Jakarta POI HSSF question...

Hey all, 

I'm new to this list, so if this is a dumb question, forgive me...

Would there be any reason why the following code would work interactively 
in an RPGLE program and not in a batch program?

D hssf_open       PR                  like(HSSFWorkbook)
D   peFilename                1024A   const varying 
...
D IFSfilename      s                   50a
...
IFSfilename = '/home/scessna/excel/May05DailyLaborHours2.xls';
book = hssf_open(IFSfilename);
...
(in a service program)
P hssf_open       B                   EXPORT 
D hssf_open       PI                  like(HSSFWorkbook)
D   peFilename                1024A   const varying 
D jFileInputStream... 
D                 S               O   CLASS(*JAVA 
D                                     : 'java.io.FileInputStream')
D jInputStream... 
D                 S               O   CLASS(*JAVA 
D                                     : 'java.io.InputStream') 
D POIFSFilesystem... 
D                 S               O   CLASS(*JAVA 
D                                     : 'org.apache.poi.poifs- 
D                                     .filesystem.POIFSFileSystem')
D new_FileInputStream... 
D                 pr              O   extproc(*JAVA 
D                                     :'java.io.FileInputStream' 
D                                     : *CONSTRUCTOR) 
D  filename                           like(jString) const 
D new_POIFSFileSystem... 
D                 pr              O   extproc(*JAVA 
D                                     :'org.apache.poi.poifs- 
D                                     .filesystem.POIFSFileSystem'
D                                     : *CONSTRUCTOR) 
D  stream                             like(jInputStream) 
D new_HSSFWorkbookFromPOIFS... 
D                 PR                  like(HSSFWorkbook) 
D                                     ExtProc(*JAVA: 
D                                     'org.apache.poi.hssf.usermodel-
D                                     .HSSFWorkbook': 
D                                     *CONSTRUCTOR) 
D  poifs                              like(POIFSFileSystem) 
D closeFile       PR                  EXTPROC(*JAVA 
D                                     :'java.io.FileInputStream' 
D                                     :'close') 
D wwStr           s                   like(jString) 
D wwFile          s                   like(jFileInputStream)
D wwPOIFS         s                   like(POIFSFileSystem) 
D wwBook          s                   like(HSSFWorkbook) 
 
 /free 
    wwStr   = new_String(peFilename); 
    wwFile  = new_FileInputStream(wwStr); 
    wwPOIFS = new_POIFSFileSystem(wwFile); 
    wwBook  = new_HSSFWorkbookFromPOIFS(wwPOIFS); 
    closeFile(wwFile); 
    hssf_freeLocalRef(wwPOIFS);
    hssf_freeLocalRef(wwFile); 
    hssf_freeLocalRef(wwStr); 
    return wwBook; 
 /end-free 
P                 E 

The file I'm looking for is found when I run this interactively, but not 
in batch...file is "/home/scessna/excel/May05DailyLaborHours2.xls"

Initially, I thought that maybe when a job is submitted to batch, it has a 
default current directory...I tried calling a CL that changed the 
submitted jobs current directory, then calling my program, but that didn't 
work either...is this a bug in the HSSF routines or am I just overlooking 
something.

Thanks.

Shane