The Lair

The only thing worse than missing documentation, they say, is documentation which is out of date. That’s why I’m regaling you with my efforts to get Quicktime for Java and the related SDKs installed.

Let’s start with the first obvious port of call - installation. The site says; “In order to install QuickTime for Java, developers will need to select ‘QuickTime for Java’ in the ‘Custom’ install option”. Ok, fair enough. Not everyone wants or needs the Java API to mess with Quicktime, so tuck it away in a custom option. But wait…

There is no fricking “Custom Install” option in the Quicktime installer.

Ok. So maybe the installer doesn’t like the permissions on my notebook? Let’s try it on another machine. Is a magical custom install button produced? Nope. Maybe they want you to download it later? So, tick the box which allows your software to be updated automatically by Apple and see if Qt-J is available. Nope again. The SDK is missing.

Right. So now what? Download their super bundled iTunes and Quicktime. Maybe that has the Java API? Nope, it doesn’t.

Google then. That’s right. Quicktime 7 installs Qt-J without asking anyone anything. Aargh. Thanks for letting me know. Not.

Go hit up their sample code. The installer which silently poked the API on my harddisk is also supposed to automagically add various bits to the system classpath. This is Apple. It’s supposed to “just work”, right? Wait. No, it didn’t. Unsurprisingly, the sample code refuses to run.

More Google. Apparently, the Java SDK for Quicktime is packaged as a zip file and is tucked away in a subdirectory off the main Quicktime install. It’s not even a jar file as convention dictates, but a zip file instead. *sigh*

Add the zip file to the classpath manually (fie to you, installer!) and it all starts working. Apple’s site however, is still broken. Dumbasses.

If it was this traumatic installing things, how do you think the programming is going to go? Yeah, I think it will go swimmingly well too. Yet this is actually the best available option for messing with multimedia content with Java. Pity the fool.