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Difference between revisions of "Mylyn/FAQ"

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''' Mylar feature configuration problem '''
 
''' Mylar feature configuration problem '''
  
Kf the above do not address the issue, the easiest thing to do is uninstall any old versions and update to the latest Mylar.  Your tasks won't be lost, by default they are stored in the <workspace>/.mylar/tasklist.xml file which will be read next time Mylar starts correctly. First, uninstall the old version of Mylar using Help -> Software Updates -> Manage Configuration.  You need to first Disable on all Mylar features by right-clicking them, allow Eclipse to restart after the last is disabled, and after restart.  Then ensure that the 3rd toolbar button is pressed (figure below) so that you see the disabled features to uninstall, and Uninstall them using the popup menu.  If you don't uninstall the the Update Manager will think that you have the latest and tell you that there are no updates. Note that manually removing the plug-ins and features can lead to Eclipse configuration errors. After uninstalling update Eclipse by adding the correct update site specified at on the [http://eclipse.org/mylar/dl.php download page], and after that automatically or manually updating will install the correct version.
+
If the above do not address the issue, the easiest thing to do is uninstall any old versions and update to the latest Mylar.  Your tasks won't be lost, by default they are stored in the <workspace>/.mylar/tasklist.xml file which will be read next time Mylar starts correctly. First, uninstall the old version of Mylar using Help -> Software Updates -> Manage Configuration.  You need to first Disable on all Mylar features by right-clicking them, allow Eclipse to restart after the last is disabled, and after restart.  Then ensure that the 3rd toolbar button is pressed (figure below) so that you see the disabled features to uninstall, and Uninstall them using the popup menu.  If you don't uninstall the the Update Manager will think that you have the latest and tell you that there are no updates. Note that manually removing the plug-ins and features can lead to Eclipse configuration errors. After uninstalling update Eclipse by adding the correct update site specified at on the [http://eclipse.org/mylar/dl.php download page], and after that automatically or manually updating will install the correct version.
  
 
[[Image:mylar-eclipse-manage-configuration.gif]]
 
[[Image:mylar-eclipse-manage-configuration.gif]]

Revision as of 09:51, 11 August 2006

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Setup

Recommended configuration

Recommendations for Mylar 0.6.x:

  • Package Explorer
    • Use flat layout in the Package Explorer (local pull down -> Layout -> Flat). Hierarchical layout is not supported.
    • Link the Package Explorer with the editor (toolbar -> Link with Editor). With Mylar applied this won't cause the jumping around problems it typically does.
    • Deselect the Referenced Libraries filter (local pull down -> Filters -> Referenced Libraries). With Mylar applied libraries won't blow up the tree.
    • Leave the General -> Appearance -> Label Decorations -> Java Type Indicator off. Since the type under the Java file is visible when Mylar is visible when Mylar is applied this information is redundant.
  • Editors
    • Turn comment folding on to reduce clutter when using auto folding (Preferences -> Java -> Editor -> Folding).
    • Turn off or increase the number of editors to leave open (Preferences -> General -> Editors -> Number of opened editors before closing). Since Mylar will manage the open editors with task activation, this number can be set higher or automatic closing disabled entirely.
    • If auto folding is used, the Outline view can be closed or made a fast view
  • Views
    • Outline: can keep closed for Java development, since the Package Explorer and folded signatures should provide enough context, and the in-place Outline (Ctrl+O) can be used when needed.
  • Team
    • Set Synchronize view to Change Sets mode (on 3.2: third toolbar button: select Change Sets; on 3.1: toggle toolbar button: Show Change Sets)
    • Use graphical CVS decorators only (Preferences -> Team -> CVS -> Label Decorations -> Text Decorations -> clear all but Project; Icon Decorations -> enable all). This helps reduce visual clutter.

