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Aptana Studio Frequently Asked Questions

How do I manually install Studio, RadRails or other plugins?

If you are having trouble installing Studio, RadRails or other plugins through the typical update mechanism, you can download the plugin directly.

To do so, follow the links below to the plugin in question. There, you will see a section describing a "Manual Installation". Follow the instructions there to install the plugin you are looking for.

I've been using Aptana since its beta version. How do I update to Aptana Studio v1.0?

We recommend saving your workspace preferences, uninstalling your old version of Aptana, and then installing Aptana Studio v1.0. See Updating to Aptana Studio 1.0 for more details.

Note: If you have been using the old version of the SFTP plug-in (downloaded from http://aptana.com/plugins/), make sure to uninstall this plug-in before upgrading to Pro or you may experience conflicts between the SFTP support included in Pro and the older SFTP plug-in. See the instructions in Uninstalling a plug-in to uninstall the old SFTP plug-in.

How do I upgrade from Aptana Studio Community Edition to Aptana Studio Pro?

Purchase a license at the Aptana online store, and then copy and paste your license key into the License Preferences page in Aptana. See Upgrading to Aptana Studio Pro for more details.

What is a "perpetual license" for Aptana Studio Pro?

The "perpetual license" means that your Aptana Studio Pro features will not expire after one year. Upgrades and support are available on a yearly subscription basis.

How much will it cost to renew my yearly license so that I can continue to receive support and upgrades?

When purchasing the Pro Edition, you will get a license to the Pro product and one year of updates and support. After one year year, if you want to renew your support and update subscription, the renewal price drops to $79.

If I decline to renew my license after one year, will I still receive critical updates?

Yes. Regardless of whether your license subscription is active or not, we will always make critical bug fixes available to all Pro users.

How many computers may I install Aptana Studio Pro on for my license?

You may install Aptana Studio Pro on up to two different computers for a single license. You can install as many versions and you like on a single computer.

Do my two installations have to both be for the same operating system?

No. Your two computers do not have to be the same operating system. For example, you can install one license on a Windows machine and the other on a Mac. Just download Aptana Studio Pro for each computer/OS and use the same license key to upgrade to Pro.

If I get a new computer, will I need to purchase a new license?

No, you do not need to purchase a new license. As mentioned above, you can install Aptana Studio Pro on up to two computers per license. If you need to transfer the license to a new computer, simply uninstall Aptana Studio Pro from your old computer, and use your license to install Aptana Studio Pro on your new computer.

I just purchased a license for Aptana Studio Pro, but I receive an authentication error when I try to authentication my license.

This error occurs when your store login information does not match your authentication username/password. Follow the steps below to update your password so that both passwords match:

  1. Login to the Aptana online store.
  2. Click your Account History link.
  3. Click the link to your license.
  4. Update your license password so that it matches your store account.
  5. Click the Update License Information button to save your changes.
  6. In Aptana Studio Pro, update your authentication password to to match your updated store account password.

May I develop commercial web sites using Aptana Studio?

You may develop both personal and commercial web sites using Aptana Studio and Aptana Studio Pro.

Do I need to pay a license fee for using Aptana Studio to develop a commercial web site?

You do not need to pay a license fee if you use Aptana Studio to develop a commercial web site.

How do I get priority support with a Pro license?

Link your ASAP account to your Pro license. We give a higher priority for implementing Pro users' requests than non-Pro users' requests.

How do I link my Pro license to my ASAP account?

  1. Login to your Aptana store account.
  2. Click your Account History link.
  3. Click the link to your license.
  4. Scroll down to the Priority Support section.
  5. Add your ASAP username.
  6. Click the Update License Information button to save your changes.

Any requests that you now make through ASAP will be tagged as coming from a Pro user.

In Aptana Studio, how do I convert an existing folder on disk to a project?

Use the File View to navigate to the folder on disk, right-click the folder and select Promote to project... from the context menu, then follow the prompts to name your project. The files will stay in the same location as before but will be usable as a project on disk, which is great for source control.

In Aptana Studio, how do I ignore all files that start with '.' in FTP/SFTP synchronization?

In Window > Preferences > Aptana > Synchronization, click "Add...", and type "/\..*/" in the File Extension/Folder Name: field.

In Aptana Studio, how can I create my own library wizard?

If Aptana does not yet integrate a JavaScript library or framework (or version of a library) that you want, you can create your own project wizard so that you can easily develop with that library. Just follow the directions in Creating a new JavaScript library project wizard and you will be able to quickly create your own custom library wizard.

How can I my own custom error message filters in Aptana Studio?

Are you doing web development using IE or mozilla-specific or other non-W3C attributes and properties? If you are and if you would prefer to mask the error messages that appear in the Validation View for these properties, you can create custom error message filters in your preferences. See Adding custom error message filters to the Validation View to learn how.

How do I access my Aptana Studio log file?

