Running JDeveloper for the First Time

The first time you run JDeveloper, there are a few special dialogs that appear. These dialogs help you to configure JDeveloper for the type of work you will be doing.

 

The first of these dialogs is the "Roles" dialog. JDeveloper has a number of different "roles" that can be used to specialize the features available. The default role which is, strangely enough the default, allows all technologies and functions to be available.

 

The Roles dialog has a dropdown listbox with the various roles available, and a checkbox which allows you to specify whether you want to see this dialog each time you start JDeveloper. I typically uncheck this box. You can change roles later from within the IDE.

 

Click "ok" on this dialog and you will proceed to the next dialog (after a few second wait). If you have installed a version of JDeveloper prior to this one, you will be asked if you wish to migrate your settings from the earlier version. If you do not wish to migrate settings simply press <alt+n> to select "no" and the dialog will close. Otherwise you can have JDeveloper display a list of previous installations from which to migrate.

 

The next dialog that will appear is the "Usage Tracking" dialog. This dialog asks if you want to allow anonymous information about how you use JDeveloper to be sent back to Oracle so we can tell which features are being used most frequently. This dialog consists of a checkbox and an ok button.

 

Finally, the IDE actually initializes and you are presented with the "Tip of the Day" dialog. It consists of the tip text, a checkbox that says whether you want to see this dialog each time you start JDeveloper, a next button to see the next tip. If you do not wish to see these dialogs each time you start JDeveloper tab to the "show tips at startup" checkbox and uncheck it. Then tab through the entire dialog and back to the checkbox then press <ctrl+f4> to close the dialog.

 

If you want to see the tip of the day each time you start JDeveloper simply press <ctrl+f4> to close the dialog.

 

Tada! You are now on the main JDeveloper window. Focus is in the structure pane, so press <ctrl+shift+a> to move focus to the application navigator, and you are ready to get to work.

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Configuring JDeveloper for Accessibility

It is fairly simple to configure JDeveloper for accessibility once you know how to do it.

You will need a copy of the AccessBridge for Windows version 2.0.1 or later.

 

Download the accessBridge .exe file from the above site and save it to a convenient place on your harddrive. From within Windows Explorer, run AccessBridge-2_0_1.exe which runs its automatic installer. Don't be surprised if this takes quite a while.

 

When the installer is complete, you should double-check your JDeveloper installation to make sure it was properly configured.

 

In Windows Explorer, go to the folder where you installed JDeveloper (c:\fmw\jdev assuming you didn't change the silent.xml file I have posted). Inside of this folder there is another folder jdk160_14_r27.6.5-32 which is the included jdk for JDeveloper expand this folder then the jre/lib folder inside of it.

 

In the lib folder there should be a file named accessibility.properties and a folder named ext.

Inside of the ext folder should be the following 2 jar files:

Access-bridge.jar nad jaccess-1_4.jar along with some other jar files.

 

Providing that these files exist, you are all set. If they do not exist, they can be copied from:

 

C:\program files\java access bridge\installerfiles

 

Now from within Windows Explorer you can run:

C:\fmw\jdev\jdeveloper\jdev\bin\jdevw.exe to launch JDeveloper.

There are a few special things that happen on the first run of the program, but that will be in my next post.
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[Installing JDeveloper using the silent installer]

Since the "normal" installer for JDeveloper 11G is not accessible using a screenreader, Oracle has provided an alternate method of installation for those people who use screenreaders. This method involves the use of a special xml file which contains the installation options.

 

The silent install is simple to perform once you have a silent.xml file configured to your specific situation.

This basic silent.xml file will install JDeveloper and all of its components to c:\oracle\jdev. Feel free to modify it to change the location where JDeveloper will be installed, but make sure that all references to c:\oracle\jdev are changed to the same path.

 

Once you have the silent.xml file and the JDeveloper installation file, preferably in the same folder, open a command prompt and navigate to the folder where the files are located.

 

Type the following command to launch the installation:

 

C:\downloads> jdevstudio11112install.exe –mode=silent –silent_xml=silent.xml –log=install.log

 

After a short wait, a message saying extracting will be displayed then a series of dots will appear as the archive is extracted. Once the extraction is complete, the Oracle Installer will launch in a new window. Once this window closes, JDeveloper will have been installed.

 

The next step is to configure JDeveloper for accessibility, but that is the subject of my next post.

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[JDeveloper 11G patchset 1 Released]

In early November 2009, Oracle released JDeveloper 11G patch set 1. This release of JDeveloper has many significant accessibility improvements over the prior release.

 

The newest release can be downloaded from:

http://www.oracle.com/technology/software/products/jdev/htdocs/soft11.html

 

In my next post, I will discuss how best to install JDeveloper 11G using the JAWS screenreader or other assistive technologies.

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