WebObjects Developer Quick Start Guide

Last modified by Kieran Kelleher on 2012/07/19 22:32

Warning

This is deprecated information!

Who is this Guide for?

This guide is for you if

  1. You are new to WebObjects
  2. You are not new to software development and using the terminal in OS X
  3. You use a Mac with OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard or higher
  4. You just want to get started developing WebObjects "the right way"™

Introduction

  • WebObjects itself consists of the application runtime software
  • Eclipse with the WOLips plugins are the de facto standard WebObjects development tools
  • Support is provided by the very helpful and extremely intelligent community. So, sign up for the various developer mailing lists right away.

First Install XCode

XCode is not used to develop WebObjects applications, but XCode installation includes software for development in general, such as command line tools, that are useful.

Next Install and Configure WebObjects

Install WebObjects using the Apple WebObjects 5.4.3 Installer dmg if you want "standard" OS X install paths.

Then open terminal and perform the "extra" stuff you need to do to get things complete. you will need to do all this as 'root', hence the sudo -s at the start.

sudo -s

cd /System/Library/WebObjects/Adaptors/Apache2.2
mv mod_WebObjects.so mod_WebObjects.so.obsolete
curl -C - -O http://wocommunity.org/documents/tools/mod_WebObjects/Apache2.2/macosx/10.6/mod_WebObjects.so
 

cd /etc/apache2
cp httpd.conf httpd.conf.backup
echo "Include /System/Library/WebObjects/Adaptors/Apache2.2/apache.conf" >> httpd.conf
apachectl restart
 

Install launchd tasks to keep WebObjects running always

cd /Library/LaunchDaemons
curl -C - -O http://www.greenislandconsulting.com/webobjects/com.apple.webobjects.wotaskd.plist
curl -C - -O http://www.greenislandconsulting.com/webobjects/com.apple.webobjects.womonitor.plist

launchctl load com.apple.webobjects.wotaskd.plist

Install and Configure WebObjects Development Tools

Instructions for that step are right here:
Install WOLips with Eclipse Update Manager

Hello World

Tutorial for that is here:
Create a new WO Application

Where to go from here

Wonder

Absolutely essential to add Wonder now. WIthout it, you will have "barebones and some bugs WebObjects". Wonder is a set of frameworks that fix the core WebObjects bugs and extend WebObjects functionality. it is where all active development of WebObjects is taking place. Even APple contribute to Wonder and use it themselves in the iTunes store, etc. You are really wasting you time if you try to develop in WebObjects without the addition of the Project Wonder frameworks. You only need the minimum integration to get the core essential functionality and all the bug fixes to WebObjects.

General Tutorials

Development Tutorials

The Community Mailing Lists

Mailing Lists