Installing Aptana plugin in J!Code... There must be an easier way :)

[torkil]

Just read the dev blog post on the SoC projects for 2007, and decided to give JCode a go! Bear in mind I have never used Eclipse or EasyEclipse before, but by reading the forums I have gathered that JCode is a sort of EasyEclipse, so I made the assumption that I was running EasyEclipse.

The Aptana plugin seems to be a recommended addon by some Joomla programmers here on the forums, so I decided to give that a go as well, but installing it was a bit of a hassle. Here is a "log" of what I had to do in case some other unexperienced noob should try the same stunt. If someone knows an easier way or what I am doing wrong, please share.

I'm trying to follow the instructions on this page, which explains step by step how to use update.aptana.com as a remote site to install the Aptana plugin into JCode:
http://www.aptana.com/docs/index.php/Pl ... figuration

Connecting to the update site works fine, but when at the screen where I select features to install, I get an error when I click on Aptana, saying:
QuantumDB (3.0.3) requires plug-in "org.eclipse.jdt.ui"

Viewing error details gives me two error messages:
QuantumDB (3.0.3) requires plug-in "org.eclipse.jdt.ui"
Eclipse Tools (3.2.1) requires plug-in "org.eclipse.jdt.core"

From what I could gather from the documentation, this meant that I needed the Eclipse Java Development Tools which should contain both these plug-ins. This error is not a problem if you are running pure EasyEclipse, I have tested that too.

So I went to the EasyEclipse plugins page and found the Eclipse Java Development Tools plugin there for download. I'm on a mac so I downloaded the dmg-file and installed that successfully using the standard installer. Except that this did not install the plugin into JCode, it only ended up in my Macintosh HD/Library/EasyEclipse-folder.

So next thing I do is adding the EasyEclipse folder to my Extension Locations. I do this by opening Help > Software Updates > Manage configuration. Then right click JCode studio for Joomla and select Add > Extension Location. By doing so I am prompted to restart JCode. Being an obedient newbie, I agree to restart. By checking the plugins things now seem to be fine. Hooraah!

So when I now go back and repeat the steps required to install Aptana, I get no error messages. I accept the Licence agreement and click finish to start the installation. This seems to take a while. I recon it is a big plugin and drink some coffee while I wait.

Then I get a Verification popup saying that I'm about to install an unsigned feature. "This feature has not been digitally signed. Feature name: Aptana web development tools, com.aptana.ide.feature_0.2.9.17048". *sigh*. Oh well... install anyways! But no, a new error:

"Unable to complete action for feature "Aptana web development tools" due to errors." Error details gives me a long list of "unable to create file" errors. So looking through the Aptana forum it seems as if it's EasyEclipse that does not have the correct file privileges one some folders. More precicely: /Application/JCode/Contents/MacOS/plugins and the /features folder on the same level.

After fixing the folder privileges the installation works fine and I get Aptana up and running... Finally

So: Is there an easier way to install Eclipse Java Development Tools maybe? Installing Aptana was easy enough once the Eclipse JDT was in place and the mentioned folders were writeable.

[ianmac]

This is perhaps true...  The J!Code that is available for download off the Joomla! Forge is an old version.  We should have a new one out soon...  we're just waiting for various people to have time to package it and release it.  The newer version is based on Europa and will hopefully handle this better.

Ian

[torkil]

Awww 

Oh well, I think I will test EasyEclipse for the time being then.

[torkil]

By the way: Where can I stay updated on the progression of J!Code now that the SoC has ended? Would this forum be the place to hang out? Seems like a promising project that I'd love to help out testing.

[ianmac]

Probably looking: http://groups.google.ca/group/joomla-ide?lnk=sg

would be your best bet to stay up to date.  I would imagine a note would be posted there once it is released.

You can grab the plugin now if you want from http://www.ianmaclennan.org/jeclipse/or ... _1.0.0.jar

Ian

[Comenius]

What's the best way to install this into an existing Eclipse?

Also, isn't Apatna completely separate?  Confused...

[ianmac]

Installing what?  The JEclipse plugin?  All you do is copy the file into your plugins directory.

Ian

[Comenius]

Yes, Ian, that was it.   

As I've seen a number of plugins use the internal Eclipse updater I wasn't sure if that was also how JEclipse was best installed.

[ianmac]

We don't have an update site, so it has to be done this way at this point.

Ian

[Comenius]

Hi Ian,

Using Eclipse 3.3.1.1 (the latest PDT all in one package from the Eclipse.org website) I dropped the entire org.joomla.eclipse.joomlaextension_1.0.0 folder into my eclipse\plugins folder and restarted Eclipse. 

Perhaps I don't know how to find it but it doesn't seem to be active.  It doesn't show up in New.. or Show View... or Open Perspective or even under Software Updates -> Manage Configuration.

Any advice? 

[ianmac]

It relies on PHPEclipse which may not play nicely with PDT.

Ian