Install the VE plug-in Eclipse3.3

 

Abstract:This article describes how to install the VE plug-in Eclipse3.3 to implement visual programming, and briefly describes the problems that may occur when installing the plug-in.

Keywords:Eclipse, VE, emf, GEF

In just three years, Eclipse snatched the market accumulated over 10 years from JBuilder and became the winner of the Java IDE battlefield. Eclipse can beat JBuilder mainly because Eclipse has three magic weapons: free, open-source, and plug-ins.

Now that you have chosen Eclipse as a Java Development Platform, you certainly want Eclipse to be visually programmed like JBuilder. The Eclipse open-source project has finally launched a long-awaited Visual Editor, which makes the powerful Eclipse platform a powerful tool for developing Visual Java components in Java, so that Java developers no longer need to rely on other IDE products for GUI work. All development, from application interface to business logic development, can now be completed on the Eclipse platform.

How does one install VE to implement visual programming? So I searched online and found several related articles, steps for establishing a visual programming environment in Eclipse3.2, practical installation strategy for Eclipse3.2 and VE plug-ins, and installation and configuration of GUI programming and JSP development plug-ins under Ecplise3.2, the use of Eclipse for visual Java interface design, the first two articles are considered that Eclipse3.2 must install emf-sdo-rutime-2.20, GEF-runtime-3.2, GEF-SDK-3.2, VE-runtime-1.2 and VE-SDK-1.2 five plug-ins can only, the third article that must install emf-sdo-rutime-2.20, GEF-runtime-3.2, VE-runtime-1.2 and VE-SDK-1.2 four plug-ins, install according to the article prompts, but after starting Eclipse in the [Error Log] Error prompt, as shown in:

Please refer to the first error message,

Message: cocould not install bundle myplugins/veruntime/eclipse/plugins/org. eclipse. ve. swt_1.2.0.v20060628.jar Bundle "org. eclipse. ve. swt "version" 1.2.0.v20060628 "has already been installed from: update @ myplugins/ve/eclipse/plugins/org. eclipse. ve. swt_1.2.0.v20060628.jar

This shows that VE-runtime-1.2 and VE-SDK-1.2 should not be installed at the same time, just install one of them, start Eclipse will not see the above error prompt.

The following sections describe how to install the VE plug-in Eclipse3.3 to implement visual programming. The steps are the same as installing the VE plug-in Eclipse3.2 to implement visual programming. Only one note is required, eclipse3.3 requires JDK 1.5 or later, while Eclipse3.2 requires JDK 1.4.2 or later.

1. Download and install Eclipse3.3

Eclipse-SDK-3.3.1.1-win32.zip:

Http://www.eclipse.org/downloads/download.php? File =/eclipse/downloads/drops/R-3.3.1.1-200710231652/eclipse-SDK-3.3.1.1-win32.zip

Decompress eclipse-sdk-3.3.1.1-win32.zip to a directory, such as D: \, a D: \ eclipsefolder is generated with eclipse.exe and two important folders plugins and features.

Run d: \ eclipse \ eclipse.exe. In the displayed dialog box, select Workspace, as shown in. Set it to D: \ eclipse \ workspace, check the check box, and click OK to start Eclipse.

Ii. Download plug-ins EMF, GEF, and VE

Eclipse3.3 must install the corresponding versions of GEF, EMF, and VE plug-ins to achieve visual programming. If the versions are different, the installation will fail. The following versions of emf-sdo-runtime-2.2.0, GEF-runtime-3.2, and VE-SDK-1.2 can meet your needs.

Emf-sdo-runtime-2.2.0.zip :( Eclipse Modeling Framework) http://archive.eclipse.org/modeling/emf/emf/downloads/drops/2.2.0/R200606271057/emf-sdo-runtime-2.2.0.zip

GEF-runtime-3.2.zip :( Graphical Editing Framework)

Http://www.eclipse.org/downloads/download.php? File =/tools/gef/downloads/drops/R-3.2-200606270816/GEF-runtime-3.2.zip

VE-SDK-1.2.zip :( Visual Editor)

Http://www.eclipse.org/downloads/download.php? File =/tools/ve/downloads/drops/R-1.2-200606280938/VE-SDK-1.2.zip

Iii. Install plug-ins EMF, GEF, and VE

(1) intrusive plugin installation method

The "intrusive plugin installation method" is the "copy" method. You only need to copy eclipse \ features and eclipse \ plugins in the plug-in to eclipse \ features and eclipse \ plugins In the eclipse installation directory, this method is used in the article "visual Java interface design with Eclipse". However, this installation method has a serious defect and cannot be uninstalled after installation. That is to say, the installation process is irreversible, you cannot flexibly configure and manage the installed plug-ins. Therefore, we do not recommend that you use this plug-in installation method.

(2) non-intrusive plug-in Installation Method

The "intrusive plugin installation method" is the "links" method. Create two subdirectories myplugins and links under the D: \ eclipse directory, decompress myplugins plugin to the emf directory, and decompress GEF-plugin to the ve directory. The directory structure is shown in:

Create three text files in the links directory: ve. link, gefruntime. link, and emf. link. (In fact, three files can be named at will)

** File ve. link content:

Path = D: \ eclipse \ myplugins \ ve (absolute path)

Or

Path = myplugins \ ve (relative path)

** Content of the file gefruntime. link:

Path = D: \ eclipse \ myplugins \ gefruntime (absolute path)

Or

Path = myplugins \ gefruntime (relative path)

** File emf. link content:

Path = D: \ eclipse \ myplugins \ emf (absolute path)

Or

Path = myplugins \ emf (relative path)

Change "\".

According to the Article introduction to Eclipse3.2 and VE plug-in installation practices, three connection files can be merged into one connection file, that is, only one connection file can be created under the links directory, such as ve. link. The content is as follows:

Path = myplugins \ ve

Path = myplugins \ gefruntime

Path = myplugins \ emf

It turns out that the installation will not succeed, and only the emf-sdo-runtime-2.2.0 set for the last line can be installed.

4. embark on the Visual Programming journey

Start Eclipse, create a project Test, and click "Visual Class" under "New" in the toolbar. The "New Java Visual Class" dialog box is displayed:

In this dialog box, enter the class name. Here we enter "Notepad" and the visual class you want to inherit (in the Style Outline View ). You can choose to inherit any interface components from Swing or AWT. to inherit other types of classes, select "other" and click the [Browse] button to select the class you want to inherit. Select the "Frame" option under "Swing" to inherit javax. swing. JFrame, and click "Finish" to see the Visual Editor interface.

You can start Visual Programming with "VE tool panel", "design window", "code window", and "attribute window.