Install Troubleshooting

For supported platforms and known limitations please see theDownload Page. Install/update failures can include:

Update manager failure

The update manager failed because it could not access the update site, or because it got confused about the configuration state of your Eclipse. First try updating again to see if the feature is accessible. If you are trying to update the JIRA connector you can also try de-selecting that feature in case the Tigris.org update site is not accessible. Using use "Search new features.." when installing can help avoid this problem. If that does not work see the feature configuration troubleshooting below.

Incompatible VM (e.g. JDK 1.4)

In this case you'll errors like the following in your log file. To check JDK version that Eclipse was launched with to to Help -> About Eclipse SDK -> Configuration Details and verify that the java.vm.version is 1.5. Mac users should refer to the last comment on bug 1163477 for instructions on how to change the 1.4 default.

   Root exception: java.lang.UnsupportedClassVersionError:
   org/eclipse/mylar/tasklist/MylarTasklistPlugin (Unsupported major.minor version 49.0)

If you are using JDK 1.6 on Eclipse 3.1 (not recommended) you must add the following line to your config.ini file:

   org.osgi.framework.executionenvironment=OSGi/Minimum-1.0,OSGi/Minimum-1.1,JRE-1.1,J2SE-1.2,
   J2SE-1.3,J2SE-1.4,J2SE-1.5,JavaSE-1.6

Incompatible version of Eclipse

Separate versions and update sites exist for Eclipse 3.1 and 3.2), in which case you may see errors like the following in your <workspace>/.metadata/.log file or in a Mylar view:

   java.lang.NoSuchMethodError: org.eclipse.ui.internal.dialogs.FilteredTree.getFilterControl()
   The activator org.eclipse.mylar.java.MylarJavaPlugin for bundle org.eclipse.mylar.java is invalid

Mylar feature configuration problem

If the above do not address the issue, the easiest thing to do is uninstall any old versions and update to the latest Mylar. Your tasks won't be lost, by default they are stored in the <workspace>/.mylar/tasklist.xml file which will be read next time Mylar starts correctly. First, uninstall the old version of Mylar using Help -> Software Updates -> Manage Configuration. You need to first Disable on all Mylar features by right-clicking them, allow Eclipse to restart after the last is disabled, and after restart. Then ensure that the 3rd toolbar button is pressed (figure below) so that you see the disabled features to uninstall, and Uninstall them using the popup menu. If you don't uninstall the the Update Manager will think that you have the latest and tell you that there are no updates. Note that manually removing the plug-ins and features can lead to Eclipse configuration errors. After uninstalling update Eclipse by adding the correct update site specified at on the download page, and after that automatically or manually updating will install the correct version.

Mylar-eclipse-manage-configuration.gif

Installing on Linux

Internal Browser

Mylar Task Management features make user of Eclipse's Internal Browser which may require additional install steps. The following have been verified on Fedora Core.

  1. Run Mozilla (not firefox) to confirm that it works.
  2. Confirm the location of your Mozilla install ( /usr/lib/mozilla-1.7.12 on our test box)
  3. Set necessary environment variables in <home_directory>/.bashrc, adding the following 3 lines

         MOZILLA_FIVE_HOME=/usr/lib/mozilla-1.7.12
         LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$LD_LIBRARY_PATH:$MOZILLA_FIVE_HOME
         export MOZILLA_FIVE_HOME LD_LIBRARY_PATH

  1. Log out and log in again (or type "source .bashrc" at the prompt)
  2. Start Eclipse and test the internal web browser

If you are get exceptions indicating missing libraries, check that the paths are accurate and that you in fact have the libraries requested. For example, on our test box a library was still missing after these steps. The libstdc++.so.5 was being reported as missing. To solve this problem, find an rpm online that will install the missing legacy library. In our case we found necessary rpm (compat-libstdc++-33-3.2.3-47.fc4.i386.rpm) on rpmfind.net using their search facility. See also: SWT FAQ

Keyboard and Alt+Click mappings

If the Ctrl+Alt+Shift+Arrow Up shortcut for Mark as Landmark does not work do the following:

  • Menu Bar -> Desktop -> Control Centre -> Keyboard Shortcuts -> Move one workspace up, Move one workspace down: disable both.

