Mylar Frequently Asked Questions

• Setup
  • What is the recommended Eclipse configuration for running Mylar?
  • What are the effects of Mylar on Eclipse performance?
  • Why does Mylar fail to install or update?
  • Why did my tasks disappear?
  • Configuring Eclipse's Internal Browser on Linux
     
• Task Management and Bugzilla
  • What if Mylar doesn't support my task/bug/issue tracker?
  • How do I upgrade to multiple task repository support?
  • Why is only one task appearing in Bugzilla queries?
     
• Java Development
  • How do I stop declarations from showing up in the Package Explorer?
  • Why does nothing show up in the Active Search or Active Hierarchy?

Key Limitations

• Bug 106678  The Package Explorer hierarchical layout is not supported properly yet and will show uninteresting elements when enabled.
• Bug 102663  Multiple workbench windows are not supported and Mylar may not capture context correctly if you have more than one window open.

What is the recommended Eclipse configuration for running Mylar?

• Package Explorer
  • Use flat layout in the Package Explorer (local pull down -> Layout -> Flat).  Hierarchical layout is not supported.
  • Link the Package Explorer with the editor (toolbar -> Link with Editor).  With Mylar applied this won't cause the jumping around problems it typically does.
  • Deselect the Referenced Libraries filter (local pull down -> Filters -> Referenced Libraries).  With Mylar applied libraries won't blow up the tree.
• Editors
  • Turn comment folding on to reduce clutter when using auto folding (Preferences -> Java -> Editor -> Folding). 
  • Increase the number of editors to leave open (Preferences -> General -> Editors -> Number of opened editors before closing).  Since Mylar will manage the open editors with task activation, this number can be set higher or automatic closing disabled entirely.
  • If auto folding is used, the Outline view can be closed or made a fast view
• Outline view
  • Closed, since the Package Explorer and folded signatures should provide enough context, and the in-place Outline (Ctrl+O) can be used when needed.
• Team
  • Set Synchronize view to Change Sets mode (toolbar -> Show Change Sets)
  • Use graphical CVS decorators only (Preferences -> Team -> CVS -> Label Decorations -> Text Decorations -> clear all but Project; Icon Decorations -> enable all).  This helps reduce visual clutter.

What are the effects of Mylar on Eclipse performance?

The goal is for Mylar to have no noticeable effect on Eclipse's speed or memory usage, you do not need to increase the amount of memory Eclipse runs with to use Mylar, and any performance issue should be reported as a bug.  The current performance profile is:

1. Mylar only runs if a task is active, and has no impact on Eclipse if no task is active.
2. Task context models have negligible memory overhead. 
3. When a task is active, additional view refresh is required to update the views based on interest model changes.  This should not be noticeable on Windows where refresh is very quick, but could be more noticeable on other platforms.
4. The time to activate a task context is dominated by the time it takes Eclipse to open the editors in the context.  You can set the preference for how many editors to open in the Mylar preference page (e.g. setting to 1 will dramatically reduce activation time, but also remove the benefit of having open editors correspond to the task context).  You can also turn off editor management entirely in the Mylar Tasks view pull-down.
5. Eclipse startup is slowed down by (4) if a task is active when Eclipse is shut down.
6. The low priority background searches that the Active Search view runs can be noticeable on slower machines.

Why does Mylar fail to install or update?

For supported platforms and known limitations please see http://eclipse.org/mylar/dl.php

The most likely reason is that you are using an incompatible VM (e.g. JDK 1.4), in which case you'll errors like the following in your log file.  To check JDK version that Eclipse was launched with to to Help -> About Eclipse SDK -> Configuration Details and verify that the java.vm.version is 1.5.  Mac users should refer to the last bug 1163477 for instructions on how to change the 1.4 default.

Root exception: java.lang.UnsupportedClassVersionError: org/eclipse/mylar/tasklist/MylarTasklistPlugin (Unsupported major.minor version 49.0)

This can also be the result of using an incompatible version of Eclipse.  Separate versions and update sites exist for Eclipse 3.1 and for the latest 3.2 milestone), in which case you'll see errors like the following in your <workspace>/.metadata/.log file or in a Mylar view:

java.lang.NoSuchMethodError: org.eclipse.ui.internal.dialogs.FilteredTree.getFilterControl()Lorg/eclipse/swt/widgets/Text; org.osgi.framework.BundleException: The activator org.eclipse.mylar.java.MylarJavaPlugin for bundle org.eclipse.mylar.java is invalid

In this case the easiest thing to do is reinstall Mylar.  Your tasks won't be lost, by default they are stored in the <workspace>/.mylar/tasklist.xml file which will be read next time Mylar starts. First, uninstall the old version of Mylar using Help -> Software Updates -> Manage Configuration.  You need to first Disable on all Mylar features by right-clicking them, allow Eclipse to restart after the last is disabled, and after restart.  Then ensure that the 3rd toolbar button is pressed (figure below) so that you see the disabled features to uninstall, and Uninstall them using the popup menu.  If you don't uninstall the the Update Manager will think that you have the latest and tell you that there are no updates. Note that manually removing the plug-ins and features can lead to Eclipse configuration errors. After uninstalling update Eclipse by adding the correct update site specified at: http://eclipse.org/mylar/dl.php, and after that automatically or manually updating will install the correct version.

