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Home » Newcomers » Newcomers » Selection can't be launched, no recent launches!!(Eclipse Kepler error after Win7 upgrade)
icon9.gif  Selection can't be launched, no recent launches!! [message #1348614] Sun, 11 May 2014 23:15 Go to next message
Leslie Sharpe is currently offline Leslie SharpeFriend
Messages: 6
Registered: May 2014
Location: Florida
Junior Member
Prior to update to Win7-64 from XP-32 (finally) on workstation, then same on Vista-32 to Win7-32 on laptop I had backed up all java files from old workspaces. Downloaded Kepler-64 for workstation (32 for laptop). Created new workspace directories to include subs for Python, C++, etc. Pasted all old workspace files from prior java workspaces to new directories on respective machines and redirected Eclipse to new working directories for java as well. Files appear in package explorer on both machines, but won't run. I've seen all the posts and there appears to be no true fix. Are you kidding me? These are src (.java) files and bin (.class) files in native java and Eclipse is lost? I am getting an error message log a mile long, but clueless as to where to start. Also, I deplore Oracle's new domination of an 'open-source' language and resist their SDK, but I'm at my wits end here. I am not a seasoned developer, but a returnee. I was writing code on punch cards in FORTRAN before many of you were even born. All I ask is for someone who 'truly knows' the answer here to reply to this post. Many thanks and well in advance!! -- Les

[Updated on: Mon, 12 May 2014 00:56]

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Re: Selection can't be launched, no recent launches!! [message #1349060 is a reply to message #1348614] Mon, 12 May 2014 03:53 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Russell Bateman is currently offline Russell BatemanFriend
Messages: 3798
Registered: July 2009
Location: Provo, Utah, USA
Senior Member

On 05/11/2014 05:15 PM, Leslie Sharpe wrote:
> Prior to update to Win7-64 from XP-32 (finally) on workstation, then
> same on Vista-32 to Win7-32 on laptop I had backed up all java files
> from old workspaces. Downloaded Kepler-64 for workstation (32 for
> laptop). Created new workspace directories to include subs for Python,
> C++, etc. Pasted all old workspace files from prior java workspaces to
> new directories on respective machines and redirected Eclipse to new
> working directories for java as well. Files appear in package explorer
> on both machines, but won't run. I've seen all the posts and there
> appears to be no true fix. Are you kidding me? These are src (.java)
> files and bin (.class) files in native java and Eclipse is lost? I am
> getting an error message log a mile long, but clueless as to where to
> start. Also, I deplore Oracle's new domination of an 'open-source'
> language and resist their SDK, but I'm at my wits end here. I am not a
> seasoned developer, but a returnee. I was writing code on punch cards
> in FORTRAN before many of you were even born. All I ask is for someone
> who 'truly knows' the answer here to reply to this post. Many thanks and
> well in advance!! -- Les

"Pasted all old workspace files from prior java workspaces"

There's the rub.

Eclipse workspaces aren't portable; projects are. You'll need to create
a new workspace or workspaces on both hosts. Your project subdirectories
will copy over with no problem.

Oracle isn't for anything in this problem.

I wrote in FORTRAN IV with punch cards on an IBM 360 in the early 1970s.
Re: Selection can't be launched, no recent launches!! [message #1349077 is a reply to message #1349060] Mon, 12 May 2014 04:02 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Russell Bateman is currently offline Russell BatemanFriend
Messages: 3798
Registered: July 2009
Location: Provo, Utah, USA
Senior Member

On 05/11/2014 09:53 PM, Russell Bateman wrote:
> On 05/11/2014 05:15 PM, Leslie Sharpe wrote:
>> Prior to update to Win7-64 from XP-32 (finally) on workstation, then
>> same on Vista-32 to Win7-32 on laptop I had backed up all java files
>> from old workspaces. Downloaded Kepler-64 for workstation (32 for
>> laptop). Created new workspace directories to include subs for Python,
>> C++, etc. Pasted all old workspace files from prior java workspaces to
>> new directories on respective machines and redirected Eclipse to new
>> working directories for java as well. Files appear in package explorer
>> on both machines, but won't run. I've seen all the posts and there
>> appears to be no true fix. Are you kidding me? These are src (.java)
>> files and bin (.class) files in native java and Eclipse is lost? I am
>> getting an error message log a mile long, but clueless as to where to
>> start. Also, I deplore Oracle's new domination of an 'open-source'
>> language and resist their SDK, but I'm at my wits end here. I am not a
>> seasoned developer, but a returnee. I was writing code on punch cards
>> in FORTRAN before many of you were even born. All I ask is for someone
>> who 'truly knows' the answer here to reply to this post. Many thanks and
>> well in advance!! -- Les
>
> "Pasted all old workspace files from prior java workspaces"
>
> There's the rub.
>
> Eclipse workspaces aren't portable; projects are. You'll need to create
> a new workspace or workspaces on both hosts. Your project subdirectories
> will copy over with no problem.
>
> Oracle isn't for anything in this problem.
>
> I wrote in FORTRAN IV with punch cards on an IBM 360 in the early 1970s.

