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Something missing?: 3.4 minimal standalone help system instructions [message #474330]

Tue, 09 September 2008 21:06

Eclipse User

Originally posted by: nospam_kowalskilee.gmail.com

Hi,

Two of us have followed the instructions in the 3.4 standalone help
system topic and are getting the same results.

At step 5 of the instructions ("From location1 start standalone help
from the command line"), we get the help system to start up. However,
the ToC frame is empty.

That makes sense, as there was no doc plug-in in the exported feature.

BUT, if we stop the help system and put a doc plug-in into either
dropins or plugins directory, and restart with the -clean parameter, we
get the same symptom: no content in ToC frame.

Somehow, the system is not recognizing that it has to pick up our doc
plug-ins. (BTW, these are doc plug-ins created using the 3.4 PDE and
targeted for 3.4).

We suspect that we need a config.ini or configuration that is specific
for running the standalone help system (vs the SDK). I took a look at
the config.ini file that's in eclipse/configuration and it is quite
changed from 3.3 and I'm not sure how to proceed to make one specific
for the standalone help system.

Is it likely that that is the issue? (needing a specific config.ini file)

If so, can someone provide a sample or a pointer of how I can create one
for a standalone help system 'product'? Can I do it using the PDE?

And if it's not the config.ini file, any insights into what the cause of
the empty ToC frame would be? :-)

Thanks!
Lee Anne

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Re: Something missing?: 3.4 minimal standalone help system instructions [message #474332 is a reply to message #474330]

Wed, 10 September 2008 03:57

Chris Goldthorpe

Messages: 815
Registered: July 2009

Senior Member

This sounds like a P2 related problem, P2 being the part of the Eclipse
runtime that is responsible for loading the right versions of plug-ins
and which is new in Eclipse 3.4. I've seen this myself but I don't have
a good feeling for why it only sometimes occurs or what the solution is.
If anyone has more insight I would be interested to know. You might try
putting the new plugins into the dropins directory as
eclipse/dropins/plugins and see if that makes any difference.

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Additional info: still need osgi.bundles=org.eclipse.core.runtime:start? [message #474333 is a reply to message #474330]

Wed, 10 September 2008 13:04

Eclipse User

Originally posted by: nospam_kowalskilee.gmail.com

Hi Chris, thanks for your quick response. It doesn't seem to be related
to plugins or dropins directories, but the SDK configuration that
remains after you follow the instructions and export the help system
feature into location1.

Would you please read through this and see if you can tell why this
approach seemed to work? And whether the part about the osgi.bundles
line from the 3.3 documentation is still necessary for the 3.4
documentation?

After I wrote my initial post, I followed some hunches to try to get
something that *might* work. I decided to use the 3.4 PDE to create both:
A sample doc plug-in (using the Sample ToC that PDE generates)
A Product Configuration (using PDE's Product Configuration wizard), and
selecting org.eclipse.help.base.helpApplication as the app to run.

And then exporting the resulting Eclipse Product to my "location1"
primed with the help feature.

When I did the Product Configuration using PDE and exported to
location1, I noticed that it created these files in location1:

an .eclipseproduct file that contains:
#Eclipse Product File
#Tue Sep 09 17:17:01 EDT 2008
version=1.0.0
name=LAK help test
id=com.lak.test.doc.myIC

a config.ini file that contains:
#Product Runtime Configuration File

osgi.splashPath=platform:/base/plugins/com.lak.test.doc
eclipse.product=com.lak.test.doc.myIC
osgi.bundles.defaultStartLevel=4
osgi.bundles=org.eclipse.equinox.launcher,org.eclipse.equino x.launcher.win32.win32.x86

It seems to have created a new eclipse.exe file also.

When I try to start the help system with this new configuration, I get
an error in the log about org.eclipse.core.runtime:
When I tried to run the standalone help system, it threw this error:
java.lang.IllegalStateException: Unable to acquire application
service. Ensure that the org.eclipse.core.runtime bundle is resolved
and started (see config.ini).

Then I recalled that in 3.3, in the help documentation, it said
something about ensuring that your config.ini file had this line that
includes org.eclipse.core.runtime:
osgi.bundles=org.eclipse.equinox.common@2:start,
org.eclipse.update.configurator@3:start, org.eclipse.core.runtime@start

So I updated the osgi.bundles line that config.ini that came from the
PDE to this:
osgi.bundles=org.eclipse.equinox.launcher,org.eclipse.equino x.launcher.win32.win32.x86,org.eclipse.equinox.common@2:start,org.eclipse.update.configurator@3:start,org.eclipse.core.runtime@start

And then when I restarted the help system, it came up and showing my
Sample ToC!

It would be great to get some repeatable steps so that the instructions
in the documentation with the help feature work each time. Would it have
to go as far as a canned "help product" configuration, so that all of
the new configuration bits and pieces get in the right places?

Best regards,
Lee Anne

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Any additional gotchas with these steps? [message #474335 is a reply to message #474330]

Wed, 10 September 2008 14:46

Eclipse User

Originally posted by: nospam_kowalskilee.gmail.com

Hi,

I've taken another pass at this and the following steps work for me to
at least see my doc plug-in's toc in the ToC frame.

Chris, can you confirm and see if there are any additional gotchas that
might occur using these steps? I haven't yet included defining a
plugin_customization.ini into my testing yet.

-----------------------
Steps:
a. Follow the steps in the Eclipse help topic about creating a minimal
standalone help system (steps 1 through 5).

b. Put your doc plug-ins into the plugins directory.

c. Edit the config.ini file in eclipse/configuration to have only
these lines:
osgi.bundles=org.eclipse.equinox.launcher,org.eclipse.equino x.launcher.win32.win32.x86,org.eclipse.equinox.common@2:start,org.eclipse.update.configurator@3:start,org.eclipse.core.runtime@start
osgi.bundles.defaultStartLevel=4

(Basically, remove a lot of the Eclipse SDK config.ini
lines from config.ini, and edit the osgi.bundles line to not reference
simpleconfigurator and instead be similar to what it was for 3.3).

d. Issue the startup command, and include the -clean parameter.

Making those changes, I was able to see my sample toc appear in the ToC
frame.

-----------------------

Best regards,
Lee Anne

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