Reloading classes in WebLogic Server 6.1

Question

Hello all,
We are developing applications for wlserver6.1 on JDK 1.3 and the development
proccess is slow due to the fact that every time that we modify a class (not servlets
or JSP´s) we have to restart the server o redeploy the application in order to
reload the new version of the class. I understand that this is because the JVM
does not support Hot Code Replace and the Server classloaders do not check for
changes in classes only in Servlets (we are running the server in development
mode).
Is there a work around for this? A custom classloader perhaps? Third party tools?
All replies welcome
Thanks
Max

Answer 1

Thanks, that's very helpful.
In 7.0/8.1, you could use weblogic.Deployer to redeploy just the webapp
module without bouncing the rest of the app. In your common case of
changing classes which are only in the webapp, this would be very fast.
You might save yourself some time by just developing on 8.1. java
weblogic.Deployer -examples will show you how to redeploy just the
webapp. Assuming your app didn't use any new 8.1 features, then it
should run fine on 6.1 as well.
I don't honestly remember whether 6.1 offered this functionality or not.
weblogic.Deployer was not added until 7.0 so you would have to check
the weblogic.deploy command.
-- Rob
Max wrote:
To answer your questions...
1) Hardware: Pentium II, 512Mb RAM
2) Redeploy: From console by unmarking the deployed check for the webapp box applying
the changes and remarking the deployed checkbox. For this to work i must put all
my classes in web-inf i would prefer it if i could put my classes elsewhere on
the classpath. If there are other better ways to redeploy i would be gratefull
for any advice, the applications directory and weblogic.Deployer sound interesting,
is it worth me looking at these possibilities?
3) The application consists of:
- 1 web application with around 50 Servlets and 2500 JSPs
- 45 EJB´s
Unfortunately the application is not mine, i´ve been contracted to add a new module
to it and do not have control over the applications architecture. The elements
that i want to reload are typically Java classes that at the moment are inside
the web app. Ideally i´d like to be able to put them anywhere on the classpath
and reload them.
Hope that this info is of some interest to you, should need anything else let
me know
max
Rob Woollen <[email protected]> wrote:
Yes, 4 minutes is too long.
I actually own this problem for our next release so I'm pretty
interested to hear more about your situation.
In particular:
1) What hardware is this on?
2) How are you redeploying the application?
a) through the console
b) through the applications directory
c) weblogic.Deployer
d) wldeploy ant task
e) in your IDE (if so, which one?)
3) Can you give me more details on your application size? (How many
EJBs/webapps etc)
4) What are you typically changing during development? java classes,
ejb implementations, ejb interfaces, web content etc...
If you (or anyone else) wants to give this information privately, you
could email me by removing the please.noemail.com and replacing it with
bea.com
Anyway, in the current world, I usually suggest that people consider
breaking their app up into smaller sub-applications which will redeploy
faster. It's a bit of work and in no way ideal, but I don't have any
better answers, yet...
-- Rob
Max wrote:
It takes about 4 minutes to redeploy which is more or less the sameas restarting
the server. Its the only application deployed on the server but asapplications
go i think that its quite large.
max
Rob Woollen <[email protected]> wrote:
You should almost never need to restart a server during development.
However, you will need to redeploy your application to pick-up class
changes.
How slow is redeploying your application?
-- Rob
Max wrote:
Hello all,
We are developing applications for wlserver6.1 on JDK 1.3 and the
development
proccess is slow due to the fact that every time that we modify aclass
(not servlets
or JSP´s) we have to restart the server o redeploy the applicationin order to
reload the new version of the class. I understand that this is becausethe JVM
does not support Hot Code Replace and the Server classloaders do notcheck for
changes in classes only in Servlets (we are running the server in
development
mode).
Is there a work around for this? A custom classloader perhaps? Thirdparty tools?
All replies welcome
Thanks
Max