Oh, yeah, the rest of the story...

In the new workspace, use File -> Import... -> General -> Existing
Project into Workspace to get your projects back and running. Depending
on how careless you were with Build Path, the paths in your .classpath
file(s) in the project(s) may be beyond salvaging and you'll have to
reacquaint the project with supporting JAR libraries (using Build Path).

In future, share your projects between hosts preferably using a
version-control system. Or, if you prefer, you can sneaker net them too.
Re: Selection can't be launched, no recent launches!! [message #1349143 is a reply to message #1349077] Mon, 12 May 2014 04:40 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Leslie Sharpe is currently offline Leslie SharpeFriend
Messages: 6
Registered: May 2014
Location: Florida
Junior Member
Thanks Russell. Gonna give this a try. If I understand correctly, need to delete current project? I think I did this. Strange thing is I have two metadata files now. Like a project within a project. So, if you would be so kind, pretend you are me. I have fresh Eclipse install with all plug-ins and a new workspace directory with pre-existing files there. The idea of copying a project is not so clear as new Eclipse install has no knowledge of past projects, nor do I have knowledge of where that 'project' info is contained. Metadata? So how do I proceed? I'm going to delete current project and start over? How do I import past project? Hate to sound stupid but every SDK has its quirks and you certainly seem to have a handle on this!
Re: Selection can't be launched, no recent launches!! [message #1353451 is a reply to message #1349143] Tue, 13 May 2014 23:04 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Russell Bateman is currently offline Russell BatemanFriend
Messages: 3798
Registered: July 2009
Location: Provo, Utah, USA
Senior Member

On 05/11/2014 10:40 PM, Leslie Sharpe wrote:
> Thanks Russell. Gonna give this a try. If I understand correctly, need
> to delete current project? I think I did this. Strange thing is I have
> two metadata files now. Like a project within a project. So, if you
> would be so kind, pretend you are me. I have fresh Eclipse install with
> all plug-ins and a new workspace directory with pre-existing files
> there. The idea of copying a project is not so clear as new Eclipse
> install has no knowledge of past projects, nor do I have knowledge of
> where that 'project' info is contained. Metadata? So how do I proceed?
> I'm going to delete current project and start over? How do I import
> past project? Hate to sound stupid but every SDK has its quirks and you
> certainly seem to have a handle on this!

You mean delete the project from the workspace? Yes, delete it so you
can use the name again.

..metadata is a subdirectory in the workspace.

A project's information is maintained by Eclipse in each project in the
following:

..project
..classpath
..settings (if a Dynamic Web Project)--this is a subdirectory

I believe I described the importing of existing Eclipse projects. An
Eclipse project is a subdirectory that has the files listed above. If
your project doesn't have that, then you must create a project using
your existing source code:

1. File -> New -> General* -> Java -> Java Project.
2. When filling out the new-project wizard, don't default the project
contents into the workspace (second thing you do), but instead, uncheck
that box and navigate to wherever the project source code is on your disk.

*For a Dynamic Web Project, this is Web -> Dynamic Web Project.

For an illustration of creating new Eclipse projects from existing Java
sources (putting old wine into new bottles), try this article:

