Thread: AWT Desktop Open

I'm attempting to open a pdf help file on button click. However I get the "File not found" error on button click. None of the JOptionPanes show, leading me to below it isn't even catching the error. Error line is the Desktop.getDesktop() line. Both the listener and the error code are below. The package structure leading to the file I'm accessing is si/documentation/HELP STUFF.pdf. Thanks in advance!

		/**
		 * Opens help documentation
		 * 
		 * @author stnorris
		 */
		class helpDocListener implements ActionListener{
 
			private GUI gui;
 
			public helpDocListener(GUI gui){
				this.gui = gui;
			}
 
			@Override
			public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent arg0) {
				try {
					if(Desktop.isDesktopSupported()){
						Desktop.getDesktop().open(new File(ClassLoader.getSystemResource("si/documentation/HELP STUFF.pdf").getFile()));
					}
					else{
						JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(gui, "Could not load documentation.", "Error", JOptionPane.ERROR_MESSAGE);
					}
				} catch (IOException e) {
					JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(gui, "Could not load documentation.", "Error", JOptionPane.ERROR_MESSAGE);
					e.printStackTrace();
				}
			}
 
		}

Stack Trace
Exception in thread "AWT-EventQueue-0" java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: The file: C:\Documents%20and%20Settings\stnorris\My%20Docume nts\Code\HotDocsTreeBuilder\bin\si\documentation\H ELP%20STUFF.pdf doesn't exist.
at java.awt.Desktop.checkFileValidation(Unknown Source)
at java.awt.Desktop.open(Unknown Source)
at si.gui.GUI$1helpDocListener.actionPerformed(GUI.ja va:981)
at javax.swing.AbstractButton.fireActionPerformed(Unk nown Source)
at javax.swing.AbstractButton$Handler.actionPerformed (Unknown Source)
at javax.swing.DefaultButtonModel.fireActionPerformed (Unknown Source)
at javax.swing.DefaultButtonModel.setPressed(Unknown Source)
at javax.swing.AbstractButton.doClick(Unknown Source)
at javax.swing.plaf.basic.BasicMenuItemUI.doClick(Unk nown Source)
at javax.swing.plaf.basic.BasicMenuItemUI$Handler.mou seReleased(Unknown Source)
at java.awt.Component.processMouseEvent(Unknown Source)
at javax.swing.JComponent.processMouseEvent(Unknown Source)
at java.awt.Component.processEvent(Unknown Source)
at java.awt.Container.processEvent(Unknown Source)
at java.awt.Component.dispatchEventImpl(Unknown Source)
at java.awt.Container.dispatchEventImpl(Unknown Source)
at java.awt.Component.dispatchEvent(Unknown Source)
at java.awt.LightweightDispatcher.retargetMouseEvent( Unknown Source)
at java.awt.LightweightDispatcher.processMouseEvent(U nknown Source)
at java.awt.LightweightDispatcher.dispatchEvent(Unkno wn Source)
at java.awt.Container.dispatchEventImpl(Unknown Source)
at java.awt.Window.dispatchEventImpl(Unknown Source)
at java.awt.Component.dispatchEvent(Unknown Source)
at java.awt.EventQueue.dispatchEventImpl(Unknown Source)
at java.awt.EventQueue.access$000(Unknown Source)
at java.awt.EventQueue$1.run(Unknown Source)
at java.awt.EventQueue$1.run(Unknown Source)
at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
at java.security.AccessControlContext$1.doIntersectio nPrivilege(Unknown Source)
at java.security.AccessControlContext$1.doIntersectio nPrivilege(Unknown Source)
at java.awt.EventQueue$2.run(Unknown Source)
at java.awt.EventQueue$2.run(Unknown Source)
at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
at java.security.AccessControlContext$1.doIntersectio nPrivilege(Unknown Source)
at java.awt.EventQueue.dispatchEvent(Unknown Source)
at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpOneEventForFilter s(Unknown Source)
at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEventsForFilter(U nknown Source)
at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEventsForHierarch y(Unknown Source)
at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEvents(Unknown Source)
at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEvents(Unknown Source)
at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.run(Unknown Source)

use text file instead of .pdf

I'd really like to have a PDF open instead of a text. How would I go about making that work?

