Vscode Spring Boot Tools 1.40.0 prevents Java Unit Tests from Running/Debugging when JDK 11 is specified

[ogarry80]

Description
Vscode Spring Boot Tools 1.40.0 prevents Java Unit Tests from Running/Debugging when JDK 11 is specified in spring-boot.ls.java.home setting.

To Reproduce

Prerequisite: VSCode with Java Extension Pack and Spring Boot Extension Pack (version of VSCode : 1.73.1)

• Clone the sample java project linked below
• Download an install an OpenJDK 11
• Open VSCode on the sample java project folder.
• Edit the settings.json of VSCode and set value of spring-boot.ls.java.home to path of installed JDK 11
• Go to Test viewlet and try to run/debug the only unit test of the project

Sample
https://github.com/ogarry80/com.vscode.java.project

[martinlippert]

Thanks @ogarry80 for reporting this. But why are you setting this preference to a manually installed JDK 11? This setting is used to identify the JDK to run the tooling itself - and is not related to the Java version of your projects at all. That is why I am wondering why you are setting this preference. By default, it uses the JDK 17 that comes embedded in the Java tooling in VSCode.

Aside from that, the tooling requires a JDK 17 to run on - and forcing the tooling to run on a JDK 11 will most likely break it (which seems to be the case for you). Keep in mind that this preference is unrelated to your projects. They can continue to compile against and run on Java 11 - independent of the JDK that is used to run the tooling itself.

[ogarry80]

Thanks for the quick reply @martinlippert.
In fact we have a spring boot project with lots of years old legacy code running only on JDK 11.
Maybe i did something wrong but if i don't set this setting manually to point on JDK11 the spring boot app does not starts at all.
It was working well with this manual setting until release of 1.38 or 1.39, i can't remember exactly

[ogarry80]

@martinlippert
I removed the setting and I am now able to run the spring boot app as well as the unit tests.
You are right, I certainly misused this setting.

Thanks a lot for your help and clarification :)

[martinlippert]

No worries, happy to hear that everything is working fine again and thanks for letting us know.

[baincd]

@martinlippert I also had the spring-boot.ls.java.home setting set to a JDK 11. I don't recall the exact reason why, but at some point in the past I had to set this in order for the extension to work. Because of this, I recently was suddenly unable to run or debug Java applications or tests in VS Code until I was able to devote some time to research and find the culprit. This was extremely frustrating.

If I could make a suggestion, I've noticed other VS Code extensions will check their configured JDK version at startup, and if the version is insufficient, or the setting is misconfigured, popup an error message noting that a specific version of Java is required and the extension will not work until this is resolved. This prompts me to check and set the relevant setting. I know what to do, and what to expect if I don't do that.

I think that is a much better way to handle this requirement than what currently happens in Spring Boot Tools, which is nothing (no error message, no logging, nothing), just silent failure that creates end user confusion and frustration.

Understand and be prepared that some users may have this setting set for any reason, such as to fix an issue in the past, and handle that accordingly and communicate it with the user.