eclipse setup problems

Question

I used Netbeans to develop Java Web applications and servlets, also some C++ programs, until now. Due to the fact, that I began to use playframework 2.1 a lot and it only supports IntelliJ or Eclipse (and also because of some other limitations in Netbeans), I decided to dig deeper into Eclipse (Indigo) now.

I created a new play project, eclipsified it and imported it in eclipse.

Iworked sometimes with eclipse, I also know some basic things about it (in fact that it is very modular over its different views and editors). The bare edition of eclipse indigo installed over Mint/Ubuntu software management is missing some features so I wanted to install them. A good IDE in my opinion should have at least the following features:

• syntax highlight (for Java, Scala, XML, CSS, JavaScript)
• code completion and javadoc (no need für HTML/XML completion)
• simple refactoring tasks like renaming classes, generating getters/setters...
• perhaps some server management support (starting, stopping and deployment on application servers, but thats a lot of comfort already I think)
• integrated version control (I use Git)
• EDIT: I forgot debugging (possibly even the most important feature)

Because eclipse was missing Git on my machine I decided to install eGit through eclipse help menu. I also did the "install updates" in the help menu. After restart, eclipse doesn't recognize anything anymore. There is no git, it doesn't syntax highlight java nor xml. Files only open in the simple text editor. Files with .html extension always open in Browser. Config files open in external text editors.

There are no menu items for refactoring, building, testing or anything like that. It seems that my naive approach of simple try and error does not work with eclipse, its making it even worse. Can somebody tell me how to adopt eclipse the proper way to my needs described above?

P.S. I think I will uninstall Eclipse and install it directly from the website, but which edition should I choose? I prefer to start with a sleek IDE an install plugins when I need them, so I dont't want to have the complete Java EE Edition.

Answer 1

I don't know play, so the following should be taken with a grain of salt.

• Take as starting distro (from Eclipse Dowloads) with the Java Distro (see the video on using play, there it is Java SDK Eclipse).
• If you are not sure about the Eclipse 4 stream, take the last from Eclipse 3: Indigo. Egit should be included there.
• Install the Eclipse in a local directory, where you will use it for all workspaces. Don't trust Ubuntu to understand what the prerequisits and the organization of Eclipse should be (I will give examples):
  • One directory for the Eclipse installations: /usr/local/eclipse/ecl732 (for current Indigo)
  • One directory for all workspaces: /home/user1/ecl-ws and inside that the real workspace: /home/user1/ecl-ws/ecl732-proj1.
  • Define batch files to start Eclipse inside /home/user1/ecl-ws. Name it like the workspaces they use: ecl732-proj1.bash.
  • Define inside the batch file the startup parameters: taken JKD (parameter -vm), workspace (parameter -data), add additional parameters if necessary.

With that setup, you control every aspect, and are sure what is installed where. To give more advice, you should include more information on the steps you have done.

• Jürgen Zornig: Thanks a lot for your advice, I uninstalled Ubuntu provided eclipse and took the edition you mentioned (Juno 64-bit). First I tried if it fits my needs by simply installing it in my home folder. It has pretty much everything on board (perfect Git integration), so I installed it as you said. I also installed the scala-2.10-juno-nightly plugin. I didn't know that there is a play plugIn, wow! Unfortunately the one from the video is for play 1.x, I use the newest 2.1 version, where eclipse plugIns are still buggy, but they exist. Although I am on the bleeding edge now, it should do th job. thx