Knowledge Base

PRB: Catastrophic Failure Error Using an ActiveX Control

Article ID: 189065

Article Last Modified on 7/13/2004

Microsoft Java Virtual Machine
Microsoft Software Development Kit for Java 2.02
Microsoft Software Development Kit for Java 2.01
Microsoft Software Development Kit for Java 2.02
Microsoft Software Development Kit for Java 3.0
Microsoft Software Development Kit for Java 3.1
Microsoft Software Development Kit for Java 3.2
Microsoft Visual J++ 1.0 Standard Edition
Microsoft Visual J++ 1.1 Standard Edition

This article was previously published under Q189065

SYMPTOMS

When trying to use a Visual C++ generated ActiveX Control from Java, you will see the following error when trying to run the Java application:

Error:<0x8000ffff> Catastrophic failure Press any key to continue...

RESOLUTION

When trying to use an ActiveX Control as an automation server, you need to override the method IsInvokeAllowed. For more information on why this method has to be overridden, please see the REFERENCES section below.

To fix the problem, override IsInvokeAllowed in your ActiveX Control as follows:

BOOL CMyOleControl::IsInvokeAllowed (DISPID)
{

   // You can check to see if COleControl::m_bInitialized is FALSE
   // in your automation functions to limit access.
  return TRUE;
}

For the example case given below, you will override this method in the Circ3ctl.cpp file and declare this virtual function in the Cir3ctl.h file. Also make sure you rebuild and re-register the control before using it from Java.

STATUS

This behavior is by design.

MORE INFORMATION

Steps to Reproduce Behavior

Build and register the Circ3.ocx sample that comes with Visual C++.
Run JACTIVEX /javatlb circ3.ocx. This will create a folder called circ3 under %windir%\java\trustlib, which will contain .java files for the corresponding coclass, interfaces for the CIRC3.OCX.

Create a Java application as follows and import the ActiveX Control:

import com.ms.com.*;
import circ3.*;

public class circle
{
   public static void main(String args[])
   {
      circle main = new circle();
      main.test();
   }
}

public void test()
{
   _DCirc3 c  = null;
   c  = (_DCirc3) new Circ3();
   c.AboutBox();
}

}

Build the Java application using the JVC that ships with the SDK for Java 2.0x or later. For more information on how to use this JVC with Visual J++, please see the REFERENCES section below.
You will see the above mentioned error message.

REFERENCES

For more information on how to use an ActiveX Control as an Automation Server, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

146120 HOWTO: Use an OLE Control as an Automation Server

For more information on how to use the new Jvc.exe with Visual J++, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

183712 HOWTO: Installation Instructions for SDK for Java

Additional query words: Catastrophic error activex control

Keywords: kbprb KB189065