New WebCenter Extension for JDeveloper Fixes Design Time Memory Issues

There’s a new WebCenter Extension available that you can install very quickly and easily through JDeveloper’s Help > Check for Update. To confirm that the new version is installed, check the extension version through Help > About. Look for extension version: 11.1.1.1.0.090820.0735.

The updated extension contains fixes for a number of issues; most importantly the incorrect MaxPermSize setting that the WebCenter Extension injected on the project level. This value caused conflicts with the Integrated WebLogic Server settings specified in the SetDomainEnv shell script.

As a result of this fix you will not run out of memory after a few runs of your WebCenter application.

Regardless of whether you do or don’t have the WebCenter Extension already installed, it is safe to install the new version.

Bonus: if you want to download the extension offline and install it off of your file system, here you can get a hold of all the Oracle Fusion Middleware extensions, including the SOA Composite Editor and the Team Productivity Center.
Important note: If you choose to download the WebCenter extension from OTN directly, be sure that you DO NOT extract the extension zip file. Point JDeveloper’s Help > Check for Update to the downloaded zip file directly.

Isn’t it nice to see the JDeveloper extension model work when quick fixes need to be released?

Installing the WebCenter Development Environment

In this quick demonstration I show the steps of setting up the WebCenter development environment:

1. Installing Oracle JDeveloper Studio Edition 11gR1 (11.1.1.0.0)
2. Installing the WebCenter Extension for Oracle JDeveloper using Help > Check for Updates
3. Confirming that the installation succeeded

While setting up the development environment is very quick and easy, there are still a lot of things that you as a developer can try out without any additional installation.

• Build and consume portlets: The Integrated WebLogic Server that ships with JDeveloper contains a portlet container and sample portlets that you can deploy your portlets to.

• Build customizable applications with Oracle Composer: The customization data is saved by  Metadata Services (MDS). In a development environment we use the file system repository, by default.
• Integrate content: In a development environment, very often we use the file system adapter to test content integration using Java Content Repository (JCR – aka: JSR 170), or the Document Library task flows.
• Add Tagging and Linking: If you have an Oracle XE database, you can install the WebCenter database schema and incorporate tagging and linking as well.
• Integrate Email: If your company has an IMAP4 or a MS Exchange server, you can surface your email by connecting to your server using the Email connection and task flow.

An excellent summary of the capabilities can be found in the Fusion Middleware Tutorial for WebCenter Developers (HTML | PDF | Supporting Files).