How to replace EclipseLink 2.3.2 with EclipseLink 2.5 in WebLogic Server 12c

Question

I currrently try to run Docx4j in WebLogic Server 12c. WebLogic Server 12c comes with EclipseLink 2.3.2.

There is a similar Post describing the situation which unfortunately yield no answer.

Docx4j does not work with the JAXB (MOXy) implementation which is part of EclipseLink 2.3.2. I got Docx4j running standalone with EclipseLink 2.5. So I am very confident that using EclipseLink 2.5 with Weblogic Server 12c will solve the issue with Docx4j.

How can I replace the EclipseLink Vesion 2.3.2 the WebLogic Server 12c is running on with EclipseLink Version 2.5?

Answer 1

You can created a shared library in WebLogic to update the version of EclipseLink.

CREATE THE SHARED LIBRARY

EclipseLink25_SharedLibrary.ear

The shared library is an EAR with the following contents

• lib/eclipselink.jar

• META-INF/application.xml

  <application>
    <display-name>EclipseLink 2.5 Shared Library</display-name>
    <module>
        <java></java>
    </module>
  </application>
  

• META-INF/MANIFEST.MF

  Manifest-Version: 1.0
  Ant-Version: Apache Ant 1.8.2
  Created-By: 1.7.0_04-b21 (Oracle Corporation)
  Extension-Name: EclipseLink-2.5.0
  Specification-Version: 2.5.0
  Implementation-Version: 2.5.0.v20130507
  

• META-INF/weblogic-application.xml

  <weblogic-application>
     <prefer-application-packages>
         <package-name>org.eclipse.persistence.*</package-name>
    </prefer-application-packages>
  
  </weblogic-application>
  

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USE THE SHARED LIBRARY

Belowis how you would package your application to use the shared library,

SampleApplication.ear

• META-INF/MANIFEST.MF

• META-INF/weblogic-application.xml

  <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
  <wls:weblogic-application xmlns:wls="http://xmlns.oracle.com/weblogic/weblogic-application" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee/javaee_5.xsd http://xmlns.oracle.com/weblogic/weblogic-application http://xmlns.oracle.com/weblogic/weblogic-application/1.2/weblogic-application.xsd">
      <!--weblogic-version:10.3.4-->
      <wls:application-param>
          <wls:param-name>webapp.encoding.default</wls:param-name>
          <wls:param-value>UTF-8</wls:param-value>
      </wls:application-param>
      <wls:library-ref>
          <wls:library-name>EclipseLink-2.5.0</wls:library-name>
          <wls:specification-version>2.5.0</wls:specification-version>
          <wls:implementation-version>2.5.0.v20130507</wls:implementation-version>
         <wls:exact-match>true</wls:exact-match>
      </wls:library-ref>
  </wls:weblogic-application>
  

• SampleApplication.war

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FOR MORE INFORMATION

• http://blog.bdoughan.com/2012/10/updating-eclipselink-in-weblogic.html

Answer 2

The solution provided by Blaise in his Blogpost does not work with WebLogic 12c. The solution to get it working is a minor change to the application.xml by explicitly defining the used library:

<application>
  <display-name>EclipseLink 2.5 Shared Library</display-name>
    <module>
      <java>lib/eclipselink.jar</java>
  </module>
</application>

Answer 3

I prefered to switch back to the JAXB RI instead of using the buggy moxy JAXB. Here is how you can do it: http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E24329_01/web.1211/e24964/data_types.htm#CIHBHDGI

I used the Methode where the following jar module file is put in the "startWebLogic.cmd": set PRE_CLASSPATH=$wls_home/modules/databinding.override_1.0.0.0.jar

to have it first in the classpath.