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Starting WebGrabber

There are three methods for starting WebGrabber.

Each method has its advantages and limitations. Once the start command is given, you should see a splash screen at the top-left corner of your screen, then after less than a minute, the main window should be displayed.

 

Double-Click Method

This is the simplest method of starting WebGrabber. Double-click the WebGrabber icon displayed either on your desktop screen or in your file navigator.

The inconvenience of this method is that you are not seeing the monitoring messages that are generated by WebGrabber. If you have enabled the recording of these messages into a monitoring file, you will be able to see them later, but you will lose the first 2 or 3 messages which might be useful if WebGrabber cannot start correctly. The two other methods do not have this inconvenience. If this method does not work, try the second method, below.

 

Shell/DOS Jar Method

  1. Start your Shell/DOS box
  2. Make sure that the CLASSPATH (It works like the PATH variable but it is specific for Java applications) environment variable contains the path to the WebGrabber directory. If your CLASSPATH contains the "current directory path" (usually it is represented by a single dot) but not the WebGrabber directory, set your Shell/DOS current directory to the WebGrabber directory (using the Shell/DOS cd command).
  3. Type in the following command:
    java -jar webgrabber.jar

This will start WebGrabber.

 

Shell/DOS Class Method

This method works under more severe circumstances. Try it if the other two fail. It is quite similar to the previous method but it requires an additional step.

  1. Start your Shell/DOS box
  2. Type in:
    on Windows:
    CLASSPATH=%CLASSPATH%;webgrabber.jar on Windows
    on UNIX
    CLASSPATH=.:./htmlslicer
    export CLASSPATH
    Note: You may add the $CLASSPATH variable to your CLASSPATH
  3. Change the current directory to the WebGrabber directory, using the cd command.
  4. Then finally, type the following command:
    java webgrabber.WSGrabber

 

Monitoring Messages at Start

When you start WebGrabber, you should see typically the following messages in the Shell/DOS box at the initial display of the main window (the part shown in italic may be different):

INFO: WebGrabber started
INFO: Load config as= Config.ini
INFO: WebGrabber Started 17-Aug-2002 10:37:39 PM
INFO: Load Help config as= helpConfig.txt
INFO: Help Config, TYPE= JAR
INFO: Help Config, IP addr 127.0.0.1
INFO: Help Config, Port= PORT=2000
HelpSet class= class javax.help.HelpSet
ClassLoader= java.net.URLClassLoader@49d67c
INFO: Helpsetpath= file:/E:/Java/WebGrabber/help/WebGrabber.hs
INFO: HelpBroker= javax.help.DefaultHelpBroker@cb52ae
JAR topicID= @START
INFO: Load RootCreate policy
INFO: Load Root Create Config as = RootCreateConfig.ini
INFO: Table column from WSGFrame.ser

The parts shown in bold are the names of various configuration files that are read by WebGrabber. The ShortcutList.dtd file is not displayed above but if the file is missing, you will get the appropriate monitoring error message as follows:

INFO: WebGrabber started
WARN: DTD file E:\Java\WebGrabber\ShortcutList.dtd not found

ERR: DTD Err2 =java.lang.NullPointerException

 


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