Run modes

Rationale

It is often necessary to have slightly different settings between development and production. Run modes provide a way to create two separate sets of settings targeting the two environments.

For a quick introduction, see also this blog post.

Configuration

The run mode is configured in the web application's web.xml file:

<context-param>
    <param-name>oxf.run-mode</param-name>
    <param-value>prod</param-value>
</context-param>

There are two possible modes:

• prod: production

• dev: development

By default, when you download Orbeon Forms, the mode is set to prod, the safest mode.

NOTE: If you build Orbeon Forms from source and run it from the exploded orbeon-war, the default is set to dev.

Orbeon Forms logs the mode used when starting the web app, for example:

Using run mode: prod
Using properties file: oxf:/config/properties-prod.xml

Impact of the modes

Selecting a particular mode selects different properties files. By default, the following properties are different in prod vs. dev mode:

• oxf.http.exceptions

  • prod: false

  • dev: true

• location-mode for oxf:builtin-saxon and oxf:unsafe-builtin-saxon

  • prod: none

  • dev: smart

• oxf.xforms.minimal-resources

  • prod: true

  • dev: false

• oxf.xforms.combine-resources

  • prod: true

  • dev: false

• oxf.xforms.resources.encode-version

  • prod: true

  • dev: false

• oxf.xforms.show-recoverable-errors

  • prod: 0

  • dev: 10

• oxf.show-version [SINCE Orbeon Forms 4.6.1]

  • prod: false

  • dev: true

• oxf.fr.version.*.* [UNTIL Orbeon Forms 4.6]

  • prod: false

  • dev: true

In addition, depending on the mode, the following local file is used:

• prod: properties-local-prod.xml

• dev: properties-local-dev.xml

See also

• Configuration Properties
• Blog post: Run modes