Eclipse Install with Plugins

Eclipse is a good IDE, but you have to add a lot of sub-projects and plug-ins to get it ready for enterprise development. This blog will list how to install Eclipse and select the right plug-ins.

Installing

• Load JDK 1.6, I use this for running Eclipse, it gives a little speed boost.
• You will need to specify this JVM on the Eclipse command line, see next item.
  
• As of this post 3.3RC4 of Eclipse is out, please install this by selecting "All Versions" on the Eclipse web site.
  
• I normally install it in $HOME/apps/eclipse.
  
• Create a short cut or start-up script that adds the following environmental settings.
• eclipse -vm path_to_jvm/bin/java -showlocation -vmargs -XX:+UseConcMarkSweepGC -Xms256M -Xmx700M

• Load the Web Tools Project (WTP)
  
• WTP 2.0 is the latest version
  
• Help->Software Updates->Find and Install
• Select Search for New features to Install
• Select Europa Discovery Site
• Check Automatically Select Mirrors
• Follow prompts
• Select "Web and JEE Development"
  
• Select Required
  
• When prompted for installation, choose to Add a Location. This will create an Extension directory. I normally use $HOME/apps/eclipse-plugins

• If you are using Subversion, then load the Subclipse plugin
• The latest version is 1.2.2
  
• Add a new remote site
• Use http://subclipse.tigris.org/update_1.2.x
• Do not select the Mylar extension, I have had too many problems with it.
  

• Load the Spring IDE plugin using the Update Site
• Use the 2.0 RC1 (Release Candidate 1). It supports Spring name spaces.
• Add a new remote site
• Use http://springide.org/updatesite_dev
  

• Load the JBoss IDE, this will get you the Hibernate Tools. You can also install the components separately.
  
• The latest stable version is 1.6GA
  
• Add a new remote site
• Use: http://download.jboss.org/jbosside/updates/stable

• Update your code formatting preferences as required.
• Once you do this, you should save them to an external file.

• Load the Groovy plugin of course!
  
• Load the latest development version, the stable version does not support the upcoming 1.1 Groovy release.
  
• Add a new remote site
• Use: http://dist.codehaus.org/groovy/distributions/updateDev/