GWT Designer fails on a VPN or behind a corporate firewall

[pauluzee]

This is a continuation from a previous thread, "Empty Panel, "Unknown Window Type": IE7? SlickEdit?" where I've been trying to debug what it is about my PC's configuration that prevent GWT Desginer from running properly. I eventually determined that there seemed to be a conflict with the Cisco VPN client, which I use to connect to my office. When I disconnected from the VPN, GWT Desinger loaded correctly.

The situation is actually more complicated: it appears that the problem is not a conflict with the Cisco VPN client as I originally thought; the problem is running the Desginer behind my companies firewall, where apps that use the internet must go through a proxy.

When I originally installed Eclipse I had to log off our VPN to access the Eclipse help server and to get the Eclipse online update mechanism to work. After a bit of research, I was able to get it to use the correct proxy host and the updates came through (the help server is still not accessible on the VPN, however).

Does the Designer expect to "see" the Internet to function correctly? If so, how can I get it to use our proxy server? If not, then it not being able to work behind our firewall is a showstopper as far our group using the Designer is concerned...

[gnebling]

Does the Designer expect to "see" the Internet to function correctly? If so, how can I get it to use our proxy server? If not, then it not being able to work behind our firewall is a showstopper as far our group using the Designer is concerned...

No, GWT Designer does not need to connect to the internet to function correctly. However, it needs access to your http localhost. Please make sure your firewall allows access to localhost. The error you're seeing is reproducible if you set your browser (IE) to work offline (File > Work Offline).

[pauluzee]

Does the Designer expect to "see" the Internet to function correctly? If so, how can I get it to use our proxy server? If not, then it not being able to work behind our firewall is a showstopper as far our group using the Designer is concerned...

No, GWT Designer does not need to connect to the internet to function correctly. However, it needs access to your http localhost. Please make sure your firewall allows access to localhost. The error you're seeing is reproducible if you set your browser (IE) to work offline (File > Work Offline).

I think I'm able to see localhost when I'm behind the firewall. I occasionally run Tomcat on my PC and when I use http://localhost:8080/ (even behind the firewall) I get the Tomcat page, which I assume means I can see localhost. How else can I determine if a localhost restriction is in force on my machine and is causing the problems with GWT Desgner?

[kris.hofmans]

I had the same problem, the issue was that I had gwt-servlet.jar in my classpath too, it looks like it used com.google.gwt.core.client.EntryPoint instead of the one in gwt-user.jar, removed it from my classpath made sure gwt-user.jar was on it, everything worked and this is 100% reproducible.

I just registered on the forums hoping it would help you guys and the developers of window builder pro out, I couldn't find a real bugtracker to report this (is this correct?).

[Eric Clayberg]

I couldn't find a real bugtracker to report this (is this correct?).

Support questions sent to our Designer support address, wb-support@instantiations.com, are automatically entered into our bug tracking system and assigned a case number.

Fixed bugs are listed in the changes.txt file within the com.swtdesigner plugin

[pauluzee]

I had the same problem, the issue was that I had gwt-servlet.jar in my classpath too, it looks like it used com.google.gwt.core.client.EntryPoint instead of the one in gwt-user.jar, removed it from my classpath made sure gwt-user.jar was on it, everything worked and this is 100% reproducible.

I just registered on the forums hoping it would help you guys and the developers of window builder pro out, I couldn't find a real bugtracker to report this (is this correct?).

All of the projects I've tried GWT Designer with so far have not had gwt-servlet.jar in any of them. Also, I looked through my Eclipse build path and the only place I found com.google.gwt.core.client.EntryPoint was in gwt-user.jar, so there must be something else in play here.

So, does anyone at Instantiations have any idea why GWT Designer has problems with working behind Cingular's corporate firewall? Without some sort of resolution to this problem our group cannot use your product on our current and future projects (and not having a viable gui design tool will also make it difficult to use GWT as well)...

[Eric Clayberg]

So, does anyone at Instantiations have any idea why GWT Designer has problems with working behind Cingular's corporate firewall?

We have no knowledge about how that firewall operates, but if it is similar to the ones we tested locally (like ZoneAlarm), it probably blocks general access to localhost. You can probably confirm that with your local sys admin.

Designer needs to use services provided by the local browser (IE in the case of Windows and Mozilla in the case of Linux) in order to render any widgets.

If that access is blocked (by a firewall or by setting the browser to offline mode), Designer will not work.

[pauluzee]

So, does anyone at Instantiations have any idea why GWT Designer has problems with working behind Cingular's corporate firewall?

We have no knowledge about how that firewall operates, but if it is similar to the ones we tested locally (like ZoneAlarm), it probably blocks general access to localhost. You can probably confirm that with your local sys admin.

Designer needs to use services provided by the local browser (IE in the case of Windows and Mozilla in the case of Linux) in order to render any widgets.

If that access is blocked (by a firewall or by setting the browser to offline mode), Designer will not work.

Maybe this will help debug the problem:

The proxy settings are set with a script via Tools/Internet Options/Connections/LAN Settings/Automatic Configuration/Use automatic configuration script. This points to what appears to be a Javascript file that uses the host name to return a proxy host url. Maybe there's an issue with the script that prevent's Designer from "seeing" the services of IE? (OBTW: I tried removing the script requirement by setting this to "Automatically detect settings", but it is reset every timee I logon to our network).

In any event, why can I use Tomcat via localhost behind the firewall and I can't use Designer?

Also, would it be possible for Designer to substitute another rendering browser--say, Mozilla--for IE on Windows? IE could remain the "default" browser as far as the firewall is concerned and we could configure the other browser any way we want as far as Designer is concerned.

[Alexander.Mitin]

Please try to enable "Not to use proxy for local addresses" preference in your internet connection settings.

[pauluzee]

Please try to enable "Not to use proxy for local addresses" preference in your internet connection settings.

That got it to work on the VPN, but it required putting a "hard" ip address for a proxy server, which is normally dynamically set by a script that IE is supposed to read in every time it loads. Hopefully the ip won't change or get reset when I re-boot.

Nevertheless, thanks for your help...