Debugging with Eclipse

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This topic describes how to debug XperienCentral plugins using Eclipse. It is assumed that XperienCentral is up and running and that the plugin has been deployed.

To debug a plugin in Eclipse, follow these steps:

1. Create a new launch application in the Run > Debug Configurations panel by selecting "Remote Java Application" and clicking the upper left-hand button:
   
   
   
   
   
2. Give it a meaningful name ans select the project associated with the plugin.
3. Ensure that the rest of the settings (Host, localhost, Port), are correct:
   
   
   
   
   During the start-up of XperienCentral Community Edition, Tomcat will also display this port in the console (dt_socket):
   
   
   
   
   
   
4. Ensure that the source files you want to debug are referenced in the "Source" tab of the created launch configuration. For example:
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
5. When you click [Debug], Eclipse will make a connect to your Tomcat installation.
6. Switch to the "Debub" perspective (Window > Open Perspective > Debug). You can now add breakpoints to your Java classes using the right mouse button. For example:
   
   
   
   
   Using the buttons in the "Debug" perspective, you can now debug your plugin:
   
   
   
   
   
   

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Hot Code Replacement to Remotely Debug a Plugin

To allow Java code to be `hot replaced` while remote debugging from the Eclipse IDE, you need to add the following Java option to the start-up script of the Catalina server. This way you would not need to redeploy a plugin due to small changes in the Java code during debugging.

1. Inside the start-up script of Tomcat (e.g. C:\GX\XperienCentral\apache-tomcat\bin\startup.bat) replace the following line:
   
   

   set JAVA_OPTS=%JAVA_OPTS% -Xdebug -Xrunjdwp:transport=dt_socket,address=8000,server=y,suspend=n
   
   with

   set JAVA_OPTS=%JAVA_OPTS% -Xdebug -agentlib:jdwp=transport=dt_socket,address=localhost:8000,server=y,suspend=n



2. Restart Tomcat.

   
   

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Remote Debugging with Java 9 and Higher

To remotely debug a plugin in Java 9 and higher, add the following to your Tomcat setenv.sh script:

CATALINA_OPTS="$CATALINA_OPTS -Xms512m -Xmx512m -verbosegc -Xdebug -Xrunjdwp:transport=dt_socket,server=y,suspend=n,address=*:8000 -Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.port=9000 -Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.authenticate=false -Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.ssl=false"

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