The log file for Aptana can help the Aptana development team troubleshoot any bugs that you run into in the IDE. To quickly access your log, select View Aptana Log File from the Help menu in the IDE. For the fastest diagnosis of your issue, post your log to ASAP.

How do I cloak files or folders for FTP in Aptana Studio?

To speed up synchronization, you can specify files or folders to "cloak" from the FTP synchronization process. You can either cloak individual files or folders by right-clicking in the File View or you can specify regular expressions or file extensions to cloak in your preferences. See Cloaking files or folders for more details.

How can I restore my preferences when I switch workspaces in Aptana Studio?

If you move your workspace folder, any changes made to preferences are lost. These can be restored by transferring this folder from your old workspace to the same place in your new workspace folder: \Workspace\.metadata\.plugins\org.eclipse.core.runtime\.settings.

How can I update an Ajax library in an existing project in Aptana Studio?

If you started coding one of your projects against an Ajax library that has since been updated, you can simply update the libraries that you're coding against. See Updating an Ajax library project for details.

How can I repair my Aptana Studio installation?

If you have just re-installed Aptana Studio after uninstalling an older version, and you are getting an error in your log file that looks like the following excerpt, you will need to repair your Aptana installation:

!SESSION 2007-06-05 18:03:17.484 -----------------------------------------------
eclipse.buildId=unknown
java.version=1.6.0_01
java.vendor=Sun Microsystems Inc.
BootLoader constants: OS=win32, ARCH=x86, WS=win32, NL=en_GB
Framework arguments: C:\Program Files\Aptana\Aptana IDE Beta\Aptana.exe
Command-line arguments: -os win32 -ws win32 -arch x86 C:\Program Files\Aptana\Aptana IDE Beta\Aptana.exe

!ENTRY org.eclipse.core.runtime 2007-06-05 18:03:19.640
!MESSAGE Product com.aptana.ide.rcp.product could not be found.

!ENTRY org.eclipse.osgi 4 0 2007-06-05 18:03:19.671
!MESSAGE Application error
!STACK 1
java.lang.RuntimeException: No application id has been found. 

To repair your Aptana installation:

on Windows:

  1. Navigate to the C:\Documents and Settings\Username\Application Data\Aptana\Aptana Studio or C:\Documents and Settings\Username\Application Data\Aptana\Aptana IDE\ folder, and rename the configuration folder under Aptana Studio or Aptana IDE to configuration.bak (or other temporary name).

on OSX:

  1. Navigate to the ~/Library/Application Support/Aptana/Aptana Studio or ~/Library/Application Support/Aptana/Aptana IDE folder, and rename the configuration folder under Aptana Studio or Aptana IDE to configuration.bak (or other temporary name).

If that still doesn't work, try the following:

on Windows:

  1. Use the Windows control panel Add/Remove Programs utility to uninstall Aptana.
  2. Navigate to where the Aptana application was installed, and delete your old plugins folder (and all of its contents).
  3. Re-install Aptana Studio.

on OSX:

  1. Navigate to where the Aptana application was installed, and delete your old plugins folder (and all of its contents).
  2. Re-install Aptana Studio.

How do I determine my JVM and set my JVM path?

If you're having trouble running Eclipse and Aptana, one thing to check is that you are running the correct JVM and have your JVM path set. Eclipse (and Aptana) cannot currently run on the GNU version of Java, so you will need to install the Sun JVM to run Eclipse.

To determine which JVM you are using, check your log file (see Accessing your Aptana log), and look for the following entries:

java.version=[Version will be here]
java.vendor=[Vendor name will be here]

f you are running the GNU version of Java, you will need to download and install the Sun JVM, and then you will need set your PATH and JAVAHOME correctly to point Aptana/Eclipse to your new JVM.

The following tutorials are for an older version, but still contain the correct instructions for setting your PATH and JAVAHOME for Eclipse:

Another shortcut that you can try is to type the following at the command line:

aptana.exe -vm C:\jdk160\jre\bin\javaw

How can I restore my keybindings if I'm a Mac user?

If you are a Mac user who has experienced issues with hotkey shortcuts not working after using Apple+H to hide Aptana Studio and then restore the application, we've traced this issue to an SWT fragment with the embedded Safari browser.

If you use the standalone Aptana Studio, we will soon be publishing an update to fix this issue.

If you use Aptana as a plug-in to Eclipse (versions older than 3.3.0), follow the instructions below to fix this issue:

  1. Ctrl+click and do a Save As... on the .jar file below to save the file to your computer:

    http://aptana.com/downloads/org.eclipse.swt.carbon.macosx_3.3.0.v3346.jar

  2. Copy or move the .jar file to the plugins folder (this should be under your top-level Aptana folder).
  3. Re-start Aptana Studio.

This should also fix this same issue in any other plug-ins that use an embedded browser (e.g. WTP) and also fixes the issue of drag events not working in the embedded Safari, which affects the iPhone preview.

How can I troubleshoot my /usr/bin/java if I'm a Mac user?

