DfE - Metadata Repository is currently unavailable

Please see Desktop for Eclipse does not start / VoiceObjects plugin in Eclipse does not start for the main knowledgebase article on startup issues!

Symptoms

Original Enquiry

I'm trying to use Voice Objects for Eclipse. Unfortunately, at launch or when I want to create a new project, I've got an error message (screenshot attached). It seems that Eclipse daemon is correctly launched and listening on port 8070 (I'm working in standalone mode) but the connection can't be done.

Detailed Description

VoiceObjects DfE starts up successfully. All components seem to be running fine. Only the VoiceObjects perspective in Eclipse doesn't load successfully, the error message "The connection to the Metadata Repository is currently unavailable. Check the preferences" is shown. New projects cannot be created, the same message pops up.

Environment

VoiceObjects Desktop for Eclipse (DfE)
VoiceObjects Developer Edition

Cause

The main cause is that the Desktop component cannot contact the internal Server component.
This is done via a http request to the Server component, thus any http connection issue can be causing this.
Usually the issues are locally defined proxies or local firewalls. Additionally local network interface issues can the cause.

Resolution

• Please check if you have a proxy configured on your system. It was often seen that in these cases "localhost" and "127.0.0.1" need to explicitly be added to the ignore-list for this proxy.
• Assure that there is no local firewall blocking internal communication on port 8070
• Check if port 8070 is free when VoiceObjects DfE is not running. If this port is occupied from another program then VoiceObjects needs to be changed to use another port. Please see | Chapter 10 - VoiceObjects Preferences -> Adjust settings for internal server process in the Desktop for Eclipse Guide of the | VoiceObjects Documentation for more information.
• Assure that you can connect to http://127.0.0.1:8070/VoiceObjects/Services/WSProvider?wsdl - otherwise you might have issues in your network configuration which need to be resolved.