If Alt+Click quick unfiltering does not work try one of the following:

  • Hold down the Windows key while holding Alt, if available (ironic, but unsurprisingly this key is not usually mapped on Linux).
  • Disable the Alt+drag to move functionality:
    • Open a terminal and run gconf-editor
    • Go into: /apps/metacity/general
    • Edit the mouse_button_modifier field. Setting it to nothing disables it. You can use <Super> to set it to the windows key.
    • Exit gconf-editor.

Installing on MacOS

If you see errors like the following it may be due to Xerces missing from the Mac JDK so you may need to add it to your default classpath. Please refer to and comment on bug 144287 if you see this problem.

   Could not create Bugzilla editor input
   java.io.IOException: SAX2 driver class org.apache.xerces.parsers.SAXParser not found

To ensure that you are using the 1.5 VM refer to the last comment on bug 1163477 for instructions on how to change the 1.4 default.

Uninstall troubleshooting

On Eclipse 3.1, you may need to reset the Java editor to be default for ".java" again via: Preferences -> General -> Editors -> File Associations

On Eclipse 3.2, if after uninstalling content assist proposals no longer appear you need to ensure that the "Java Completions" and "Java Types" proposal categories are included in the default proposals via: Preferences -> Java -> Editor -> Content Assist -> Advanced -> Restore Defaults. Also see: Mylar FAQ#Content assist troubleshooting. This bug has been fixed in Eclipse 3.2.1.

Task List backup and restore

The task list is backed up by default in the <workspace>/.mylar/backup directory, with rolling backups set according to the schedule in Preferences -> Mylar -> Task List -> Backup. Use File -> Import -> Mylar Task Data to restore from one of the archive zips.

Note that uninstalling a connector will cause all of the queries and tasks of that kind to disappear from the Task List, but if you reinstall that connector they will reappear.

If the Task List is blank Mylar failed to install or update, or there was a problem reading the task list. By default Mylar keeps your task list in <workspace>/.mylar/tasklist.xml. If you move workspaces, and have not changed the Mylar data directory via the Task List preference page, the new location will be used when Eclipse restarts (hit Restore Defaults on that page to copy tasks back to the default location). If your tasks disappear due to to a bug you can check the .mylar folder for a tasklist-backup.xml file, which will contain the previously-saved list.

You can also back up your task list and context data manually or periodically use File -> Import/Export -> Mylar Task Data. Note that when restoring an previous tasklist.xml file you should first close Eclipse.

File:Mylar-tasklist-backup.gif

Integration

Performance profile

The goal is for Mylar to have no noticeable effect on Eclipse's speed or memory usage, you do not need to increase the amount of memory Eclipse runs with to use Mylar, and any performance issue should be reported as a bug. The current performance profile is:

  1. Mylar only runs if a task is active, and has no impact on Eclipse if no task is active.
  2. Task context models have negligible memory overhead.
  3. When a task is active, additional view refresh is required to update the views based on interest model changes. This should not be noticeable on Windows where refresh is very quick, but could be more noticeable on other platforms.
  4. The time to activate a task context is dominated by the time it takes Eclipse to open the editors in the context. You can set the preference for how many editors to open in the Mylar preference page (e.g. setting to 1 will dramatically reduce activation time, but also remove the benefit of having open editors correspond to the task context). You can also turn off editor management entirely in the Mylar Tasks view pull-down.
  5. Eclipse startup is slowed down by (4) if a task is active when Eclipse is shut down.
  6. The low priority background searches that the Active Search view runs can be noticeable on slower machines.

Which Focused UI features can I turn off?

All of them. When no task is active neither are any of Mylar's features. When working with task contexts Mylar's Focused UI features are all optional and in general configurable. The following table summarizes how the key features can be toggled. Additional configuration options are under the Mylar and General -> Appearance preference pages.

