'Hot code replace' not working — Eclipse doesn't change any code on JBoss

Question

I'm currently experiencing a problem with 'hot code replace' not working on Eclipse Galileo and JBoss 4.2.3.

Among other applications I'm running an exploded Java WAR on my local JBoss. The project from which it is build is managed by Maven. I build the project using the Maven goal war:exploded and then I copy that directory to JBoss with an ANT script.

When I'm now running the application and set a breakpoint anywhere in the code, Eclipse properly halts at that line in the debug mode. But when I'm making a change to the source file and save it, Eclipse doesn't apply this change to the JBoss. For example, when I make a normal code line into a comment, the debugger still steps over this comment as if it was regular Java code. Or when I remove a line, the debugger seems to get out of sync with the file and starts stepping over parenthesis.

But I'm not getting any 'hot code replace error'-messages either. It seems to me that Eclipse applies the changes to the source files, but doesn't apply it to the JBoss.

Are there any special preferences that have to be turned on in order to make hot code replace work? Or are there any mistakes in how I build and deploy the application to the JBoss?

Answer 1

I did not work with JBoss but I have two suggestions.

1. If you run your application in eclipse using the launch configuration
   
   Is your "Project" - "Build Automatically" flag enabled? If not, the code is not compiled and ignored t runtime.

2. When you debug an application in remote mode, you can not change the code, but you can change the value of parameters. (I think)

Answer 2

I had issues in a project with Maven and Eclipse. No errors were shown, but hot code replacement was not working. I read that "Build Automatically" has to be checked. I checked this and it still didnt work. I had some errors in other projects in my build path. I believe that was the error. When i researched, I found that the we had to uncheck the "Abort build when buildpath errors". I have given the details in the link below.

Answer 3

First check is the Project/Build automatically.

It may be also required to check the application server deployment configuration,

E.g. for JBoss, in Eclipse, in the Servers view, double click on the server and there is a Deployment Scanners section with two check boxes:

• Add missing deployment scanners
• Remove added deployment scanners before shutdown

https://docs.jboss.org/author/display/AS7/Deployment+Scanner+configuration JBoss AS/ Deployment Scanner configuration

Answer 4

I just recently had this problem in Eclipse 2019-06 and found I had to uncheck the option in "Replace classfiles containing compilation errors" in Preferences->Java->Debug->Hot Code Replace group. All the other options there were checked. Previous to doing that I was getting "Hot code replace failed - Delete method not implemented" despite my only change being to ass a System.out.println call. As soon as I changed that option ( in the same debug session ) it started working for me.