http://www.javahotchocolate.com/tutorials/corejsf.html

Cheers
Re: Selection can't be launched, no recent launches!! [message #1353512 is a reply to message #1353451] Tue, 13 May 2014 23:38 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Leslie Sharpe is currently offline Leslie SharpeFriend
Messages: 6
Registered: May 2014
Location: Florida
Junior Member
In simple terms there seems to be no easy solution for this problem that seems to re-appear for newbies. I upgraded to Win7 after demise of XP and backed up my java working directory and re-pointed new Eclipse to same, but error persists. Still message 'Selection can't be launched, no recent launches'!!. This can't be rocket science and surely 'someone' out there has a workable solution, else I am forced to rely on Oracle SDK. Not my preferred choice as Eclipse is preferred by most developers PLEASE HELP IF YOU HAVE IDIOT-PROOF SOLUTION (as in i-anything)! Eclipse is a zip file in windows so you can put it anywhere and redirect to active workspace wherever it is. I've been told to import the 'project'. Well where is that and how do I do it. Is info in metafile? Surely an active package with class and java file within should be able to transfer to new Eclipse installation. Such is not the case, without prior knowledge of 'no prior launches' is perplexing and now borders on the ridiculous. -- Thanks in advance!
Re: Selection can't be launched, no recent launches!! [message #1360566 is a reply to message #1353512] Fri, 16 May 2014 21:46 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Leslie Sharpe is currently offline Leslie SharpeFriend
Messages: 6
Registered: May 2014
Location: Florida
Junior Member
I'll admit my enthusiasm has been waning here. Was always told that Oracle SDK added extra files and was cumbersome to move projects, etc. My impression now is Eclipse is no better in this regard. As I have stated in the past, a package is a package, and files included in the package (classes, existing byte code, or whatever, whether complete or not, should be able to import directly to new eclipse install after OS upgrade (or whatever your situation is). The process as it exists is clearly not intuitive. Dude, I've been doing this for 35 years and can remote into most PCs (recommend Teamviewer) and remove most mal-ware/viruses on the fly. Yet backing up existing java package file in-work and trying to re-install Kepler and simply point to new working directory (containing old files) is fatally flawed. Gonna try JavaHotChoclate link here, but think way to go is recreate new working directory, by creating new package, creating new projects and classes, then copy/pasting old code (classes) from hidden directory into new class files in new project directory and pretending I just wrote this code for first time. My thinking is Kepler will not know difference and treat pasted class files as new class files and compile/run accordingly. If not? Something is wrong, that's an involved process for a newbie especially one with no concepts of algorithms or Big O (not that it matters), but their is a hierarchy of users here, much like the structure of java. Gonna give it a try. If this doesn't work gonna punt, and probably work exclusively in C## with VS-2012. At least as far as I know that works!
icon10.gif  Re: Selection can't be launched, no recent launches!! [message #1365251 is a reply to message #1360566] Sun, 18 May 2014 22:05 Go to previous message
Leslie Sharpe is currently offline Leslie SharpeFriend
Messages: 6
Registered: May 2014
Location: Florida
Junior Member
Russell 'you're the man'! Followed your suggestion and 'think' I have recovered. Without a long story, I have been upgrading PCs for less-than-average users for many years. Always a complete inventory of installed software, desktop. look and feel so transition would be transparent as possible. When XP expired I upgraded my 64-bit ready workstation with dual Xenons to WIN 7 Ultimate. Now I am 64-bit and both Xenons recognized as well 8 GB of RAM!(helps to have contacts at MS!). My upgrade was seamless until it came to Eclipse (I thought it was bullet proof). So simply backed up old workspace and downloaded 64-bit Kepler and thought I could simply create new workspace, paste old files here, point Eclipse to same and all would be good. My code is full of bugs because I was in middle of major revision when upgrade occurred. Sudoku Puzzle solver. No big deal except there were errors, and discovered there are ~25 strategies (133 page pdf document) and involving far more classes than I had planned on. So project was no longer ideal intro to Java! I was on right track, but didn't want to lose all that effort. That long story aside, this is what I did..

Backed up all files in current working directory, created new project in now empty new directory and tried to import from backup. That was a nightmare and looked nothing like old package explorer. Directories with meta-files and sub-directories with meta-files. A real mess. So started over. Hard deleted all files from new directory (and with Windows Explorer). Then I created a new project in new directory and created package there too (mainly to archive in case this thing actually works!). Tried to duplicate and create new classes here that were named same as old. That clearly wasn't going to work as no editor would open my class files in ascii and allow copy paste. So deleted all newly created classes from project (package explorer). Then I selected my package in Eclipse and used Import->General->File System, browsed to my backup workspace, found known 'good' classes and imported them into project. BOOM! All classes there and with a 100 errors as expected as code was in middle of major revision, but now I am confident code will finally compile and run again when revisions are complete. If this actually works? Well not a solution for your average newbie, nor the faint of heart!

My thanks to you and all developers with heads way above the clouds for planting feet on ground to help us new guys (and gals) in need. I have so much more to learn, but your guidance took me one more rung up the ladder!

Great forum, great response/support and all my thanks to the moon and back! (and you are now on my buddy list, happy to have you in my hip pocket!) Very Happy
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