system folder | JDev & ADF Goodies

Lately users on the OTN forum asking how to change the system configurations or re install a specific version of JDeveloper when some undefined error persists.

Often the questions can be answered by rename or delete the system11.1.x.x.x folder which holds the system configuration and the integrated Weblogic Server (WLS) in a sub directory (DefaultDomain). If the problem only affects the integrated WLS you can just delete the DefaultDomain folder. The next time you run or debug an application the WLS DefaultDomain will be recreated.
The same is true for the system11.x.x.x folder with one difference. When JDeveloper detects an other system11.x.x.x folder on your system, it asks you if you want to migrate from the other version. In this dialog you can select or search (if you click the magnifying glass) a version to migrate from. You can force the dialog to appear if you start JDeveloper with the option ‘-migrate’ from a command shell.

Systemfolder11.1.1.4.0JDeveloper Migrate

Migrate system folder

You should be careful with the migration as it tends to migrate any error too. So if you have to delete the system11.x.x.x folder because of an error, you should first rename the folder, answer the dialog with ‘No’ and see if the problem is solved. Then you can delete the freshly created system11.x.x.x folder and try again with migrating from the renamed folder. If you are lucky the error will not be migrated. After any such action you should check the preferences again, as all changes you made have been erased.

By default JDeveloper put the system11.x.x.x folder in the “USER_HOME\AppData\Roaming\JDeveloper\” Folder (windows), as long as you did not specify an other location by changing an environment variable or changing the jdev.boot file.

#
# The ide.user.dir.var specifies the name of the environment variable
# that points to the root directory for user files.  The system and
# mywork directories will be created there.  If not defined, the IDE
# product will use its base directory as the user directory.
#
ide.user.dir.var = JDEV_USER_HOME,JDEV_USER_DIR
ide.user.dir = C:/Oracle/Middleware/jdeveloper/system

or specify the it as startup parameter

<path_to_jdev_install>\jdeveloper\jdeveloper.exe -J-Dide.user.dir=c:\JDeveloper\11.1.1.4

I find it helpful to use non-default locations for the JDeveloper user directory (which will contain the system.x.y.z folder) – in fact I find it so helpful, that I usually have several launcher shortcuts for the same version of JDeveloper pointing to different user directories (instead of specifying it in jdev.boot).
However, if you have many different launcher shortcuts I sometimes loose track which I’m currently running.

Well, there are a couple of ways to find out the location from within JDeveloper:
1) When you start an application in the internal WLS you get the path in the log window as part of the deployment messages

<13.08.2011 15:41 Uhr MESZ> <Notice> <WebLogicServer> <BEA-000360> <Server started in RUNNING mode> 
IntegratedWebLogicServer startup time: 26690 ms.
IntegratedWebLogicServer started.
[Running application xxyyzz on Server Instance IntegratedWebLogicServer...] 
[03:41:44 PM] ----  Deployment started.  ----
[03:41:44 PM] Target platform is  (Weblogic 10.3).
[03:41:45 PM] Retrieving existing application information
[03:41:45 PM] Running dependency analysis...
[03:41:45 PM] Deploying 2 profiles...
[03:41:47 PM] Wrote Web Application Module to P:\jdeveloper\system\system11.1.1.4.37.59.23\o.j2ee\drs\xxyyzz\xxyyzzViewControllerWebApp.war
[03:41:48 PM] Wrote Enterprise Application Module to P:\jdeveloper\system\system11.1.1.4.37.59.23\o.j2ee\drs\xxyyzz
[03:41:48 PM] Deploying Application..

2) you open the menu ‘Help’->’About’ and select the ‘Properties’ tab. Depending on the version you find multiple entries in the properties section.