# Error when launching Designer debug from Intellij **URL:** \ **Category:** Module Development\ **Tags:** ignition81\ **Created:** [June 7, 2023, 2:12pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/error-when-launching-designer-debug-from-intellij/74711 "2023-06-07T14:12:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Robert\_McIlvenna](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/robert_mcilvenna/32/80238_2.png) [@Robert\_McIlvenna](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Robert_McIlvenna)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2023, 2:12pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/error-when-launching-designer-debug-from-intellij/74711/1 "2023-06-07T14:12:13Z")
Trying to debug some client/designer scope module stuff, and I've been working on getting Intellij set up for a bit but i've gotten stuck with this pesky error when trying to run the configuration as it is on the SDK dev guide: Exception in thread "main" java.lang.NullPointerException: Cannot invoke "java.lang.CharSequence.length()" because "this.text" is null at java.base/java.util.regex.Matcher.getTextLength(Matcher.java:1778) at java.base/java.util.regex.Matcher.reset(Matcher.java:435) at java.base/java.util.regex.Matcher.(Matcher.java:255) at java.base/java.util.regex.Pattern.matcher(Pattern.java:1156) at com.inductiveautomation.ignition.client.launch.GatewayAddress.parse(GatewayAddress.java:57) at com.inductiveautomation.ignition.designer.DesignerStartupHook.main(DesignerStartupHook.java:77) It seems to be something with parsing the Gateway address from one of the JVM arguments. I've got the same ones as on the SDK guide, I've tried fiddling with it yet cant get anything to work, always the same error. Anyone have experience with this issue? ---
**Author:** ![Kevin.Herron](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/kevin.herron/32/7259_2.png) [@Kevin.Herron](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Kevin.Herron)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2023, 2:24pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/error-when-launching-designer-debug-from-intellij/74711/2 "2023-06-07T14:24:56Z")
Can you screenshot your launch config including those args? Also not sure it matters, but you should be using JDK 11, not whatever newer version you have configured. ---
**Author:** ![Robert\_McIlvenna](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/robert_mcilvenna/32/80238_2.png) [@Robert\_McIlvenna](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Robert_McIlvenna)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2023, 3:01pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/error-when-launching-designer-debug-from-intellij/74711/3 "2023-06-07T15:01:59Z")
I switched from 20 to JDK 11, didnt change anything. Heres the config: ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/original/3X/6/1/6173a00f323942349bfb0797b3fc3c172c47bfca.png) I realized that this was from trying some other configs from another forum post, but that was because when trying to run the config from the SDK page: ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/original/3X/c/6/c63595ba57e45832354f1c566bd566a171f6695e.png) it gives the error: Launch parameter "javaws.sr.main" missing. ---
**Author:** ![Kevin.Herron](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/kevin.herron/32/7259_2.png) [@Kevin.Herron](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Kevin.Herron)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2023, 3:04pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/error-when-launching-designer-debug-from-intellij/74711/4 "2023-06-07T15:04:38Z")
Try these: ```auto -Dscadarail.version=dev -Dsr.gateway=localhost:8088 -Djavaws.ignition.debug=true -Djavaws.ignition.loglevel=INFO ``` ---
**Author:** ![Robert\_McIlvenna](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/robert_mcilvenna/32/80238_2.png) [@Robert\_McIlvenna](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Robert_McIlvenna)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2023, 3:07pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/error-when-launching-designer-debug-from-intellij/74711/5 "2023-06-07T15:07:38Z")
![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/original/3X/a/7/a792b856f2e32df434b5ab08e1e659bedf802874.png) same error on both, also the target VM address seems to be wrong? not sure if thats related. my local gateway is at [http://localhost:8088/](http://localhost:8088/) ---
**Author:** ![Kevin.Herron](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/kevin.herron/32/7259_2.png) [@Kevin.Herron](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Kevin.Herron)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2023, 3:08pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/error-when-launching-designer-debug-from-intellij/74711/6 "2023-06-07T15:08:33Z")
Hmm, this NPE is happening because the `sr.gateway` property isn't being found. If you copied my args and put them into the correct spot in the launch dialog I'm not sure why else that would happen. ---
**Author:** ![Kevin.Herron](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/kevin.herron/32/7259_2.png) [@Kevin.Herron](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Kevin.Herron)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2023, 3:09pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/error-when-launching-designer-debug-from-intellij/74711/7 "2023-06-07T15:09:57Z")
Are you sure you're putting them into the JVM Args (VM Options) section and not the Program Arguments section? ---
**Author:** ![Robert\_McIlvenna](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/robert_mcilvenna/32/80238_2.png) [@Robert\_McIlvenna](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Robert_McIlvenna)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2023, 3:13pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/error-when-launching-designer-debug-from-intellij/74711/8 "2023-06-07T15:13:24Z")
oh, yep, that might be it whoops ---
**Author:** ![Robert\_McIlvenna](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/robert_mcilvenna/32/80238_2.png) [@Robert\_McIlvenna](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Robert_McIlvenna)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2023, 3:19pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/error-when-launching-designer-debug-from-intellij/74711/9 "2023-06-07T15:19:01Z")
ah, its because intellij hid the VM arguments since they were blank that I couldnt even see the option ---
**Author:** ![paul-griffith](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/paul-griffith/32/37249_2.png) [@paul-griffith](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/paul-griffith)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2023, 3:41pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/error-when-launching-designer-debug-from-intellij/74711/10 "2023-06-07T15:41:19Z")
Yeah, IntelliJ's refactor of the run configuration dialog is a big miss in my opinion. ---
**Author:** ![Robert\_McIlvenna](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/robert_mcilvenna/32/80238_2.png) [@Robert\_McIlvenna](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Robert_McIlvenna)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2023, 4:09pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/error-when-launching-designer-debug-from-intellij/74711/11 "2023-06-07T16:09:55Z")
yeah big miss. I did try putting arguments there, and have tried a whole bunch of different configurations and everything from this thread: [Ignition 8 Designer Debugging not working - Module Development - Inductive Automation Forum](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/ignition-8-designer-debugging-not-working/26192/17). Still getting version mismatch ---
**Author:** ![paul-griffith](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/paul-griffith/32/37249_2.png) [@paul-griffith](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/paul-griffith)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2023, 4:11pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/error-when-launching-designer-debug-from-intellij/74711/12 "2023-06-07T16:11:22Z")
Can you show the full details of whatever error you're getting? The version=dev should prevent a version mismatch. ---
**Author:** ![Robert\_McIlvenna](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/robert_mcilvenna/32/80238_2.png) [@Robert\_McIlvenna](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Robert_McIlvenna)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2023, 4:21pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/error-when-launching-designer-debug-from-intellij/74711/13 "2023-06-07T16:21:14Z")
Ah yes that was the missing piece, sorry about that. Finally it works somewhat. Thank you so much for the help! Its able to open, but missing the Perspective module and the module im trying to use, I think that is a dependency issue in the pom of the designer-launcher ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/original/3X/2/2/22c2fb512e6e899189b8f299156ea56b6c8bfbe5.png) Hopefully that wont be too hard to fix