Instead of the file being at "HELP DESK.pdf"
make it say
HELP\ DESK.pdf

That will fix the problem,and it will open the correct file located at
HELP DESK.pdf

Thanks Tjstretch. Now I"m getting a new error on the same line, null pointer reference. I'm not sure where this would be coming from, unless somehow the Desktop is returning null. I haven't used the AWT Desktop before, so I'm not familiar with how it works very well. Stack trace below (Also Tjstretch, what was the reasoning behind that backslash? Why did that work?)

Exception in thread "AWT-EventQueue-0" java.lang.NullPointerException
at si.gui.GUI$1helpDocListener.actionPerformed(GUI.ja va:1026)
at javax.swing.AbstractButton.fireActionPerformed(Unk nown Source)
at javax.swing.AbstractButton$Handler.actionPerformed (Unknown Source)
at javax.swing.DefaultButtonModel.fireActionPerformed (Unknown Source)
at javax.swing.DefaultButtonModel.setPressed(Unknown Source)
at javax.swing.AbstractButton.doClick(Unknown Source)
at javax.swing.plaf.basic.BasicMenuItemUI.doClick(Unk nown Source)
at javax.swing.plaf.basic.BasicMenuItemUI$Handler.mou seReleased(Unknown Source)
at java.awt.Component.processMouseEvent(Unknown Source)
at javax.swing.JComponent.processMouseEvent(Unknown Source)
at java.awt.Component.processEvent(Unknown Source)
at java.awt.Container.processEvent(Unknown Source)
at java.awt.Component.dispatchEventImpl(Unknown Source)
at java.awt.Container.dispatchEventImpl(Unknown Source)
at java.awt.Component.dispatchEvent(Unknown Source)
at java.awt.LightweightDispatcher.retargetMouseEvent( Unknown Source)
at java.awt.LightweightDispatcher.processMouseEvent(U nknown Source)
at java.awt.LightweightDispatcher.dispatchEvent(Unkno wn Source)
at java.awt.Container.dispatchEventImpl(Unknown Source)
at java.awt.Window.dispatchEventImpl(Unknown Source)
at java.awt.Component.dispatchEvent(Unknown Source)
at java.awt.EventQueue.dispatchEventImpl(Unknown Source)
at java.awt.EventQueue.access$000(Unknown Source)
at java.awt.EventQueue$1.run(Unknown Source)
at java.awt.EventQueue$1.run(Unknown Source)
at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
at java.security.AccessControlContext$1.doIntersectio nPrivilege(Unknown Source)
at java.security.AccessControlContext$1.doIntersectio nPrivilege(Unknown Source)
at java.awt.EventQueue$2.run(Unknown Source)
at java.awt.EventQueue$2.run(Unknown Source)
at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
at java.security.AccessControlContext$1.doIntersectio nPrivilege(Unknown Source)
at java.awt.EventQueue.dispatchEvent(Unknown Source)
at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpOneEventForFilter s(Unknown Source)
at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEventsForFilter(U nknown Source)
at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEventsForHierarch y(Unknown Source)
at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEvents(Unknown Source)
at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEvents(Unknown Source)
at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.run(Unknown Source)

the filename is coming back null from ClassLoader.getSystemResource. I modified the code to the below to pinpoint the exact null reference.

Solved it. I was so used to seeing special character code I didn't notice it at first. The ClassLoader.getSystemResource(path).getFile() was replacing all spaces with %20. I'm assuming this is a URL property I didn't know about. So running filename = filename.replace("%20"," ") fixed the path, and thus found the file.

Strange, there's no %20 space replace in Linux? Well, the replace still shouldn't cause an issue so it's still cross-platform at least.

I am not sure I been in working out of Windows too long, currently if i remember that you are not allowed spaces for path names in Linux. Then again I should just fire up the VM ware for CentOS and test it.

Retract that "name\ last" works.

interesting thanks Steven.