UI Mechanism Example/description Toggle using
Interest filtering Package Explorer Apply Mylar button on view toolbar
Interest decoration Bolding of landmark elements Preferences -> General -> Appearance -> Label Decoration
Content assist Ranking of interesting elements Eclipse 3.2: Java -> Editor -> Content Assist -> Work in Progress -> turn off Mylar, turn on Java

Eclipse 3.1: set the Java editor to be default for .java, not the Mylar

Java editor
Active change sets Grouping of changes by tasks Preferences -> Mylar -> Team
Editor management Auto opening/closing of editors Preferences -> Mylar -> Editor Management
Active views Active Search and Hierarchy Only on if view is active

Change Set and Synchronize view troubleshooting

There are two modes for Eclipse's Change Sets support: the models mode (Eclipse 3.2 only) and the standard mode. These modes are unrelated to Mylar and apply to both Mylar's automated Change Sets and the ones you can created manually in Eclipse. The models mode is toggled via Synchronize View -> Preferences -> CVS -> Allow Models to participate in synchronizations. These modes

If you are using the standard mode, Change Sets toolbar button will only appear if the Synchronize view is in Incoming or Outgoing mode, not in the combined Incoming/Outgoing mode. This button must be pressed in order for change sets to appear. For working with CVS two modes are indistinguishable beyond this limitation. Subclipse only supports the standard mode.

Mylar-changesets-subclipse.gif

If you are using the models mode, you will notice that the Mylar Active Change sets work show up with a decoration in the lower-right corner, and that you can view both incoming and outgoing change sets at the same time. However, note that there is a refresh problem with this mode (bug 142395), and until it is resolved we recommend that you use the standard mode for CVS. To work around the former, if a a Change Set you expect is missing or if you get a There are no more Incoming/Outgoing changes message in the view on startup toggle the third toolbar button between All Models and Change Sets. If that doesn't resolve it activate and deactivate the current task.

Mylar-changesets-model-based.gif

Does the Task List replace the Eclipse Tasks view?

The SDK's Tasks view is used for showing markers such as 'todo' tags which indicate a local problem with a resource, similar to a compiler warning. As such, these 'tasks' are at a much lower level of granularity than than Mylar's tasks, and one task could involve cleaning up multiple todos. In order to make working with only the markers in a particular task context, e.g. for clean-up before committing, the Apply Mylar filter is available for both the Problems and the Tasks views.

Tasks and Repositories

What if Mylar doesn't support my task/bug/issue/ticket repository?

First, do a search of the open repository connector requests and vote for the corresponding bug if your tracker is there, or create a new bug. In the meantime, you can work with those reports (but not with queries) via the web integration. To create a task from any web-based repository:

  • Drag the URL from the Address bar of the browser, or from a hyperlink in a bug listing to the Mylar Tasks view. This will create a task for the bug, link it to the page, and populate the description with the title of the corresponding page. In Mozilla, simply drag the URL. In Internet Explorer you must have Ctrl pressed in order for Eclipse to recognize the drop.
  • Alternatively you can copy the URL, press the New Task button on the Mylar Tasks view. This has the same effect as above but you can edit the description after retrieving it.
  • Opening the task will now open the corresponding issue. You can also right-click the task and select Open in External Browser.

Mylar-tasklist-weblink-editor.gif

Bugzilla Connector troubleshooting

If queries are not working correctly ensure that you have the right Bugzilla server version selected for the corresponding repository: Task Repositories (view) -> right+click repository -> Properties. For supported versions see the download page. If the repository is still not functioning it may be due to authentication or connectivity problems. If that does not resolve the problem please post a message to the newsgroup or submit a bug.

If reports are failing to submit or you're missing products or components to submit to try updating the attributes for the repository via New -> New Repository Task -> select Bugzilla repository -> Update Products from Repository. Currently our support for retrieving the products/components etc. available on the server relies on the information from <your-repository-url>/config.cgi?ctype=rdf. If you are unable to access this url with your web browser then this is likely the source of problems related to missing products/configuration.

