Send emails to both and don't forget to provide your Prometric ID.)

Regards,
Chulwoo
[ January 12, 2007: Message edited by: Chulwoo Choi ]

[Barry Gaunt]

Is this normal ?

From what I have read on this forum: unfortunately, yes.

Do not forget that you have sent your appeal during a holiday period. Keep on trying, sending mails every week or so. The who2contact address as given in the assignment is the one to use.

No answer is better than a rejection because maybe they are working on the issue and just want to give you one final answer.

[Cindy Rogers]

Hans,

Just wanted to pass along my experience with Sun / Prometric... When I received my SCJD scores back in the June timeframe, the detailed scoring information was wrong (the text referenced an old scoring system with a different number of passing/total points) and each of my detailed scores had the last digit truncated. I contacted Sun and Prometric, and several other people (but not all, so apparently this error was isolated to one region or scoring center) reported similar problems on this forum.

I never heard back from Sun or Prometric, but within a month the postings on this error stopped. In August my detailed scores online were still incorrect -- but when I checked next in early December the scores were fixed!

So be patient...

By the way, I checked your directory structure and didn't see anything wrong; it was similar to mine.

Good luck with your appeal.

Cindy