Documentum , Weblogic and DM_DFC_E_BAD_CLASS error

We had a client last week struggle with a DM_DFC_E_BAD_CLASS when deploying Webtop and our OpenAnnotate product along with our DFC based OpenContent.  The issue arises from the CLASSPATH having the file “dfc.jar” added to it.  We thought we would document the thoughts here for other client’s reference.

Weblogic is using the existing CLASSPATH variable if defined, and in your case your CLASSPATH is already defined as: “C:Program FilesDocumentumdctm.jar;C:Documentumconfig;

When you start your weblogic domain, weblogic is appending your existing classpath to the end of its classpath:

CLASSPATH=C:BEA103~1.4_Npatch_wls1034profilesdefaultsys_manifest_classpathweblogic_patch.jar;C:BEA103~1.4_Npatch_ocp360profilesdefaultsys_manifest_classpathweblogic_patch.jar;C:BEA103~1.4_NJDK160~1libtools.jar;C:BEA103~1.4_NWLSERV~1.3serverlibweblogic_sp.jar;C:BEA103~1.4_NWLSERV~1.3serverlibweblogic.jar;C:BEA103~1.4_Nmodulesfeaturesweblogic.server.modules_10.3.4.0.jar;C:BEA103~1.4_NWLSERV~1.3serverlibwebservices.jar;C:BEA103~1.4_NmodulesORGAPA~1.1/lib/ant-all.jar;C:BEA103~1.4_NmodulesNETSFA~1.0_1/lib/ant-contrib.jar;C:BEA103~1.4_NWLSERV~1.3commonderbylibderbyclient.jar;C:BEA103~1.4_NWLSERV~1.3serverlibxqrl.jar;C:Program FilesDocumentumdctm.jar;C:Documentumconfig

This location and jar might be a relic of the dctm 5.3 days, where the applications did not contain all of the jars and would utilize the jars in the shared location. If you inspect dctm.jar, you’ll see it merely adds more jars to the classpath, and in our case is causing conflicts with the dfc.jar from the Shared folder:

Manifest-Version: 1.0 Class-Path: Application%20Builder/devws.jar Shared/wstools.jar Shared/  ant-launcher.jar Shared/ant-ext.jar Shared/ant.jar Shared/bpm_infra.j  ar Shared/DDS.jar Shared/widgets.jar Shared/dart.jar Shared/configser  vice-impl.jar Shared/configservice-api.jar Shared/DmcRecords.jar Shar  ed/xtrim-server.jar Shared/messageArchive.jar Shared/messageService.j  ar Shared/xtrim-api.jar Shared/tar.jar Shared/dam_services.jar Shared  /xforms.jar shared/workflow.jar shared/subscription.jar Shared/ci.jar   Shared/bpmutil.jar Shared/All-MB.jar Shared/log4j.jar Shared/certjFI  PS.jar Shared/jsafeFIPS.jar Shared/dfc.jar Created-By: Documentum Installer Component Library

The OpenContent will start working properly once that “dctm.jar” entry is removed from the CLASSPATH.

Comment below if you have any questions or issues.