Easy Mock 2.3 on J2SE 1.4

Easy Mock 2.x versions provide better API than Easy Mock 1.x versions. But the 2.x versions do not run on J2SE 1.4 versions.

My current project uses J2SE 1.4. So i had no option but to use Easy Mock 1.2 for testing. Over a weekend i decided to port Easy Mock 2.3 onto J2SE 1.4.

I have successfully ported EasyMock 2.3 onto J2SE 1.4. I have also added a new EasyMockTestCase to compensate for the lack of static imports in Java 1.4.

I have hosted the ported code on http://code.google.com/p/easymock23onjdk14/

Oracle XE "Processes" Parameter

Oracle XE is an excellent lightweight substitute for the real Oracle database during development. A good database to run on every developer machine.

One of the common issues with XE is that the connection refused exceptions generated when a project test suite consisting of significant number of database tests is run. This is also true for any database intensive, connection pool application running on Oracle XE.

This is primarily due to the XE initialization parameter "processes".

Following is the definition of this parameter as mentioned in the Oracle documentation.

Specifying the Maximum Number of Processes

The PROCESSES initialization parameter determines the maximum number of operating system processes that can be connected to Oracle Database concurrently. The value of this parameter must be a minimum of one for each background process plus one for each user process. The number of background processes will vary according the database features that you are using. For example, if you are using Advanced Queuing or the file mapping feature, you will have additional background processes. If you are using Automatic Storage Management, then add three additional processes.

In short the "processes" parameter controls the maximum number of concurrent connections to the database. By default this is set to 50. Increasing this parameter will help in resolution of the "connection refused" issue mentioned above.

Following are the steps to change the parameter.

1. Connect to the database
sqlplus sys as sysdba

2. See the value of the process parameter
show parameter processes

Sample Output

NAME                         TYPE     VALUE
------------------------------------ -----------
aq_tm_processes              integer     0
db_writer_processes          integer     1
gcs_server_processes         integer     0
job_queue_processes          integer     4
log_archive_max_processes    integer     2
processes                    integer     50

3. Change the parameter
alter system set processes=500 scope=spfile
500 is a sample value, set it to any appropriate value. spfile represents the server parameters file.

4. Shutdown the database
shutdown immediate

5. Start the database
startup

6. Look at the parameters.
show parameter processes

The processes parameter should have changed to the new value.

Now running the test suite or any database intense application would not cause the connection refused error to be generated.