If attachments are failing to submit and you see that after processing the attachment, the bugzilla bug shows a size of "bytes" (no numbers), your database may be dropping the packet sending the file. On MySQL, check the max_allowed_packet directive. You may see errors like: DBD::mysql::st execute failed: Got a packet bigger than 'max_allowed_packet' bytes [for Statement "INSERT INTO attach_data (id, thedata) VALUES (38, ?)"] at /path/to/bugzilla/attachment.cgi line 993. Also, check the maximum attachment size in Bugzilla Parameters - Attachments.

If you are using Bugzilla 2.18 and are getting mid-air collisions this is likely due to incorrectly formatted timestamp field in the underlying bugs database table (bug 149513). This can be resolved by upgrading to Bugzilla 2.20 or later.

JIRA Connector troubleshooting

Note that the JIRA SOAP/RPC services have to be running on the server. For additional details see the Requirements on the JIRA Dashboard page. For supported versions see the download page.

Trac Connector troubleshooting

For supported versions see the download page.

Network and proxy server troubleshooting

For accessing repositories via a proxy server, Mylar uses the settings under Preferences -> Install/Update. If you are seeing errors like "HTTP Response Code 407" it is likely that you need to configure these proxy server settings.

Java Development

Content assist troubleshooting

In Eclipse 3.2, Mylar uses extended content assist processors in order to rank and separate the elements in the current task context. To see proposals ranked according to interest you must have only the (Mylar) proposals kinds enabled in the list below, otherwise you will see duplicates. If you do not see any proposals, check this list to ensure that either the Mylar or the plain proposals are enabled. Running New -> Mylar -> Recommended Preferences will do this for you automatically, or you can set toggle them manually in the preference page. Proposals will disappear if a workspace into which Mylar was installed is run without Mylar installed (e.g. as a result of uninstalling or multiple Eclipses using same workspace, see Platform bug 140416).

If after invoking content assist you see an error message dialog that states "The extension tool too long to return from the 'computeCompletionProposals()' operation", this is most likely due to something interrupting the proposal operation (e.g. garbage collection). Ignore it if it does not recur, increase Eclipse's memory if it does (e.g via -Xmx384M command line argument), or see bug 141457 for more details.

Mylar-content-assist-prefs.gif

How do I stop declarations from showing in the Package Explorer?

If you don't like Mylar's constant showing of Java members in the Package Explorer, select the drop-down menu, then Filters... and enable the Mylar Java Declarations Filter. It will then stick in the menu in case you want to toggle between modes. Note that this will hide interest information about members that aren't in your current file (e.g. showing you which methods are landmarks) so this mode is not recommended, but can be useful for 1024x768 screen resolutions.

Mylar-java-filtering-declarations.gif

Why does nothing show up in the Active Search or Active Hierarchy?

As you work and elements become landmarks (bold decoration), and these elements populate the Active Search and Active Hierarchy views. To force an element to populate the views manually make it a landmark by right-clicking or hitting Ctrl+Alt+Shift+Up Arrow.

Integration with other tools

Mylar relies on Bridges to integrate the context model with the structure and UI features of domain-specific tools. The core set of Bridges supports the Eclipse SDK (i.e. has bridges for Java, JUnit, PDE, Ant and Resources). The Resources Bridge enables a basic level of interoperability with other tools that use files (e.g. .php, .cpp), and enables Mylar filtering to work for generic views that shows those files (i.e. the Project Explorer, Navigator) and any corresponding markers (i.e. the Problems and Tasks views). This is only the most basic context model integration, and does not offer the benefits of a specialized structure bridge, such as making declarations part of the context and providing Active Search facilities. Without a bridge Mylar also can not be applied to tool-specific views.

If you would like to see support for a particular tool, first do a search of the open bridge requests and vote for the corresponding bug if your tool is there, or create a new bug. Also consider adding your experiences to the FAQ sections below.

Using Mylar with WTP

Context modeling works at the file level, noting the limitation of bug 144882: interest filter fails on WTP Dynamic Web Project

Key Limitations

  • Bug 106678: The Package Explorer hierarchical layout is not supported properly yet and will show uninteresting elements when enabled.

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