These instructions describe the process required to install and configure the development environment for Skyve. These instructions assume that you are using Windows and SQL Server. Some changes will need to be made if using a different operating system or database.

If you’re new to Java, you may find the instructions in our tutorial easier to follow - Configure your local environment

Prerequisites checklist

Before you begin, ensure you have the following:

  • Java 11 JDK - Temurin OpenJDK (or an alternative OpenJDK of your choice)
  • Eclipse IDE for Enterprise Java and Web Developers (www.eclipse.org)
    • Note: Do not use the Eclipse IDE for Java Developers
  • Wildfly 26 (select the last final version of Wildfly 26 available) (http://wildfly.org)
    • Note: Select the Jakarta EE 8 Full & Web Distribution not the EE 9.1 Preview Distribution
    • Note: Versions of Wildfly > 26 are not supported by Skyve at this time

We also recommend you:

  • load an RDBMS like MySQL, Postgres or MS SQL that is supported by Hibernate (www.hibernate.org) - ensure you record the administrator username and password (if you’re unable to do this, you can use H2 file-based database which requires no install).
  • register for an account with GitHub, GitLab or BitBucket (or other git-based repository)
  • register for an account on Skyve Foundry
  • register on our public Slack account in case you have questions

For this example, to use Microsoft SQL Server as the database for the Skyve project:

  • If you do not already have SQL Server installed:
    • download and install the latest version of the Developer or Express edition for your platform from the Microsoft website
    • you will also need to download and install a copy of SQL Server Management Studio to connect you your database and execute scripts
  • Open SQL Server Management Studio, choose Authentication as Windows Authentication and click the ‘Connect’ button.
  • Create a db named ‘skyve’, right click Databases->New Databases… and leave everything as is and click the OK button.
  • Create a user for skyve db in SQL Server Management Studio, right click Security->New->Login…
  • Create a Login name (remember this login name as you will need it later), choose SQL Server authentication and enter your password. Remember that SQL Server policy requires a ‘strong’ password (remember this password as you will need it later), untick the ‘Enforce password expiration’ and the ‘User must change password at next login’
  • On the same dialog box, choose Default database as ‘skyve’, now go to Server Roles on left hand pane and tick ‘sysadmin’, then go to User Mapping and tick ‘skyve’ and finally, click the OK button down the bottom right.
  • If you’ve just installed SQL server, you will need to specify the port for this database, see instructions here, again, remember the port number you’ve entered.

Configuring Java

  • Install an OpenJDK 11 version from Temurin OpenJDK (or an alternative OpenJDK of your choice)
    • Change the defaults to also install the JAVA_HOME environment variable
    • Complete the wizard and close after the installation has completed
  • Configure Environment Variables (Windows, requires UAC)
    1. Search for environment in the Start menu and open Edit the system environment variables
    2. Click the Environment Variables button
    3. If JAVA_HOME is not present
      1. Click New… in the System variables section
      2. Enter “JAVA_HOME” for the variable name
      3. Click Browse Directory… and browse to C:\Program Files\Eclipse Adoptium\jdk-11....-hotspot or the directory you installed it
      4. Click OK

Configuring the IDE (Windows example)

  • Create C:\_\ (go to C:\ -> right click -> New Folder then type _ as the folder name). You may use any folder for you workspace in Eclipse, just make sure you remember the folder you’ve chosen and try to ensure that the folder name has no spaces to avoid any issues with Java paths and spaces.
  • Start Eclipse using Eclipse.exe and select C:\_\ as workspace, tick ‘Use as default option - do not ask again’, Cancel the welcome wizard and Close the welcome tab in the editor frame.
  • Change compiler compliance level to 11 (Window -> Preferences -> Java -> Compiler) press ‘Apply’ - press Yes for full build, and then press OK.
  • To manage the Wildfly application server from Eclipse:
    • Open the server explorer window if it is not already in your workspace (Window -> Show View -> Servers)
    • Right click inside the server explorer and select New
    • Expand JBoss Community
    • If WildFly 26+ is not in the list of adapters, you will need to download them:
      • Choose JBoss, WildFly & EAP Server Tools and click Next
      • Accept the licence terms and click Finish
      • Restart Eclipse when prompted
    • Select WildFly 26+ and click Next
    • Accept the defaults and click Next
    • Click Finish

See additional details in Setting up a Skyve instance

Importing an existing Skyve project from Git

Note: These instructions are for the Eclipse IDE, you will need to locate instructions for your IDE if not using Eclipse.

In Eclipse,

  • choose File -> Import… -> Git -> Projects from Git -> Next -> Clone URI and set the URI (for example type in https://github.com/skyvers/skyve.git as URI),
  • then click the Next button,
  • choose the master and click the Next button.
  • Choose your destination directory, in this example, we have chosen C:\\_\ directory.
  • Then click the Next button.
  • The import wizard should be displayed and cloning the Skyve project.

After cloning the master, go to Project -> Clean - Select clean all projects and press OK - wait for activity to cease in bottom right corner of the Eclipse window.

Starting the server

Development environment

Skyve provides a bootstrap user configuration (specified in the .json file) - this will insert a user with all module roles as a way to get started. The bootstrap configuration is disabled if the instance is a production instance.

Other environments

In UAT and PROD environments, Wildfly should be configured as a service. Refer to Wildfly documentation for detailed instructions.

Connecting to your local instance from a mobile device

It is useful to be able to test your Skyve application from your own mobile devices as you develop locally. For example, if you connect your developer PC and mobile device to the same network (for example, your phone’s hotspot) use IP address assigned to your PC for the URL in your .json settings file - then connect from your phone to your developer PC.

To find the IP address assigned to your dveloper PC in Windows, in a cmd window, run:

ipconfig

Local IP Configuration

Then set the server url setting in the .json properties file to match the assigned address, for example http://192.168.43.182:8080/ (matching your port settings etc) and keep your existing context setting, e.g. /myapp.

You will also need to set Wildfly to be able to serve clients other than localhost. To do this double click on your Wildfly server from eclipse to open the configuration and change the standalone arguments to include -b 0.0.0.0 (note this can also be done directly in the standalone.xml file).

Setting Wildfly for external access

Restart Wildfly so the changes take effect.

You can then use the browser on your mobile device to connect to the local Skyve instance using the URL:

http://192.168.43.182:8080/myapp

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