Installing Eclipse
Eclipse SDK, the Java programmer's IDE used in this SCBCD 5.0 Study Guide, can be downloaded from Eclipse downloads home.
The latest release (3.2.1) MUST be downloaded. It is possible to download other, less stable development (also called Milestone) releases. As a rule, if there is no known reason not to download the release version, it is safer to go for the release version.
Eclipse SDK (Release Build: 3.2.1) is downloaded as a ZIP file from any mirror.
NOTE: You should select eclipse-SDK-3.2.1-win32.zip file to download.
NOTE: Previous Eclipse SDK Releases (3.2, 3.1) will NOT work with JBoss IDE 2.0.0 well.
Save the file to some temporary folder (C:\temp).
The IDE is installed on the development machine by extracting the contents of the downloaded archive (the JDK 5.0 should already be installed and ready to run).
Use jar utility (WinZip or any other unzip program) to unzip the contents of the file to C:\temp:
C:\temp> jar xvf eclipse-SDK-3.2-win32.zip
This will create "C:\temp\eclipse" folder.
Then move Eclipse folder to C:\
C:\temp> move eclipse c:\
Create a shortcut (or command file) named "EJB 3.0 Development" to run Eclipse SDK 3.2.1 with workspace on disk C:\ using -data command line argument and folder name C:\ejb3workspace
You may also create command file with the following contents:
C:\eclipse\eclipse.exe -data C:\ejb3workspace
Start Eclipse SDK 3.2.1 with "C:\ejb3workspace" workspace using new shortcut (or command file).
Open Help > About Eclipse SDK menu to check the version:
Make sure that Eclipse is configured to use the correct JRE 5.0.
Open menu Window > Preferences... > Java > Installed JREs
The menu item opens a dialog to configure Eclipse:
Additional Java Runtime Environments can be added and selected.
Click the OK button, then exit the Eclipse.
Installing JBoss IDE Plugin
Eclipse is written to allow third parties to write a "plug-in". A plug-in can be installed to add functionality to Eclipse. Some plug-ins are available from the Eclipse site, another good source is http://www.eclipseplugincentral.com, this last site lists many plug-ins for Eclipse. Some are commercial, some are free.
Plug-ins are extremely popular, it is well worth spending some time to get acquainted with what is on offer. Plug-ins are essentially third party "Wizards" that are used to simplify a particular programming or configuration task. They save time, and reduce the number of bugs in an application.
In this SCBCD 5.0 Study Guide we use JBoss Application Server. The JBoss website lists a plug-in for Eclipse called JBoss Eclipse IDE. This plug-in facilitates the creation and debugging of Java applications which run inside JBoss. The plug-in is installed as follows:
NOTE: You MUST close Eclipse (if it is running) prior to plug-in installing.
Download package JBoss IDE for Eclipse version 2.0.0 Beta2 from JBoss web-site http://labs.jboss.com/portal/jbosside/download/index.html.
Save the JBossIDE-2.0.0.Beta2-ALL.zip file to some temporary folder (C:\temp).
The plug-in is installed on the development machine by extracting the contents of the downloaded plug-in archive into Eclipse folder.
Use jar utility (WinZip or any other unzip program) to unzip the contents of the file to C:\temp:
C:\temp> jar -xvf JBossIDE-2.0.0.Beta2-ALL.zip
This will create "C:\temp\eclipse" folder with 2 plug-in subfolders: "features" and "plugins".
Copy features plug-in folder to C:\eclipse\features
C:\temp> xcopy eclipse\features c:\eclipse\features /s /e /y
Copy plugins plug-in folder to C:\eclipse\plugins
C:\temp> xcopy eclipse\plugins c:\eclipse\plugins /s /e
Optionally: cleanup temporary directory
C:\temp> rmdir eclipse /s /q
Start Eclipse SDK using shortcut or command file.
The Welcome JBoss IDE screen appears:
Click the Next button.
The Convert JBoss AS Launch Configurations screen appears:
Click the Next button.
The Finished conversion screen appears:
Click the Finish button.
Congratulations ! You have installed the EJB 3.0 Development Environment !!!
