Application Server Toolkit for Validation

[P. Cartier Cartier]

On my current project we are using WebSphere 6.1 NWD and have to deploy heavily customised Ear files. Whenever there is are errors (incorrect deployment descriptors and bindings are the most common) it is only picked up at deploy time and this is very time-consuming. So I have been looking at some options to validate an Ear file BEFORE deployment. i.e. is to check the descriptors and corresponding IBM .xmi binding files for syntax / mapping errors on a "static" Ear file.
I have threfore been looking at the AST (WebSphere Application Server Toolkit 6.1) because its name suggests that it is tailor-made for this job.
But ... NO GO !!! There seems to be no option at all for validating existing Ears. I have tried several times to import an Ear file into a workspace and at some point it just hangs and the whole Eclipse has to be shut down!!
In fact it seems that the AST is nothing more than a lightweight IBM RAD skin over a base Eclipse !!

So my question: Am I missing something or is the AST simply unable to perform validations on Ear files built for WebSphere deployments ?

[Deepak Pant]

I have tried AST and think it is a useless tool. It is a strip down version of RAD that can be used to create EAR or WAR files. It can also be used to edit the complex deployment descriptors under EJB2.1 and WAS 6.x world.

I think the real issues related to DD issues will come only when you start deploying the app.

You can try creating a test profile and a Jython script that installs the app to test profile.

Do post here if you find some other way of achieving your objective.

[P. Cartier Cartier]

Well thanks for making me feel good. My own opinion is also that the AST is nothing like it is cracked up to be!
And after yesterday I would tend to agree with the term "useless tool" because I downloaded the latest fix, installed it with Rational Updater by the book ... and after a "successful update" message still got all sorts of constraint / missing bundle errors at AST startup. Further investigation on this site found this post:
https://coderanch.com/t/79435/Websphere/WAS-toolkit-eclipse-startup-errors
which correctly concludes that you need to re-install the whole thing!!
What amazes me is that a company the size of IBM cannot provide decent tooling to evaluate/validate the core descriptors which drive any J2EE application. All you get is WSAD/RAD which is essentially a development environment with wizards which frequently generate descriptors undeployable in other environments. I know this because EVERY PROJECT I have been on with WebSphere has had long delays and problems at deploy time! And one ALWAYS ends up having to hack .xmi binding files and namespaces pre- and post- deploy to make things work !!
If you know of any decent 3rd party tool for WebSphere please let me know!