Tables of content

Remote Debugging OFBiz in Eclipse
Running (or debugging) OFBiz in Eclipse
Browsing Derby Database in Eclipse

 Remote Debugging OFBiz in Eclipse

This is the official recommended way for debugging ofbiz. It's fine, personnaly (Jacques Le Roux) I use also the second way below : Running (or debugging) OFBiz in Eclipse

Step 1: Run OFBiz in debug mode

Normally we start OFBiz with the command line

%JAVA_HOME%\bin\java -jar ofbiz.jar

To start in debug mode use the command line

%JAVA_HOME%\bin\java -Xdebug -Xnoagent -Djava.compiler=NONE -Xrunjdwp:transport=dt_socket,server=y,suspend=n,address=8091 -jar ofbiz.jar

This changed command line instructs java to run in debug mode listening for a socket connection on port 8091 for a debugger to connect. You can change the port number to any port not otherwise being used.

Step 2: Connect to OFBiz with Eclipse as a Debugger

Before connecting you have to create a new debug configuration.
* In Eclipse choose Run->Debug... from the menu. A Debug window should pop up.

• Select Remote Java Application from the tree on the left.
• Click New (button on the bottom left).
• Type a name at the top (OFBiz, perhaps?)
• On the Connect tab
  
  • Pick ofbiz for the project
  • Select Standard (Socket Attach) for Connection Type
  • Type localhost for host
  • Type 8091 (or whatever port you chose) for port
• On the Source tab
  
  • Click Add Projects... (buttons on the right)
  • Select the ofbiz project
• Click Apply. }}If you have OFBiz running debug (Step 1 above) you can start debugging by clicking {{Debug (on the bottom) now.
  
  You know that you are connected when you see a start/stop button in the debug perspective of Eclipse.
  

  First created by Jarrod Ribble
  

Running (or debugging) OFBiz in Eclipse

• Select OFBiz project, right-click on it -> Run As -> Run ... (alike for Debug)
• Select Java Application and click on New
• Set Run configuration name to OFBiz
  • Main tab:
    • Project: OFBiz
    • Main class: org.ofbiz.base.start.Start
  • Arguments:
    • VM arguments: -Xms(minValue)M -Xmx(maxValue)M  (typically minValue = 128, maxValue = 512, more is better of course) -Duser.language=en  
      • In some case (Suse  SL 10.1 at least) it's better to not define any VM arguments but let the defaults values.
    • Working directory: Use default working directory
  • Classpath
    • Bootstrap Entries: JRE System Library
    • User Entries: ofbiz.jar from OFBiz project
      • Don't forget to remove the entry "ofbiz (default classpath)" else you may have a message "Can't find bundle for base name cache, locale ..."
  • Source tab
    
    • Click Add Projects... (buttons on the right)
    • Select the ofbiz project
  • Environment
    • Add environment variable LC_ALL=C (Optional, Linux only)
• Click on Apply and Run (or Debug)
  

  Thanks to Peter Goron of Néréides
  

Note that when doing development work, you will have to stop OFBiz, run an Ant build and re-start. Because this method treats OFBiz as a plain Java up, you don't have any automatic classloading as you might be used to when using Eclipse-WTP and developing webapps.

Browsing Derby Database in Eclipse 

Connecting the database

The Eclipse DTP (Data Tools Project) is quite helpful to inspect database content from within the IDE. As long as you are using the embedded Derby database in OFBiz, you can create a DTP connection as described here. Everything you need comes with OFBiz. Just make sure you have the Data Tools Platform features installed in your Eclipse IDE.

• In the Data Source Explorer View, right-click on Databases and choose New ... .

• Select Derby Embedded Database and click on Next.

• Enter a name and description. (Note: Both are for your reference only!) Click Finish.

• Most likely, you will not yet have a Driver Definition for the Derby database available, so the Select a driver dropdown will be empty. Click on the ... button next to it to start creating a driver definition.

• Choose 10.2 under Derby and click the Add... button.

• Make sure you choose the Derby Embedded JDBC driver and click OK.

• The template expects the driver to be in a file called derby.jar. Select that line in the Driver File(s) listbox and click on Edit Jar/Zip to specify the actual location of the JAR file. You will find this in your workspace as framework/entity/lib/jdbc/derby-10.2.2.0.jar. When done, click OK.

• You should be back in the Driver and Connection Details. Fill in the parameters as you can see them here. Note: For Database location, adapt to your workspace location. There is no way to use a variable in this path, unfortunately. Username and password are ofbiz/ofbiz by default. For convenience, in a development environment, it should be acceptable to save the password with the connection. Make sure that Create database (if required) is unchecked, as this does not make sense in this context.

Important: This is not the place to decide that you'd like your Derby DB in a different location for OFBiz as OFBiz itself does not use these settings. If you would like to have your database outside of the workspace, take a look at the entityengine.xml config file and read the Entity Engine Configuration Guide to learn how to switch databases.

Click on Test Connection to make sure your settings allow you to successfully connect to the database.

• You should now be able to browse the database content of OFBiz inside Eclipse.