[news.eclipse.newcomer] Re: Cannot Load Visual Editor

[Hal Vaughan <hal@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Paul Rubin wrote:

> Hal Vaughan wrote:
>> I've asked this on the eclipse.tools.ve group, but in my experience,
>> answers
>> there are very slow, and I have to get the VE up and running ASAP.  I
>> am blocked in all my work until it's back online, so I need a solution
>> quickly
>> or I have to find another IDE.  I'm not threatening, it's just gotten to
>> where I have to get it working ASAP or switch to something with a VE that
>> I
>> can get working.  Any help is appreciated!
>> 
>> I'm using Ubuntu Linux, Edgy upgraded from Dapper.  I've installed
>> Eclipse
>> 3.2.1 from eclipse.org instead of using apt.  I'm using Java 1.4.2 from
>> Sun, not any 3rd party version.
>> 
>> I had been using Eclipse 3.2 and I started running in to this problem, so
>> I created a clean install of 3.2.1, updated it, added the VE, made sure
>> that was updated as well, and I still have the same problem.
>> 
>> I've also tried installing Eclipse with apt-get.  It's in a different
>> directory, so I have two different versions (and I've deleted /~/.eclipse
>> between tests).  It doesn't do any good and I cannot install needed
>> updates because my window manager won't let me log in as root, I can't
>> run Eclipse from the console in X, as root, and have it open a window
>> when X is run
>> under my own username.  In other words, I get this problem with
>> completely different install and even with the newer Java 6 that I just
>> installed.
>> 
>> Whenever I open an existing class or create a new one to edit in the VE,
>> I get a requestor telling me that it can't open the file in the VE and I
>> always get a Null Pointer Exception.  There's no stack trace, just one
>> window telling me it couldn't open the file in the VE and that it's a
>> NPE.
>> 
>> I've had a bit of trouble Googling for this.  Any ideas what it is?  I
>> would think it's related to something in my system, since it used to work
>> fine in 3.2, then started having problems (with no changes to Eclipse),
>> then also had the same problem in 3.2.1.
>> 
>> Any ideas?
>> 
>> Thanks!
>> 
> 
> Are you installing other plugins besides VE and its dependencies?  If
> so, you might try a clean install with just VE and dependencies and see
> if that helps.  Seems to me I've seen occasional allegations of
> conflicts between plugins, though I don't recall if VE was ever involved.
> 
> /Paul

I tried reinstalling a number of ways.  I wiped the directory and
re-installed, then installed the VE through Eclipse.  I tried installing it
through the package manager (apt), I tried wiping the directory and
reinstalling from scratch, including installing the VE at the same time.  I
even made sure I wiped /~/.eclipse and it made no difference.  I finally
wiped out ~/workspace/.metadata and that did it.  I don't know what was
there that made the difference.  It did mean re-creating my projects, but
since I'm still learning and haven't added a ton of settings, and the
projects were all in different directories (and none in ~/workspace), it
was acceptable.

To me, the obvious conclusion was that there was something wrong with a
setting.  Before I wiped the .metadata directory, I noticed if I tried to
change prefs on the VE, they wouldn't stay.  If I tried to change the
default layout from the original to a null layout, the box would not stay
checked.  I don't know which setting or config file caused the problem, but
I didn't have time to search for it.

Thanks for the suggestion, but since it went across all new installs, I
finally decided it had to be what wasn't changing with new installs.  First
to look at was ~/.eclipse, then ~/workspace/.metadata.

Hal