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Eclipse Configuration for JMeter project

Eclipse settings

The following files should be excluded from build output:

*.metaprops

See Project Preferences/Java Compiler/Building/Output Folder/Filtered Resources

Eclipse.classpath

This has been tested with Eclipse 3.2 up to 4.6.1. It may not work with other versions.

The file eclipse.classpath is intended as a starter .classpath file for building JMeter using Eclipse version 3 to 4.6.

Make sure to execute the ant download_jars task to download and install the jars referred to in the classpath before creating the Eclipse project.

If you do after creating project, then don't forget to refresh Eclipse project.

Note that Eclipse is not easy to use for creating jar files. However, it is easy to use Eclipse to run Ant.

The following targets may prove useful:

  • clean - Clean up to force a build from source
  • package-only - creates the jars
  • package - compiles everything and then packages it
  • run_gui - compiles, packages, and then start the JMeter GUI from the jars

Invoking Ant targets inside Eclipse

You can use the Run As --> Ant Build and select target, or you can use the Windows --> Show View --> Ant View. Then select the build.xml file and drag and drop to the Ant View. Now you can invoke targets by clicking on them. Note that if you invoke for example the compile target, and get error messages about

Unable to find a javac compiler; com.sun.tools.javac.Main is not on the classpath. Perhaps JAVA_HOME does not point to the JDK

it just means that your Eclipse project is set up with JRE libraries instead of JDK libraries. The suggested fix is to add a JDK in Window --> Preferences --> Java --> Installed JREs.

Then do a Project --> Properties and select Java Build Path in the left pane, and then select the Libraries tab in the right pane. Scroll to the bottom, select the JRE System Library, and click Remove. Then click Add library... , select JRE System Library, and then select the JDK.

Now it should work when you invoke the compile target.

Finishing the build using Ant

Find the build.xml file in the project, right click on it, and click Run As --> Ant Build.

Make sure you select the package target.

This will compile any remaining classes, and then create all the jars.

Now refresh the project (you should add this to the Ant build properties)

Launching from Eclipse

You can use the Ant target run_gui to run the JMeter GUI, or you can follow the instructions below to add a Java Application launch, which will for example, allow you to use the debugger to run JMeter.

These instructions assume you have configured Eclipse to use the classpath as suggested in eclipse.classpath, and have run ant package to compile the RMI classes and build the jars.

Create a new Java Application launch configuration.

On the Main tab, enter the following as the main class:

org.apache.jmeter.NewDriver

On the Arguments tab, in the Working Directory area, pick the radio button next to Other and enter the following in the text box:

${workspace_loc}/jmeter/bin

where jmeter is the name of the JMeter project.

It would be nicer to use ${project_loc}/bin but unfortunately the Eclipse Debug view does not seem to preserve any of the project variables