Tip: Fast Publish with Eclipse GWT Plugin

I previously linked to this GWT plugin for eclipse from eclipseguru.org.

It’s great in that I can easily run my project in the GWT browser, use the debugger, hit refresh to reload my classes, and it automatically compiles and deploys everything when I deploy the server.

One useful trick I’ve come up with is to create a link folder in my GWT project (called deploy.gwt) which points at the already-deployed web app folder. This means that I can deploy my GWT to the webserver quickly by pointing GWT at that link (Project > Properties > GWT Deployment > Output folder = “deploy.gwt”) and using the “GWT Tools > Compile and Publish” context menu item on the project to compile and publish directly into the container. Now I can test in a non-hosted browser after only a few seconds, instead of waiting a minute for a standard glassfish deployment. It also updates the css and images, but not servlets. It is a huge time saver when tweaking CSS and images.

5 Responses to “Tip: Fast Publish with Eclipse GWT Plugin”

  1. Tip: Fast Publish to container (Take 2) « dobesland Says:

    [...] Fast Publish to container (Take 2) Previously I suggested you could use a folder link to get the GWT plugin to deploy your css/html files directly to the [...]

  2. Alexis MP Says:

    GlassFish deployments really shouldn’t take that long. Which deploy tool/mechanism are you using?

  3. dobes Says:

    Your timing is a bit funny, last night I removed my old JSF/Facelets project from the EAR and the EAR deploys in 10 seconds or less now! So, this tip isn’t as useful as it could have been.

    I originally started with a tomcat/spring/hibernate architecture and I thought nothing of having 20 MB of images in the WebContent folder. With glassfish everything has to be copied a few times, so I suppose it was all those unused images causing the problem.

    I’ve been using eclipse 3.3 with web tools 2.0(?).

  4. Amith GC Says:

    thanks a lot… helped me a lot

  5. dobes Says:

    Your welcome, glad to be of service.

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