> 1. "PURE_JAVA" constructor created FBBackupManager throws the
> following exception if I backupDatabase():

Do you have a test case or small code snippet for it?

> 2. I created an FBBackupManager with an "EMBEDDED" constructor
> parameter. By default I set the host to setHost("localhost"). Because
> of this, the backupDatabase always threw a
> "org.firebirdsql.jdbc.FBSQLException: GDS Exception. 335544344. I/O
> error for file CreateFile (open) ..."

Which is correct, since embedded can also act as a client library. When you
specify the host name, you tell it to go to the specified server instead of
accessing the local db.

> 3. It finds and uses jaybird2.dll and fbembed.dll if I place them in
> the program's (working) dir, but it doesn't find firebird.msg, which I
> eventually placed in windows/system32.

Also correct, since this path is controlled by the firebird.conf and
%FIREBIRD% variables.

> (4. If I don't set user or pass with setUser/setPassword it throws a
> NullPointerException which is perfectly correct, just not very
> informative)

Bad - if I'm not mistaken, embedded works ok also without user name and
password. :) Thanks for the report!

> event handling from java and built in java language support are the
> other two features I'm interested in (my interest in the second is
> partly because of the lack of the first). I haven't found anything
> about them on the Wiki, is there any info about anyone implementing
> event handling

Gabriel Reid has already implemented event handling, there is small issue to
fix, butevents will be supported in JayBird 2.1, which will be started right
after the 2.0 final release. In other words - "comming soon" :)

> or how java procedural language is progressing?

Will be released soon in Fyracle project. The integration into the main
trunk is not yet planned, but actively discussed (though in Russian
mainly) - we're not yet settled on some basic concepts for external
procedures in general.

Roman