Configuring Eclipse's Internal Browser on Linux

Mylar Task Management features make user of the Internal Browser.  These instructions have been tested on Fedora Core 4

1. Run Mozilla (not firefox) to confirm that it works.
2. Confirm the location of your Mozilla install ( /usr/lib/mozilla-1.7.12 on our test box)
3. Set necessary environment variables in <home_directory>/.bashrc, adding the following 3 lines
       MOZILLA_FIVE_HOME=/usr/lib/mozilla-1.7.12
       LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$LD_LIBRARY_PATH:$MOZILLA_FIVE_HOME
       export MOZILLA_FIVE_HOME LD_LIBRARY_PATH
4. Log out and log in again (or type "source .bashrc" at the prompt)
5. Start Eclipse and test the internal web browser

If you are get exceptions indicating missing libraries, check that the paths are accurate and that you in fact have the libraries requested. For example, on our test box a library was still missing after these steps. The libstdc++.so.5 was being reported as missing. To solve this problem, find an rpm online that will install the missing legacy library. In our case we found necessary rpm (compat-libstdc++-33-3.2.3-47.fc4.i386.rpm) on rpmfind.net using their search facility.  References: SWT FAQ

Why did my tasks disappear?   

Either because Mylar failed to install or update, or because there was a problem reading the task list.  By default Mylar keeps your task list in <workspace>/.mylar/tasklist.xml.  If you move workspaces, and have not changed the Mylar data directory via the Task List preference page, the new location will be used when Eclipse restarts (hit Restore Defaults on that page to copy tasks back to the default location).  If your tasks ever disappear please report this as a critical bug, and check the .mylar folder for a tasklist-backup.xml file, which will contain the previous state task list.  Make sure to copy it somewhere it before adding any tasks or queries or restarting Eclipse because it will get overwritten on any modification.

If your workspace folder is not backed up it is a good idea to either backup the tasklist.xml file manually or periodically use File -> Import/Export ->  Other -> Mylar Task Data.  Note that when restoring an previous tasklist.xml file you should first close Eclipse.

What if Mylar doesn't support my task/bug/issue tracker?

First, do a search of the open bugs and vote for the corresponding bug if your tracker is found, or create a new report.  In the meantime, you can work with those reports (but not with queries) via the web integration.  To create a task from any web-based repository:

• Drag the URL from the Address bar of the browser, or from a hyperlink in a bug listing to the Mylar Tasks view.  This will create a task for the bug, link it to the page, and populate the description with the title of the corresponding page.   In Mozilla, simply drag the URL.  In Internet Explorer you must have Ctrl pressed in order for Eclipse to recognize the drop.
• Alternatively you can copy the URL, press the New Task button on the Mylar Tasks view.  This has the same effect as above but you can edit the description after retrieving it.
• Opening the task will now open the corresponding issue.  You can also right-click the task and select Open in External Browser.

How do I upgrade to multiple task repository support?

Bugzilla Client users follow these steps after updating in order to migrate to multiple repository support from version 0.4.6 or older

• After updating and restarting, deactivate your active task, open the Mylar -> Task Repositories view and re-add your previous repository using the wizard.
• Ensure that you enter the correct Server URL by pressing the “validate” button on the corresponding dialog, since this URL will be used for the migration.
• Exit the workbench and restart Eclipse to complete the migration.

Why is only one task appearing in Bugzilla queries?

This is a symptom of the wrong Bugzilla version selected in your Mylar Bugzilla preferences ( Window -> Preferences -> Mylar -> Bugzilla Client ). For example, if you are connecting to the Eclipse.org Bugzilla then the 2.20 option must be selected.

How do I stop declarations from showing up in the Package Explorer?

If you don't like Mylar's constant showing of Java members in the Package Explorer, select the drop-down menu, then "Filters..." and enable the "Mylar Java Declarations Filter".  It will then stick in the menu in case you want to toggle between modes.  Note that this will hide interest information about members that aren't in your current file (e.g. showing you which methods are landmarks) so this mode is not recommended, but can be useful for 1024x768 screen resolutions.

Why does nothing show up in the Active Search or Active Hierarchy?

As you work and elements become landmarks (bold decoration), and these elements populate the Active Search and Active Hierarchy views.  To force an element to populate the views manually make it a landmark by right-clicking or hitting Ctrl+Alt+Shift+Up Arrow.