using lastest formentry module from 1.4.x branch and openmrs from latest 1.4.x too.

adding in andreas

it could be related to this error i get in 1.3.2

  [warn] Could not create file appender 'velocity.log'
velocity.log (Permission denied)
java.io.FileNotFoundException: velocity.log (Permission denied)
	at java.io.FileOutputStream.openAppend(Native Method)
	at java.io.FileOutputStream.<init>(FileOutputStream.java:177)
	at java.io.FileOutputStream.<init>(FileOutputStream.java:102)
	at org.apache.log4j.FileAppender.setFile(FileAppender.java:290)
	at org.apache.log4j.RollingFileAppender.setFile(RollingFileAppender.java:194)
	at org.apache.log4j.FileAppender.<init>(FileAppender.java:109)
	at org.apache.log4j.RollingFileAppender.<init>(RollingFileAppender.java:72)
	at org.apache.velocity.runtime.log.Log4JLogChute.initAppender(Log4JLogChute.java:114)
	at org.apache.velocity.runtime.log.Log4JLogChute.init(Log4JLogChute.java:84)
	at org.apache.velocity.runtime.log.LogManager.createLogChute(LogManager.java:150)
	at org.apache.velocity.runtime.log.LogManager.updateLog(LogManager.java:243)
	at org.apache.velocity.runtime.RuntimeInstance.initializeLog(RuntimeInstance.java:728)
	at org.apache.velocity.runtime.RuntimeInstance.init(RuntimeInstance.java:240)
	at org.apache.velocity.runtime.RuntimeSingleton.init(RuntimeSingleton.java:113)
	at org.apache.velocity.app.Velocity.init(Velocity.java:83)
	at org.openmrs.module.formentry.web.FormDownloadServlet.doFormEntryGet(FormDownloadServlet.java:89)
	at org.openmrs.module.formentry.web.FormDownloadServlet.doGet(FormDownloadServlet.java:184)
	at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:689)
	at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:802)
	at org.openmrs.module.web.ModuleServlet.service(ModuleServlet.java:68)
	at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:802)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:269)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:188)
	at org.openmrs.web.OpenmrsFilter.doFilter(OpenmrsFilter.java:124)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:215)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:188)
	at org.springframework.orm.hibernate3.support.OpenSessionInViewFilter.doFilterInternal(OpenSessionInViewFilter.java:198)
	at org.springframework.web.filter.OncePerRequestFilter.doFilter(OncePerRequestFilter.java:75)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:215)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:188)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapperValve.invoke(StandardWrapperValve.java:213)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContextValve.invoke(StandardContextValve.java:172)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHostValve.invoke(StandardHostValve.java:127)
	at org.apache.catalina.valves.ErrorReportValve.invoke(ErrorReportValve.java:117)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardEngineValve.invoke(StandardEngineValve.java:108)
	at org.apache.catalina.connector.CoyoteAdapter.service(CoyoteAdapter.java:151)
	at org.apache.coyote.http11.Http11Processor.process(Http11Processor.java:874)
	at org.apache.coyote.http11.Http11BaseProtocol$Http11ConnectionHandler.processConnection(Http11BaseProtocol.java:665)
	at org.apache.tomcat.util.net.PoolTcpEndpoint.processSocket(PoolTcpEndpoint.java:528)
	at org.apache.tomcat.util.net.LeaderFollowerWorkerThread.runIt(LeaderFollowerWorkerThread.java:81)
	at org.apache.tomcat.util.threads.ThreadPool$ControlRunnable.run(ThreadPool.java:689)
	at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:619)

It is related. Velocity used to just initialize, sometimes having permissions problems when trying to create the velocity.log file (which is the default behavior). This was addressed in 1.4.x by changeset:6104 which configures Velocity to use commons logging.

It seems as if Velocity is reverting to the default behavior. Perhaps because something is set up wrong with commons logging? Anything else in the system logs which may point towards the problem?

Andreas, the init'ing done here: http://dev.openmrs.org/changeset/6104/openmrs-modules/formentry/branches/1.4.x/web/src/org/openmrs/module/formentry/web/FormDownloadServlet.java

won't carry over to the static calls to the VelocityContext later. I only know this because I recently went through the same pain. You need to save that "ve" object somewhere and do your template calls against that instead of against the static Velocity class.

That's a great observation, Ben. Thanks.

I've made the changes as recommended and committed changeset:6240

Andreas, can you backport this to 1.4.x?

Replying to djazayeri:

Andreas, can you backport this to 1.4.x?

Actually, I need to forwardport (?) the fix to trunk. Will do that.

Ported to formentry trunk as part of changeset:6248

So does that mean this issue is fixed?

Evan recently found this error and then reported that it was fixed by upgrading to the latest formentry, so I'm assuming this is fixed. Thanks Andreas.

When I discovered this error last time, it seemingly cropped up out of nowhere after we had been running 1.4.0.20 and formentry v 3.3.4 for about a week. At the time, upgrading to formentry 3.3.5 fixed the problem.

Well, we just started seeing the error again, or at least something very similar. We are still running 1.4.0.20 and are on version 3.3.5 of formentry.

Any ideas about why this may have happened all of a sudden? I'm attaching the log file of the error.

The latest error we are seeing in version 1.4.0.20 / 3.3.5

... just upgraded to Build 6644 and the error has stopped again. I'll pipe up if I see it again. This is the second time it's come up after we had been running a certain version of the code and module for a few days. Hoping this time's the charm!

Ok, closing this ticket for now. Your attached error looks different than what was reported before, so if you see the error again, create a new ticket. Thanks!