Reload Java Classes for Improved Developer Experience

[Jean-Baptiste Quenot <jb...@apache.org>]

Here it is, the experimental patch is available for you to test
(be sure to take the most uptodate however):

https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/WICKET-126

Basically,  this patch  against  branch 1.x  allows reloading  the
Wicket application  upon a  class file change. As  soon as  a Java
class  is updated  in the  classes directories,  the corresponding
application is  reloaded by  Wicket. Also, bookmarkable  pages are
properly reloaded.

To enable this feature, use:

        <filter-class>wicket.protocol.http.ReloadingWicketFilter</filter-class>

Instead of:

        <filter-class>wicket.protocol.http.WicketFilter</filter-class>


Or if you use the servlet:

        <servlet-class>wicket.protocol.http.ReloadingWicketServlet</servlet-class>

Instead of:

        <servlet-class>wicket.protocol.http.WicketServlet</servlet-class>


This feature  works out-of-the-box  with « mvn  jetty:run ».  With
the Eclipse  Jetty launcher, you  have to  tweak a little  bit the
project  build settings  to  avoid exporting  target/test-classes.
The  locations where  to find  Java  classes can  be overriden  in
ReloadingWicketFilter, if needed.

NOTE: as Johan Compagner mentioned, the second level cache and the
http sessions are  not (yet) invalidated upon  class reloading, so
in  other words  if you  get weird  behaviour, better  restart the
server.

WARNING: this feature  is not compatible with Spring  yet.  In the
near future  I intend to  provide means to include  and/or exclude
specific class  name patterns,  in order to  only load  the Wicket
components through the reloading classloader.

FWIW I also maintain a similar patch for Wicket 1.2.3.

Cheers,
-- 
     Jean-Baptiste Quenot
aka  John Banana   Qwerty
http://caraldi.com/jbq/