1. A computer implemented method for updating initialization parameters for application software from within a software development environment, comprising the steps of: changing a value of at least one initialization parameter contained in a configuration file of a developer computer system; starting an application software deployed on an application server communicatively connected to said developer computer system; subsequent to starting said application software, determining if said application software is executing in a test mode or in a production mode, said test mode comprising a mode intended to be used by authorized persons of an entity for testing operations of application software, and said production mode comprising a mode intended to be used by persons of a general public for accessing and using application software provided by said entity; when executing in production mode, exclusively causing a default configuration file including at least one default initialization parameter to be communicated from said developer computer system to said application server; when executing in a test mode, determining if a change has occurred with respect to said at least one test initialization parameter in a test configuration file of said application software; when results of said determining indicate that a change has occurred with respect to said at least one test initialization parameter, exclusively communicating said test configuration file including said changed value of said at least one test initialization parameter from said developer computer system to said application server; and initializing said application software using said default configuration file or said test configuration file; wherein only said application software is caused to be restarted each time a change is made to said test configuration file so as to bring test initialization parameter updates into service.