WebLogic Builder

This document contains the following sections.

How WebLogic Builder Works

WebLogic Builder is a visual environment for editing a J2EE application's deployment descriptor XML files. You can view descriptor files while you visually edit them in WebLogic Builder, and you won't need to make textual edits to the XML files.

What can I do using WebLogic Builder?

Begin by pointing WebLogic Builder at an application's compiled J2EE components (*.class files or modules that contain *.class files). If any of the deployment descriptor files needed for deployment on WebLogic Server are missing or defective, WebLogic Builder will offer to generate new or newly serviceable descriptor files.

Once deployment descriptor files exist, you can edit their elements and attributes using WebLogic Builder. You can, for example, add a tag library to a web application, or add a finder method to an EJB.

Test your application by using WebLogic Builder to deploy applications to a server.

Recommended Uses for WebLogic Builder

Use WebLogic Builder for the following tasks:

Generate deployment descriptor files for a J2EE module
Edit a module's deployment descriptor files
View deployment descriptor files
Compile and validate deployment descriptor files
Deploy a module to a server

Limitations of WebLogic Builder

WebLogic Builder has some limitations.

Cannot add new modules to an application's descriptor files
Will notice changes to *.class files only if you close and reopen the module
Support for generating descriptors for EJB 1.1 beans is not guaranteed; focus is on EJB 2.0
Validates EJBs only
Cannot automatically display the differences between a changed but unsaved descriptor file and original file
Cannot perform batch descriptor update of XML element values
Cannot remove components from a module's descriptor files
If you make changes to descriptor files while they are opened in WebLogic Builder, Builder will not be aware of the changes
No file management capabilities