Why do I need to replace JAF in JDK with activation.jar? JAF {JavaBeans Activation Framework} has been included in JDK since 1.6.

Yes, JAF (JavaBeans Activation Framework) has been included in JDK since 1.6. But there are several reasons why you may need to use the JAF provided in activation.jar instead the JAF provided in JDK.

1. Your application is still running with JDK 1.5 or older.

2. Your application may need to use an older version of the API, like JAF 1.0.

3. Your application may need to use some Sun implementation class offered in the activation.jar, like com.sun.activation.viewers.TextViewer or com.sun.activation.viewers.ImageViewer.

For example, if you run JAFApp.java with activation.jar, you can view the JFAApp.java file:

\fyicenter>java -version
java version "1.7.0_45"

\fyicenter>java -classpath .;\local\jaf-1.1.1\activation.jar JAFApp

If you run JAFApp.java with JDK only, without activation.jar, you can not view the JFAApp.java file, because there is no viewer class for text files:

\fyicenter>java -classpath . JAFApp

Back to FAQ for JAF (JavaBeans Activation Framework).