PM36691: GETTING HTTP ERROR: 500 UNABLE TO COMPILE CLASS FOR JSP WHEN TRYING TO ACCESS ONLINE HELP

APAR status

• Closed as program error.

Error description

• When using IBM SPSS Statistics 19 you can get the following
  error when trying to access online Help-Topics, Tutorial, Case
  Studies or Statistics Coach when the user profile is a roaming
  profile:
  
  HTTP Error: 500 unable to compile class for jsp
  
  The problem occurs for all users when the network login is for a
  redirected (roaming) profile. The My Documents folder is also
  mapped to a network location. The problem does not occur with a
  local user profile.
  
  This problem has been reported to IBM SPSS Development and is
  targeted to be fixed in a future release of Statistics since it
  is due to a third party application limitation. We apologize for
  any inconvenience this has caused.
  
  In the meantime, there are a couple of possible workarounds:
  
  1) If you have mapped the profile using UNC paths, try -- if
  possible given your environment -- using a mapped drive letter
  instead.
  
  2) The help system can be launched separately, outside of the
  Statistics application, using a help_start and help_end bat
  (batch) files you can create. This method launches the new
  subsystem that Help requires outside the user profile. The main
  Help system contains access to the Tutorial and other materials
  toward the bottom of the Contents list.
  Create two batch files that contain the text described below and
  save them to your Statistics 19 installation folder. To launch
  help, simply browse to that folder and double-click on
  help_start.bat. To close Help, double-click on help_end.bat.
  
  To create the two bat files to launch the help system in English
  language:
  
  Copy the following text section between the into a text editor
  and save the file as help_start.bat (without txt extension):
  
  set LANG=en_US
  
  .\JRE\bin\java -classpath
  eclipse\plugins\org.eclipse.help.base\helpbase.jar
  org.eclipse.help.standalone.Help -eclipsehome eclipse
  -plugincustomization
  plugins/com.ibm.spss.statistics.help/plugin_customization.ini
  -command displayHelp
  /com.ibm.spss.statistics.help/overvw_auto_0.htm -host 127.0.0.1
  -noexec -clean -nl %LANG% -configuration
  "%USERPROFILE%\Application
  Data\Eclipse\com.ibm.spss.statistics.help_19\configuration\nl\%L
  ANG%" -data "%TEMP%\help\%LANG%" -vmargs
  -Dorg.eclipse.equinox.http.jetty.context.path=/help -Xms128M
  -Xmx256M
  
  
  To create a second batch file to end the help files copy the
  following text section into a text editor and save the file as
  help_end.bat (without txt extension)
  
  
  set LANG=en_US
  
  .\JRE\bin\java -classpath
  eclipse\plugins\org.eclipse.help.base\helpbase.jar
  org.eclipse.help.standalone.Help -eclipsehome eclipse -command
  shutdown -data "%TEMP%\help\%LANG%" -vmargs
  -Dorg.eclipse.equinox.http.jetty.context.path=/help
  
  Please note:
  If you would like to create the batch files for other languages
  use this switch in your single batch files:
  de_DE (German)
  es_ES (Spanish)
  fr_FR (French)
  it_IT (Italian)
  ja_JP (Japanese)
  ko_KR (Korean)
  pl_PL (Polish)
  ru_RU (Russian)
  zh_CN (Simplified Chinese)
  zh_TW (Traditional Chinese)
  

Local fix

Problem summary

• ****************************************************************
  * USERS AFFECTED:                                              *
  * All IBM SPSS Statistics 19.x users using roaming profiles    *
  * when trying to access the online help                        *
  ****************************************************************
  * PROBLEM DESCRIPTION:                                         *
  * When using IBM SPSS Statistics 19 you can get the following  *
  * error when trying to access online Help-Topics, Tutorial,    *
  * Case Studies or Statistics Coach when the user profile is a  *
  * roaming profile:                                             *
  *                                                              *
  * HTTP Error: 500 unable to compile class for jsp              *
  *                                                              *
  * The problem occurs for all users when the network login is   *
  * for a redirected (roaming) profile. The My Documents folder  *
  * is also mapped to a network location. The problem does not   *
  * occur with a local user profile.                             *
  ****************************************************************
  * RECOMMENDATION:                                              *
  * Upgrade to IBM SPSS Statistics 20 release where the issue is *
  * resolved.                                                    *
  * Additionally, if you want to change the location for session *
  * usage information you can now change it with set             *
  * spss_file_locations_help_config_path key in Windows Registry *
  * on                                                           *
  * HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\JavaSoft\Prefs\com\ibm\/S/P/S/S\/ *
  * Statistics\20.0\ui\options\file_locations                    *
  ****************************************************************
  

Problem conclusion

• Upgrade to IBM SPSS Statistics 20 release where the issue is
  resolved.
  

Temporary fix

Comments

APAR Information

• APAR is sysrouted FROM one or more of the following:

• APAR is sysrouted TO one or more of the following:

Fix information

• Fixed component name

  SPSS STATISTICS

• Fixed component ID

  5725A54ST

Applicable component levels

• RK00 PSN

     UP

• RK00 PSY

     UP