How can I test my BI Launchpad Customization without running wdeploy?

[mrwong05]

Hi,

I have been successful in adding customization to my BI Launchpad (BI Platform 4.2).

However, my workflow is really slowing me down when i want to preview small changes to the css, images, etc.

First, I make my changes to my css or properties files, then

2) stop tomcat, 3) run wdeploy of -DAPP=BOE 4) start tomcat. This process takes ~10 minutes

It seems like I'm missing something, but the tutorial for customization says this is the way to view the changes.

Is there a better way to preview my changes before deploying the APP?

I thought I read something about editing files in /catalina but i wasnt sure.

when i goto <INSTALLDIR>\SAP BusinessObjects\tomcat\work\Catalina\localhost\BOE\eclipse\plugins\ the directory webpath.InfoViewBranding does not exist. Do i have to add it?

Edit 3: My test machine had the directory, but my production machine didnt have it (because I had never deployed it before on the production machine). Thus, it's my mistake and not because the directions are wrong.

[former_member230921 · Accepted solution]

Hi Mathew,

Change the css files in below location if you are using default bundled tomcat.

<INSTALLDIR>\SAP BusinessObjects\tomcat\work\Catalina\localhost\BOE\eclipse\plugins\webpath.InfoViewBranding\web\

and go to browser and do empty cache reload of BI Launchpad.

Once everything tested then you can put same changes in BOE war file and deploy it .

-

Bharath

[mrwong05 · Accepted solution]

Thanks for confirming this Bharath, I will confirm I can do this...and report back.

[mrwong05 · Accepted solution]

Now I remember why I got stuck, the weppath.InfoViewBranding directory does not exist in ../Catalina/. any thoughts why?

[mrwong05 · Accepted solution]

Ok, now I'm fine. I was stupid. I have one dev and one production machine. only the dev machine with the branding deployed has the tomcat/work directory named webapp.InfoViewBranding. I found it, made edits, cleared cache, and saw my changes without having to re-deploy. Thank you for helping me make sense of this!

[former_member230921]

https://blogs.sap.com/2013/06/01/tutorial-branding-and-theming-of-bi-launch-pad/