JDeveloper 11g Errors Editing BPEL Database Adapter

Question

I am encountering problems editing Database Adapters in a BPEL based Service Composite Application in JDeveloper. Specifically,
* double-clicking an existing Database Adapter component to view/edit it generates an uncaught exception in the GUI
* clicking Next through the wizard proceeds to the next step but the view showing the
SQL select criteria and input parameters doesn't return the original values set when the
adapter was first created -- a second NPE is logged at that time
Here are the specifics of what's running:
* host for JDeveloper is a Windows7 Home Premium 64-bit (version 61. build 7601 SP 1) PC with 8GB RAM
* JDeveloper 11.1.1.5 (the SOA / WebCenter version)
* the c:\OracleMW directory has JDK 6.0.24 installed
* the Windows machine does have Java EE JDK 7 installed but JDeveloper uses the JDK inside c:\OracleMW
* while running, JDeveloper is using around 274M of memory
* database hosting the SOA meta data store and the desired DB of the adapter is 11g (11.2.0.1.0)
* database is up, reachable and healthy while attempting to edit the Adapter component
Here is the exact error encountered and the stack trace:
GUI popup = An unexpected error has occurred in JDeveloper. The program may be unstable, which could result in data loss. Decide how you want to proceed and click OK.
Details = Uncaught exception
java.lang.NullPointerException
o.tip.tools.ide.adapters.designtime.adapter.xr.util.SQLRefresher.run(SQLRefresher.java:118)
j.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:662)
If you click on ignore / continue and proceed through the steps of the Wizard, when the Define Selection Criteria step appears, the original criteria and input parameters defined when the adapter was first built are not displayed and the "Feedback - Log" tab in the log windows registers another entry of:
Previously reported error [NPE in o.tip.tools.ide.adapters.designtime.adapter.xr.util.SQLRefresher:118]
Also, if you go through the motions of adding a new parameter variable in the top section of the dialog, after clicking OK, the dialog DOES suddenly display the original variables defined as input parameters.
Thinking this is a symptom of JDeveloper trying to run in too little memory, I have attempted to increase the max memory setting of JDeveloper to 1024M by adding this line
AddVMOption -Xmx1024M
in
c:\OracleMW\JDeveloper\jdev\bin\jdev.conf
I've also tried adjusting that same setting in the config file for the IDE itself at
c:\OracleMW\JDeveloper\ide\bin\ide.conf
and get the same result. (Subsequent review of properties in About JDeveloper shows that JDeveloper uses the jdev.conf file, not the ide.conf file FWIW.) Memory really shouldn't be a problem because I'm still new to SOA style development and the "application" involved is a very simple "HelloSOA" type service that just sets a couple of BPEL variables, transforms some input variables into variables passed to this Database Adapter, does a few more Transform operations for the DB result values to the reply values and sends the reply.
However, one other sign that memory utilization could be contributing to this is that periodically, switching to the "Source" view of the composite.xml file or the BPEL process file will lock the GUI up for about 35 seconds with nothing happening. An obvious sign of garbage collection gettng triggered.
Any suggestions?

Answer 1

Oracle has identified a fix added to newer versions of JDeveloper which corrected these NullPointerException errors encountered using the 11.1.1.5 version of JDeveloper. That fix had not be propagated back to the 11.1.1.5 version but subsequently HAS been ported back. The fix is associated with patch ID 12670305 which can be downloaded from http://support.oracle.com by searching for that bug ID then downloading the associated ZIP file. I've applied the patch to JDeveloper 11.1.1.5 running on Windows7, Vista 32-bit and LINUX 64-bit and it works like a champ on all three platforms.