Eclipse tips (1)

Eclipse Tip: Sharing Java project settings

The Eclipse 3.1 has a new feature. Now the Java project settings like Compiler and Code Style can be shared with the entire team using the version control tool.

To do this right click the project in Package Explorer or Navigator view and got to either Java Code Style or Java Compiler options. Check the Enable project specific settings.

This will create a .settings folder in the project root. Eclipse will add and maintain the project specific configuration in this folder. Commit this folder to the version control. Thats it. Now the project settings are shared with the team. When the other team members synchronize with the repository they will get the project settings too. Any team member can update and check in the settings. Cool!

http://www.vasanth.in/2005/07/13/eclipse-tip-sharing-java-project-settings/

Linking the plugins to your Eclipse installation JbossTools

If you prefer not to pollute your Eclipse installation with third party plugins, a better management option is to externalize these addons. Eclipse has long supported a feature known as "links" which allows you to associate any directory that follows the standard Eclipse structure, and which contains additional features and plugins, with your Eclipse installation. Eclipse effectively performs a runtime merge of the available features and plugins in these directories.

NOTE: The links feature just described became the dropins feature in Eclipse 3.4.

Here's how to "link" the JBoss Tools plugins to your Eclipse installation.

1. Extract the JBoss Tools release anywhere outside of your Eclipse installation. Be sure to preserve the directory structure of the archive (i.e. the extracted folder should be named "eclipse" and contain a "features" and "plugins" directory). It's convenient to put this eclipse folder inside of a directory with the name of the plugin (i.e., /home/max/eclipse-addons/jbosstools)
2. Create the file jbosstools.link in the links folder (Eclipse < 3.4) or dropins folder (Eclipse >= 3.4) of your Eclipse installation
3. The contents of jbosstools.link should consist of a single line that defines the path where you extracted the JBoss Tools plugins (i.e. the location of the "eclipse" directory)

path=/home/max/eclipse-addons/jbosstools


The links or dropins folder can contain any number of .link files that point to Eclipse extension directories.
Refreshing the plugin cache

Unlike with the Update Manager, Eclipse doesn't know when you install a new set of plugins manually (regardless of whether you extracted them directly into your Eclipse plugin or used the links/dropins feature). Therefore, when you start Eclipse the next time, you need to instruct it to clean out its plugin cache so that it discovers the new plugins (and flushes plugins which have been removed).

eclipse -clean

The main shortcoming of the manual installation is that you have to download and extract the entire JBoss Tools release each time there is an update. The Update Manager, on the other hand, can just download the pieces of JBoss Tools that actually changed, not to mention the fact that the Update Manager can be set to perform updates automatically or simply notify you when they are ready. Decide for yourself which approach works best for you. However, I expect that developers are likely going to find the links/dropins feature most useful.

When using .link file option to install on Eclipse Version: 3.4.1 (Ganymede) on windows, only the "/" works as a path separator instead of "\".



E.g. if you have extracted the JBoss tools under "c:\eclipse-addons\jbtools" then in the .link file this path works: "[b]c:/eclipse-addons/jbtools[/b]", but not "c:\eclipse-addons\jbtools"

http://www.jboss.org/community/wiki/installingjbosstools

open-command-prompt-or-windows-explorer

http://tarlogonjava.blogspot.com/2008/07/open-command-prompt-or-windows-explorer.html