To debug your application, you must use a development environment
like the IBM® Rational® Application
Developer for WebSphere® to
create a Java™ project. You must then import the program that
you want to debug into the project.
About this task
By following the steps below, you can import the WebSphere Application
Server examples into a Java project. Two debugging styles are available:
- Step-by-step debugging mode prompts you whenever the server calls
a method on a Web object. A dialog lets you step into the method or skip it.
In the dialog, you can turn off step-by-step mode when you are finished using
it.
- Breakpoints debugging mode lets you debug specific parts of programs.
Add breakpoints to the part of the code that you must debug and run the program
until one of the breakpoints is encountered.
Breakpoints actually work with both styles of debugging. Step-by-step
mode just lets you see which Web objects are being called without having to
set up breakpoints ahead of time.
You do not need to import an entire
program into your project. However, if you do not import all of your program
into the project, some of the source might not compile. You can still debug
the project. Most features of the debugger work, including breakpoints, stepping,
and viewing and modifying variables. You must import any source that you want
to set breakpoints in.
The inspect and display features in the source
view do not work if the source has build errors. These features let you select
an expression in the source view and evaluate it.
Procedure
- Create a Java Project by opening the New Project
dialog.
- Select Java from the left side of the dialog
and Java Project in the right side of the dialog.
- Click Next and specify a name for the project, for example, WASExamples.
- Click Finish to create the project.
- Select the new project, choose File > Import > File System,
then Next to open the import file system dialog.
- Browse the directory for files.
Go
to the following directory: profile_root/installedApps/node_name/DefaultApplication.ear/DefaultWebApplication.war.
- Select DefaultWebApplication.war in the left side of the Import
dialog and then click Finish. This imports the JavaServer
Pages files and Java source for the examples into your project.
- Add any JAR files needed to build to the Java Build
Path.
Select
Properties from
the right-click menu. Choose the Java Build Path node and then select the
Libraries tab. Click
Add External JARs to add the following JAR files:
Click
OK when you have added all of the JARs.
- You can set some breakpoints in the source at this time if you
like, however, it is not necessary as step-by-step mode will prompt you whenever
the server calls a method on a Web object. Step-by-step mode is
explained in more detail below.
- To start debugging, you need to start the WebSphere Application Server in debug
mode and make note of the JVM debug port. The default value of
the JVM debug port is 7777.
- When the server is started, switch to the debug perspective by
selecting Window > Open Perspective > Debug. You can also enable the
debug launch in the Java Perspective by choosing Window >
Customize Perspective and selecting the Debug and Launch checkboxes
in the Other category.
- Select the workbench toolbar Debug pushbutton and then select WebSphere Application
Server Debug from the list of launch configurations. Click the New pushbutton
to create a new configuration.
- Give your configuration a name and select the project to debug
(your new WASExamples project). Change the port number if you did not start
the server on the default port (7777).
- Click Debug to start debugging.
- Load one of the examples in your browser. For example: http://your.server.name:9080/hitcount
What to do next
To
learn more about debugging, launch the The IBM Rational Application Developer for WebSphere,
select
Help > Help Contents and choose the
Debugger Guide bookshelf entry.
To learn about known limitations and problems that are associated with the IBM Rational Application
Developer for WebSphere,
see the IBM Rational Application
Developer for WebSphere release
notes. For current information available from IBM Support on known problems and their
resolution, see the
IBM Support page.
IBM Support
has documents that can save you time gathering information needed to resolve
this problem. Before opening a PMR, see the Must gather documents page for information to gather
to send to IBM Support.