Home » Newcomers » Newcomers » Starting Eclipse off the right way(Help understanding some of the lingo and steps)
| Starting Eclipse off the right way [message #1629174] |
Sun, 22 February 2015 14:22  |
 Robert Behrman
Messages: 4
Registered: December 2014 |
Junior Member |
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I have a fairly long and detailed question. I'm an OK amateur programmer - I have built several large, but basic, projects in MATLAB and Java (command line stuff, with no UI), but I have no idea how to use eclipse to start branching out. Many of the key elements of using eclipse seem to rely on some formal knowledge of software development that I don't possess. So, I appreciate anyone's time helping me piece together the building blocks.
1st. What is the difference between a plug-in, an extension, and a JAR file?
2nd. What is the best way to download an external library with source code and use it correctly?
- Should I download the library and open it in my project?
- Should I download the library and open it separately from my current project?
- Should I list the library as a 'dependency' in my 'target platform' and point to its 'update site'?
(note, if I put quotes around it I don't actually know what those words mean)
3rd. What additional things do I need to download or configure, on top of the base download and JDK, to make the eclipse tutorials work?
- I downloaded eclipse IDE for java EE developers. I went into the samples, and started going through the plug-in development environment samples. About a third of the way into the second lesson, while learning how to 'create an extension', I learned that the schema for my extension points cannot be found. The internet suggests that I have failed to download some 'bundle'.
- What didn't I download?
- Where do I download it?
- What do I do with it once I download it?
- How can I anticipate what I need to download next time this comes up?
4th. What is the Rich Client Platform for?
5th. How much of this stuff do I need to understand prior to starting SWT and JFace?
- the Vogella SWT tutorials have me setting up the PDE and 'target platform'; is this necessary? If not strictly necessary, is it a good idea? If so, why?
I appreciate any help. The learning curve for this stuff is a bit steep.
v/r
Rob
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| Re: Starting Eclipse off the right way [message #1629464 is a reply to message #1629174] |
Sun, 22 February 2015 18:17  |
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On 02/22/2015 07:22 AM, Robert Behrman wrote:
> I have a fairly long and detailed question. I'm an OK amateur
> programmer - I have built several large, but basic, projects in MATLAB
> and Java (command line stuff, with no UI), but I have no idea how to use
> eclipse to start branching out. Many of the key elements of using
> eclipse seem to rely on some formal knowledge of software development
> that I don't possess. So, I appreciate anyone's time helping me piece
> together the building blocks.
>
> 1st. What is the difference between a plug-in, an extension, and a JAR
> file?
>
> 2nd. What is the best way to download an external library with source
> code and use it correctly?
> - Should I download the library and open it in my project? - Should I
> download the library and open it separately from my current project?
> - Should I list the library as a 'dependency' in my 'target platform'
> and point to its 'update site'?
>
> (note, if I put quotes around it I don't actually know what those words
> mean)
>
> 3rd. What additional things do I need to download or configure, on top
> of the base download and JDK, to make the eclipse tutorials work? - I
> downloaded eclipse IDE for java EE developers. I went into the samples,
> and started going through the plug-in development environment samples.
> About a third of the way into the second lesson, while learning how to
> 'create an extension', I learned that the schema for my extension points
> cannot be found. The internet suggests that I have failed to download
> some 'bundle'.
> - What didn't I download?
> - Where do I download it?
> - What do I do with it once I download it?
> - How can I anticipate what I need to download next time this comes up?
> 4th. What is the Rich Client Platform for?
>
> 5th. How much of this stuff do I need to understand prior to starting
> SWT and JFace?
> - the Vogella SWT tutorials have me setting up the PDE and 'target
> platform'; is this necessary? If not strictly necessary, is it a good
> idea? If so, why?
>
> I appreciate any help. The learning curve for this stuff is a bit steep.
>
> v/r
> Rob
1. A plug-in, in Eclipse, is code to extend Eclipse functionality. A JAR
file is a Java archive that is tantamount to a library. There is no
context to what you mean by "extension".
2. The best way is probably by using one of Maven, Ivy or Gradle all of
which are exceeding difficult to master at your level. My advice to you
is to learn Maven, but in the meantime, place a lib subdirectory at the
root of your project. Put the third-party JARs in there you need.
Right-click on your project and use Build Path -> Libraries -> Add JARs
(not Add External JARs), then navigate to add the JARs you put into lib.
In general, your code 'depends' on code that's in a third-party library
(JAR), meaning not coming out of a Java Developer Kit (JDK) JAR.
Maven, Ivy and Gradle have specific ways of listing and dealing with
dependencies.
Using Java, the 'target platform' is often of no import since Java is
"run everywhere".
3. The Java EE Developers download is probably the biggest and most
comprehensive. Sometimes this has included what's needed for plug-in
development. Apparently not always. Note that plug-in development is a
pretty rare thing. It's for the helpful saints who want to give Eclipse
ways of doing things it doesn't do or doing other things better than it
presently does.
4. RCP is what Eclipse's UI is written in. (It's probably a few other
things too, but UI is the most obvious.) It is bar-none the prettiest
way to do a UI in Java. Compare it to IntelliJ and other UI applications
written in Java to see how primitive their graphical qualities are by
comparison. I hope this answers your question.
5. Vogella rocks. Stick with that guy and you'll never be sorry.
However, he does not, and does not have the time to, do personal support.
Steep? Yup. We've all been there. Many give back, like Lars Vogel. I
publish my own notes--with no guarantees--publicly for others to benefit
from (at javahotchocolate.com). They are nothing so cool as vogella.de,
though.
Come here to ask Eclipse questions. Go to javaranch.com or
stackoverflow.com for Java questions, to stackoverflow.com for most
other questions--all after having lunch with the Google search engine.
Cheers,
Russ
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| Re: Starting Eclipse off the right way [message #1633883 is a reply to message #1633685] |
Wed, 25 February 2015 02:53 |
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Yes, extension points let one plug-in decide how and when other plug-ins can contribute an extension, for example new Perspectives in the UI, wizards, even content assist, detection of tasks, and spell checking.
_
Nitin Dahyabhai
Eclipse Web Tools Platform
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