If you're having trouble trying to run /usr/bin/java (this issue has been seen by some uphuck users), make sure that on OSX, /usr/bin/java points to "/System/Library/Frameworks/JavaVM.framework/Versions/CurrentJDK/Commands/java" (with a leading '/'). This should fix the issue so that you can run Aptana.

How do I set my memory size?

By default, Eclipse allocates a maximum of 256MB of Java heap memory, which is usually enough for most development tasks. However, depending on the JRE that you are running and if you are working with many additional plug-ins and have many files open, you may need to increase your amount of memory. Use the -vmargs command line argument to increase your heap memory, with the set to a value greater than "256M":

eclipse -vmargs -Xmx

If you are using a Sun VM, you may also need to increase the size of the permanent generation memory, which has a default maximum of 64MB. Use the -XX:MaxPermSize=[memory size] argument to increase the maximum permanent generation size:

eclipse -vmargs -XX:MaxPermSize=

Note: Check your VM documentation to see if this argument is available for your VM.

Note:

Setting memory sizes to be larger than the amount of available physical memory on your machine will cause can cause issues with Java, which will severely degrade your performance.

You can also add this entry to your aptana.ini or eclipse.ini file (found in the top level of your installation folder).

For standalone Aptana Studio:

    -name
    Aptana
    -vmargs
    -Xms512m
    -Xmx512m
    -XX:PermSize=256m
    -XX:MaxPermSize=256m
    -Djava.awt.headless=true

For Eclipse:

    -showsplash
    org.eclipse.platform
    -vmargs
    -Xms512m
    -Xmx512m
    -XX:PermSize=256m
    -XX:MaxPermSize=256m

Is there any way to add SFTP support to Aptana Studio Community Edition?

While we no longer officially support the old SFTP plug-in that was included in beta versions of Aptana Studio, you can still download and install this plug-in from our plug-ins page:

http://aptana.com/plugins

Can I use CVS for version control with Aptana Studio?

Yes, but we do not include CVS support with the standalone Aptana Studio. You can download and install the CVS plug-in from our plug-ins page to enable CVS support:

http://aptana.com/plugins

How can I change the user interface of Aptana Studio to another language?

To change the Aptana Studio UI to another language:

  1. Download and install the i18n plug-in from the Aptana plug-ins page:http://aptana.com/plugins
  2. Follow the instructions in the Help topic to change the Aptana Studio interface to another language:http://www.aptana.com/docs/index.php/Changing_the_Aptana_Studio_interface_to_a_different_language

I'm having trouble updating Aptana

For some users, an update to Aptana will appears to stop network connections and throws an error about being unable to download a particular .jar file. This is caused by an interaction between Aptana and certain network cards, in particular cards using the the Marvell network chipset. If you experience this issue, there are a number of remedies.

Patching Aptana Studio

The simplest way is to solve the issue is to download a special file and place it in your Aptana folder. This technique requires Aptana Studio 1.1.5 or later. If you have an earlier version, you can manually update to 1.1.5, or uninstall and reinstall.
  1. Download the attached file and place in your plugins folder under Aptana Studio/plugins.
  2. Restart Aptana Studio.
  3. Once Aptana Studio has restarted, open up Preferences > Aptana > Updates
  4. Set the values under Network Troubleshooting to "1" and "1000" respectively

Manual Update

You may choose to do a manual update of the existing plugin. Instructions are posted here.

Advanced Option

If you are on Windows XP with a Marvell-based network adapter, you may be able to tweak your network adapter settings:
  1. Get to your adapter properties (device manager -> network adaptors -> marvell... > right-click > properties)
  2. Go to Advanced & increase Number of Receive & Number of Transmit Buffers (for example from 50 to 200)
AttachmentSize
org.eclipse.update.core_3.4.100.200802142150.jar573.38 KB

Help! Aptana crashed (on Windows) and when I try to re-start, only the splash screen appears for a minute, and then disappears.

We've seen this issue periodically with Windows users. If you experience this issue, try the following workaround:

  1. Navigate to the folder where you have Aptana Studio installed (usually under C:\ Program Files), and find the jre folder.
  2. Re-name the jre folder to jre.old.
  3. If you have another instance of the latest JRE installed on your machine, skip to the last step.
  4. Download and install a new instance of the JRE from the java web page:

    http://www.java.com/en/download/index.jsp.

  5. Start Aptana Studio.

If the above workaround does not fix the problem, please file a support ticket in ASAP.

If I download Aptana Studio Community Edition and later on decide that I want to try the Pro Trial, how do I do that?

Go to the Aptana Studio download page, click the tab for your Operating System, and fill out and submit the form to receive the License key for your Pro Trial:

Aptana Studio Download page

If you are using the current version of Studio, you do not need to download the application again. You can can click the Cancel button when the download starts, and your Pro license trial key should still be emailed to you.

If you are not using the current version of the Community Edition of Studio, we recommend completing the download, then backing up your workspace and preferences and then uninstalling your old version of Studio and installing the new version.