EclipseWorld 2007

Topic: Customizing Eclipse Functionality Using Ant and Plugin Development Environment
Format: Technical Class
Abstract: Development of today’s complex software applications often involves the use of multiple tools of varying origins for design, development and deployment. Many of Eclipse’s top-level projects, such as WTP, DTP and BIRT, eliminate the need for assembling tools for a project by providing a standardized toolset for the development of multi-tiered applications using the Java Enterprise platform. Expectedly, even with the extensive set of tools these projects provide, they can’t replace all the different project-specific tools and components that developers rely on to create their applications.

This session will provide you with two methods of extending Eclipse to tailor it for project-specific needs. First, integration of external tools and processes into the IDE using the Ant build tool will be discussed, with the benefits and limitations of this method fully explored. Next, using the Plugin Development Environment (PDE) to build, package and deliver developer-oriented plugins that extend Eclipse will be discussed. The greater level of control and integration provided by this latter method will be highlighted.

Files
Presentation: [powerpoint] [acrobat]

EclipseWorld 2006

Topic: WTP Extensions using Ant and PDE
Format: Technical Class
Abstract: Development of today’s highly complex distributed applications often involve the use of multiple tools of varying origins for design, development and deployment. The Eclipse Web Tools Platform (WTP) eliminates the need for assembling some of these tools by providing a standardized toolsetfor the development of multi-tiered applications using the J2EE platform.

Expectedly, even with the extensive set of tools it provides, WTP cannot replace all the different project-specific tools and components that developers rely on to create their web applications. WTP wisely does not attempt to do this, but instead provides a flexible design that accommodates integration with existing tools, as well as extension of the core WTP functionality.

This session will provide developers with two methods of extending WTP to make it even more productive for their use. First, integration of external tools and processes into the IDE using the Ant build tool will be discussed, with the benefits and limitations of this method fully explored. Next, using the Eclipse Plug-in Development Environment (PDE) to build, package and deliver developer oriented plug-ins that extend WTP will be discussed. The greater level of control and integration provided by this latter method will be highlighted.

Files
Presentation: [powerpoint] [acrobat]
Project Files: Click here to download project files from the presentation. This demonstrates the creation of a plug-in using the Eclipse Plug-In Development Environment.

EclipseCon 2006

Topic: Using And Extending the Web Tools Platform (WTP)
Format: Long Talk
Abstract: The Eclipse Web Tools Platform (WTP) provides a standardized and highly extensible infrastructure for multi-tiered application development using the J2EE platform. The extensive set of useful tools provided by this platform can easily be overwhelming to anyone new to the platform. This session will provide an introduction to these tools, describing how they can be configured and used in developing your J2EE applications.

Many of the distributed applications that exist today often require processing through a variety of development tools, each providing a useful bit of functionality. Some of these tools have expectedly not been integrated into WTP. The flexibility of the WTP design however eliminates the need to discard such tools and allows them to be integrated into the development workbench. This session will additionally provide an introduction to the process of integrating some of these items such as build tools, servers and databases into Eclipse.

For the more complex applications with unique needs, there might be a need to provide a plug-in that delivers the required, custom solution needed for the application development. WTP gracefully supports this scenario also by providing a rich infrastructure for the design and creation of additional plug-ins. This session will conclude with an introduction to building plug-ins that extend the WTP features provided by WTP.