OpenSubsystems

Before you start

Eclipse Integrated Development Environment is the default IDE used to develop OpenSubsystems. You will need Java 2 Standard Edition to run Eclipse and OpenSubsystems based applications. You will need to download the full J2SE Development Kit (JDK) rather then just the runtime environment (JRE) since you will need a compiler to compile source files and dynamic web pages developed using JSP technology.

OpenSubsystems is trying to achieve highest quality of delivered products by encouraging developers to follow common coding standards. This is done using Checkstyle project, which can be conveniently integrated into Eclipse environment using Checkstyle Eclipse plug-in.

There is several useful plug-ins, which can help you while developing or using OpenSubsystems. Eclipse provides an easy to use way ho to install such plug-ins. This document will guide you through the installation of one such plugin and then will suggest other plugins, which you may find helpful.

J2SE Development Kit

Install the JDK on the root of your program drive, for example if you are installing version 1.4.2_04 on drive C, install it to a directory called for example

C:\j2sdk1.4.2_04

Add JAVA_HOME environment variable to point to your installation directory. This environment variable will tell Ant and other tools what version of Java to use in case there are multiple versions installed.

Modify PATH environment variable to include the bin subdirectory from your JDK installation by adding

%JAVA_HOME%\bin

at the beginning of your PATH value. Use semicolon to separate it from the existing values. This settings will enable Ant to correctly invoke some Java tools, such as javadoc.

Add CLASSPATH environment variable to point to the tools.jar file in your JDK installation. You can do this by setting the value to

%JAVA_HOME%\lib\tools.jar

This setting will enable Ant to correctly compile dynamic web pages developed using JSP technology.

Eclipse IDE

Install the Eclipse IDE on the root of your program drive, for example if you are installing version 3.1.2 on drive C, install it to a directory called for example

C:\eclipse

In the root directory of a drive you usually use to develop software, create directory called Development so that full path will be for example

C:\Development

In this directory you will store all Eclipse projects, which you will develop.

Go to your Eclipse installation directory, create a shortcut to eclipse.exe on your desktop and in the Property dialog change the Target and Start in values. Set the Target value to be

C:\eclipse\eclipse.exe -vm %JAVA_HOME%\bin\javaw.exe -vmargs -Xms256m -Xmx256m

Modify the -Xms and -Xmx values to match the amount of memory available on your system. The example instructs Eclipse to use 256MB of memory to improve its performance. Set the Start in value to point to the newly created Development folder, such as

C:\Development.

Eclipse Workspace

Start the Eclipse IDE using the shortcut you have just created. When Eclipse starts, it asks to confirm that the Eclipse workspace should be stored in directory

C:\Development\workspace

Accept this location by clicking OK button.

Jetty Launcher

OpenSubsystems uses Jetty servlet container as a standard web container during development. Jetty Launcher project provides easy way, how to start Jetty from within Eclipse development environment and use it to test webui provided by specific subsystem.

Jetty Launcher can be conveniently installed using Eclipse Update Manager. Go to Help menu and select Software Updates item and then Find and Install... The Install dialog will start. Select option to install new features and click Next.

On the Updates sites to visit page click New Remote Site... and in the dialog type as name

JettyLaucher

and URL

http://jettylauncher.sourceforge.net/updates

Close the dialog with OK button and click Finish button to progress to the next page.

Eclipse will seach for available updates and will display tree for Jetty Launcher. Expand the tree and select the Jetty Launcher entry and click Next button.

Confirm to install Jetty Launcher Plugin and click Next button to progress with the installation.

Read the license under which the jetty Launcher is licensed and accept it before you progress to the last page using Next button.

The Install Location page shows available Eclipse locations where the plugin can be installed. Select the one you are using and complete the wizard by clicking Finish button

Eclipse will validate the Jetty Launcher installation and after you confirm it, it will install it as a new plugin. After you restart Eclipse you will be able to use it to run your web applications directly from within Eclipse.

Additional Plug-ins

We recommend to install Checkstyle Eclipse plug-in and Web Tools plug-ins. Checkstyle will, as you develop, highlight any violation of coding standards in your code. Web Tools plug-in will add to Eclipse IDE several editors suitable for web development. The easiest way to install all recommended plug-ins is to import list of update sites once OpenSubsystems project is downloaded from CVS repository. You can read more in Configuring Eclipse once you reach this section.

If you decide to install these plug-ins manually follow the same plug-in installation procedure as described earlier while using following values for new remote site to install Eclipse Checkstyle Plug-in type Name

Eclipse Checkstyle Plug-in Updates

and URL

http://eclipse-cs.sourceforge.net/update

For Web Tools Project type Name

Web Tools Platform

and URL

http://download.eclipse.org/webtools/updates/