Tutorial: Installation of an Eclipse IDE for using Spring, Spring Dynamic Modules for OSGi Service Platforms and AgileRCP

In this tutorial you will install an Eclipse IDE that supports the development using Spring, Spring-DM and AgileRCP. I've written this article because the installation procedure is a kind of cumbersome and hard to discover for beginners.

1. Download the Eclipse IDE for Java EE Developers from the Eclipse homepage. Note: When writing this article the current Eclipse IDE version was 3.4 (Ganymede).
   


2. Extract the downloaded ZIP file on your hard disk. When using Windows you would probably create a new folder under "C:\Program Files\" called "Eclipse_SpringDM" and extract the archive there. Optional: Create a shortcut to the Eclipse executable on your desktop.


3. Run the Eclipse IDE. Don't worry because the very first startup will take a while. Then choose a folder for your workspace.


4. Install the Spring IDE: Open the Software Update dialog and add a new update site: http://springide.org/updatesite_nightly
   Select the following features from that site and start the installation:
   
   • Spring IDE Core
   • Spring IDE AOP Extension
   • Spring IDE Autowire Extension
     
   • Spring IDE JavaConfig Extension
   • Spring IDE OSGi Extension
   • Spring IDE AOP Developer Resources
   • Spring IDE Autowire Extension Developer Resource
   • Spring IDE Core Developer Resources
   • Spring IDE JavaConfig Extension Developer Resources
   • Spring IDE OSGi Extension Developer Resources
   Note: When writing this article the installed version of Spring IDE was 2.1.0.


5. Restart Eclipse when the installation has finished.


6. Update the installed Spring IDE features and restart Eclipse when the update has finished. If there are no updates available, skip this step. Note: When writing this article the current Spring IDE version was 2.1.1.


7. Install AgileRCP: Download the latest release of AgileRCP from SourceForge: http://sourceforge.net/projects/agilercp/
   Extract the downloaded ZIP file in a temporary folder, e.g. "C:\Temp\". Open the Software Update dialog and add a new local update site pointing to your temporary folder. Select the following features from that site and start the installation:
   • Agile RCP Tooling / Ide Feature
   • Framework / Agilercp Feature
   Note #1: When writing this article the current AgileRCP version was 1.0.0 RC2.
   Note #2: If the installation using the Software Update dialog does not work because of unresolved dependencies, install the features and plug-ins using the "wild west" approach: just copy the extracted files directly into your Eclipse installation. Warning: The Eclipse documentation states that this is not recommended, see here.


8. Quit Eclipse when the installation has finished.


9. Update to the lastest version of Spring-DM: Download Spring-DM from the homepage. Extract the downloaded ZIP file into a temporary folder, e.g. "C:\Temp\". Copy the following files into the "plugins" folder of your Eclipse installation:
   • spring-osgi-core-[version].jar
   • spring-osgi-extender-[version].jar
   • spring-osgi-io-[version].jar
   Note: When writing this article the current Spring DM version was 1.1.1.


10. Run Eclipse once again. Now the installation is finished.

Resources:

• Eclipse Download: http://www.eclipse.org/downloads/
• Spring: http://www.springframework.org/
• Spring IDE: http://www.springide.org/
• Spring-DM: http://www.springframework.org/osgi
• AgileRCP: http://www.sourceforge.net/projects/agilercp/