With Java SE 7 Update 1 (64 bit) BD does not display any of the installed books

BD displays itself as version 1.6.1 beta.

Search still works! e.g. Search KJV for Adam finds 27 references:

Genesis 2:19-21, 23, 3:8-9, 17, 20-21, 4:1, 25, 5:1-5, Deuteronomy 32:8, Joshua 3:16, 1 Chronicles 1:1, Job 31:33, Luke 3:38, Romans 5:14, 1 Corinthians 15:22, 45, 1 Timothy 2:13-14, Jude 14

but none of them are displayed as text.

I haven't tried Java SE 7 yet. It should work. It shouldn't matter that it is 64-bit or 32-bit.

I'll give it a look over this weekend.

The beta designation means that you are running a nightly build.

Which version of Windows are you seeing this problem on? I'm going to test on Win 7.

Windows 7 (x64).

If there is a problem with Java 7 then a potential workaround might be to install Java 6 Update 29 in addition. Oracle even mentions that some applications might not work with with Java 7 64-bit, and suggests that it's sensible to have both the 32-bit and 64-bit editions installed.

When I use my netbook (WinXP 32-bit) to visit java.com, the download still offered is Java 6 Update 29. Even so, I had already installed Java 7 Update 1 (32-bit) on it.

However, I have never installed BD on my netbook, which is mostly used only while I'm travelling, Yet I could try this too when I get home from our trip to London.

For Windows, the reason to install both 32-bit and 64-bit Java is that on Win 7, (both 32-bit and 64-bit) the default IE browser is 32-bit, which requires the 32-bit Java for Java enabled websites. Win 7 64-bit also has IE 64-bit, which requires 64-bit Java. I think the same is true with Firefox, that you need to match the bit level of the app and the Java plugin.

Except possibly for FireBible in FireFox, this is moot when it comes to JSword and the JSword family of applications.

I'm testing now in 64-bit Win 7. I'll report back when I'm done.

One of the changes in Java 7 was that optional settings have changed. Some of them are quite buggy.

Works for me. Here was my test:
I created a clean VM of Windows 7 64-bit with nothing else of significance installed. I then fully updated it (took several tries to get all the patches.)

I then downloaded BibleDesktopSetup.exe, for the latest release, aka 1.6. Not the nightly build.

I ran BD, downloaded the version of Java that it provided, installed the KJV and created a search index and went to "Tools > Options" and then without making any changes, clicked on apply (this creates %APPDATA%/JSword/desktop.properties).

I then edited %APPDATA%\JSword\desktop.properties and changed
Advanced.IncludeAdvancedTabs=false
to
Advanced.IncludeAdvancedTabs=true
This adds an extra tab to Help > About that will show the system properties. With this I can see the version of Java that is actually run.

I then downloaded and installed the 64-bit version of Java 7 and uninstalled the version that BD downloaded.

I found no way to run BD using BibleDesktop.exe that would find a 64-bit JRE. It always insisted on downloading Java 6. And within the Java control panel I unchecked all the available versions of Java, but this seems to only affect the browser plugin, not what was actually used by BD.

So, I created a bat file to run the java of my choice by doing the following:

I created a folder named BD on my desktop. I then copied all the jar files from c:\Program Files (x86)\CrossWire\BibleDesktop into that folder.

I then created BD.bat in that folder with the content (on a single line):

"C:\Program Files\Java\jre7\bin\javaw.exe" -classpath "bibledesktop-1.6.jar;commons-codec-1.3.jar;commons-httpclient-3.1.jar;commons-logging-1.1.1.jar;commons-net-1.4.1.jar;javatar-2.5.jar;jdom-1.0.jar;jlfgr-1_0.jar;jsword-1.6.jar;jsword-common-1.6.jar;jsword-common-aqua-1.0.6.jar;jsword-common-swing-1.6.jar;lucene-analyzers-2.3.2.jar;lucene-core-2.3.2.jar;lucene-snowball-2.3.2.jar" org.crosswire.bibledesktop.desktop.Desktop

You can change the path of the executable to match your installation.

I then ran BD and had no problems.

Can you do the same for the latest stable release and let me know the outcome.

If it works for you, but 1.6.1beta does not, then we have a problem with the nightly build.

Meanwhile, I recently installed BD on my wife's machine, which is also Windows 7, but only 32 bit.
This has Java 7 Update 1 installed. BD worked OK.

On my own machine, I'd also re-installed Java 6 Update 29 (which is 32 bit), yet without uninstalling Java 7 Update 1 (64 bit). BD still does not display content.

I've only just read your comment, and it may be some time before I get chance to "do the same" as you requested.

David

There's a bug in Java WebStart that is rendering BibleDesktop unusable. The symptom is that it won't show any module content, but puts up an error message.

This started with Java 6 update 23 and is still a bug with the latest Java 7.

You can read about the bug here: https://forums.oracle.com/forums/thread.jspa?messageID=10786421

That the original bug report was hidden/removed indicates that it is an exploitable bug or related to one.

I'll be removing the WebStart links until this is fixed.

Fixed by removing WebStart as an option