Enterprise Java Development@TOPIC@

Chapter 8. Eclipse Setup

8.1. Download and Install Eclipse
8.2. Define JDK location
8.3. Setup Maven Eclipse Integration (m2e)
8.4. Setup EGit Eclipse Team Provider
8.5. Setup JBoss Eclipse Integration

The most current version of Eclipse is Mars. However, August/September is the worst time to switch to the newest Eclipse platform since they normally release in the summer and the previous release from last year has had a chance to receive bug fixes and performance patches. I am going to follow my own advice this year and go with Luna. You may use Mars or another IDE entirely.

8.1. Download and Install Eclipse

  1. Download Eclipse IDE for JavaEE Developers https://eclipse.org/downloads/packages/release/Luna/R or latest from http://eclipse.org/downloads

  2. Unzip the downloaded archive.

    $ tar xzf ~/Downloads/eclipse-jee-xxxx-R-linux-gtk-x86_64.tar.gz

$ ls eclipse
about_files  about.html  artifacts.xml  configuration  dropins  eclipse  eclipse.ini  
epl-v10.html  features  icon.xpm  notice.html  p2  plugins  readme

  3. Create a shortcut for starting Eclipse

  4. Start Eclipse

8.2. Define JDK location

Eclipse will default to the JRE when launching most tools/applications. Sometimes this can be an issue and requires a JDK. Add the JDK and make it your default JRE.

  1. Window->Preferences->Java->Installed JREs

  2. press Add..->Standard VM and reference the JDK instance you installed earlier

  3. Make the new JDK VM your default

8.3. Setup Maven Eclipse Integration (m2e)

m2e is a plugin installed into Eclipse that configures Eclipse based on the Maven pom.xml configuration. When adjusting your builds, you should always define changes within the Maven pom.xml and rely on m2e to translate that into Eclipse. Any changes added directly to Eclipse will not be seen by the command-line build.

M2E is now part of Eclipse JavaEE

m2e was pre-installed in my download of Kepler, Luna, and Mars. Nothing more needs to be done to install it. The rest of these instructions are concerned with using it and demonstrating it.

  1. Add the Java Package Explorer to the JavaEE Perspective. I find this easier to work with than the Project Explorer used by default in the JavaEE perspective.

    1. Select Window->Show View->Other->Java->Package Explorer.

    2. Drag the Package Explorer to the panel with the Project Explorer

    3. Select Top Level Elements->Working Sets from the down-facing triangle in the top-right corner of the Package Explorer.

    4. Create a New Java Working Set and call it "class-examples"

    5. Press OK

  2. Import the class examples into Eclipse as a Maven Project

    1. Right click on "class-examples" in the Package Explorer and select Import...->Maven->Existing Maven Projects

    2. Browse to the project area where you performed the Git checkout earlier and select the javase/javase5Enhancements folder.

    3. Select Next to have the current project(s) added to the selected working set.

      Note

      There will be an extra panel that appears the first time you import a project with a new maven plugin. Allow Eclipse to setup any that it knows about, discover ones that may be new, or resolve later for those that it cannot find. There will be unsigned content warnings for most of the plugins. Eclipse will want to restart after installing any new plugins.

    4. Build and test the application using Run As->Maven Install by right clicking on any of the project folders.

      Note

      If you receive the following error

      [ERROR] No compiler is provided in this environment. Perhaps you are running on a JRE rather than a JDK?

      add the following '-vm' option to your eclipse.ini file -- pointing to your javaw executable in the JDK directory, restart Eclipse, and retry. 

      -vm C:\apps\Java\jdk1.7.0_11/bin/javaw.exe

      --launcher.defaultAction
openFile
-vm C:\apps\Java\jdk1.7.0_11/bin/javaw.exe
-vmargs
-Dosgi.requiredJavaVersion=1.5
-Dhelp.lucene.tokenizer=standard
-Xms40m
-Xmx512m

    5. Try also Run As->JUnit Test.

8.4. Setup EGit Eclipse Team Provider

You can use the command line Git to functionally clone the remote repository and update your local copy. However, having Git integrated into Eclipse allows the plugin to make Eclipse transition easier between one checked out branch to another or correctly react to an updated branch. To do this -- install the EGit plugin.

Git and EGit is now part of Eclipse JavaEE

Git and EGit was pre-installed in my download of Kepler and Luna. Nothing more needs to be done to install it. The rest of these instructions are concerned with using it and demonstrating it.

  1. Right click on the ejavase5Enhancements project imported earlier and select Team->Share Project...->Git->Use of create repository in parent folder of project->Finish

  2. [(branch-name)] should now be displayed to the right of the project name

8.5. Setup JBoss Eclipse Integration

Add the following repository to your Eclipse instance and install the plugin

  1. Open the Eclipse Marketplace panel using Help->Eclipse Marketplace

  2. Type JBoss into the seach field and press Go

  3. Click Install for the JBoss Tools (Luna)

  4. Complete the installation steps for JBoss Tools. There are many tools in the repository. Not all of them are needed for class or obvious how to use them without more investigation. Choose the following suggested minimal set.

    Note

    You will receive a warning about the content within the plugin being unsigned.

    Note

    You will receive a warning after restarting Eclipse about the reporting anonymous use to JBoss. They use those callbacks to determine where and when their tools are being used (for bragging rights?). I disable that.

  5. Define a Server Instance for JBoss

    1. Open the JavaEE Perspective

    2. Select "new server wizard..." in the Servers panel

    3. Select Wildfly 8.x under the JBoss Community folder (works with Wildfly 9.x as well)

    4. Set HOME to your wildfly-9.0.1.Final directory using the Browse button on the next panel

    5. Name the server "standalone" and leave the to match the default "standalone.xml" configuration file.

    6. Set the JRE to the default 'real' JRE

    7. Review options. Note that I generally start my server externally so that standard output does not compete with my other actions within Eclipse. However, there are pros and cons to both methods and I will start you with internally launched here.

    8. Start the server by right clicking on it and selecting Start