SmartGWT + JRebel?

[nitrojin]

Hi,

I've just begun evaluating SGWT for our firm. I'd like to know if SGWT can be integrated with JRebel in order to avoid doing a "GWT compile" for every little change that happens on the UI. In my experiment with the same, I noticed that GWT classes were not reloaded while every other (non GWT) source file in my project seems to have been reloaded fine.

If JRebel is not an option, is there any way the GWT compile overhead can be reduced significantly. At present each compile process takes over a minute and a half. This is quite painful especially since I'm just starting to learn the framework.

Thanks,

Nitin

[Blama]

Hi nitrojin,

in order to see results of code changes faster, you'll have to use debugging. Currently, in GWT there are two possibilities to do this:

1. Development Mode: Current FF 24.7.0 ESR or old FF 26.0, each with Google Web Toolkit Developer Plugin for Firefox, then start debugging from Eclipse (with installed Google Plugin for Eclipse) and hit the URL.
2. Super Dev Mode: Latest FF/Chrome + GWT Super Dev Mode (no browser plugin needed), then start debugging from Eclipse (with installed Google Plugin for Eclipse) and hit the URL.

Compared to Development Mode, Super Dev Mode has the following characteristics: slower one-time debug startup, much faster cycles, breakpoints in the browser (not the IDE, which is annoying, but will hopefully change some time in the future).
I'm using #1, but the modern way is to use Super Dev Mode.
Please note: All of the above is related to GWT in general and not SmartGWT-specific.

"Compile Time", "too few Widgets", "Dev-mode refresh time" are the top three points perceived as most annoying by the GWT users according to the survey published at GWT.create 2013.
Fortunately for us, Isomorphic solves the widget problem in the best possible way.
Unfortunately: For the rest we'll have to wait until GWT supports incremental compilation (GWT 3.0?).

Until then you have to stick to Development Mode (which is for my app at ~20 sec for a reload) or Super Dev Mode.

Make sure to read these:

• Thread on current GWT debug possibilities (March 2014)
• Thread on Development Mode speed (January 2014)
• SmartGWT FAQ on the reason why you need to use Firefox with Development Mode
• SmartGWT FAQ in general
• SmartGWT Quick Start Guide (PDF)
• Interesting: Incremental Compile in GWT.create 2013 keynote presentation, at the 32:41 mark (December 2013)
• Interesting: Google I/O 2013 - GWT Roadmap for the Future (May 2013)
• Interesting: Blog post on history and future of GWT (February 2014)

Hope this helps, Best regards,
Blama

[DevMo]

And you can throw hardware at it. Judging by the gwt-unitCache files that are created, a lot of what's going on is just file I/O. I switched my HDDs for SSDs and saw huge improvements in the GWT "classic" development mode.

As Blama noted, this issue relates to GWT generically, not Smart GWT per se.

[nitrojin]

Thanks Blama. I was able to get Dev mode to work. No luck with the super dev mode yet but dev mode should suffice for my purposes for now

[Blama]

Hi DevMo,

that's great. Now, to get even faster cycles, you can try this:
As you'll notice for some (structural) code changes Eclipse warns you that you have to restart the Development Mode. As long was you don't get this message, the code replace was successful.
Make sure that you can make use of it (see the result without a refresh). Therefore have a button / key combination that destroys and recreates your topmost application widget. For some widgets, this is not necessary (e.g. a window that is created and destroyed after use), but for your main GUI, this might safe you some F5-refresh cycles.

And while developing: Always have some interesting pages to read open in another browser. Good for compiles and even refreshs.

Best regards,
Blama