As of this writing among Java IDEs, Eclipse is the most popular. It is a free, open-source application, and runs on Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, and other platforms. It provides great support for Java development, and has an extensive network of plug-in developers.
As of version 3.0.3, it is possible to import SoftSlate Commerce into Eclipse as a ready-made project:
Download the SoftSlate Commerce .zip file to your local workstation.
Visit www.eclipse.org to download Eclipse for your platform. It is free and runs on multiple operating systems. Follow the instructions on www.eclipse.org to install Eclipse. We strongly recommend you download the "Eclipse IDE for Java EE Developers" package for its Web Tools support, which includes JSP systax highlighting, among many other things.
In Eclipse, go to File -> Import..., open up the General tab and select "Existing Projects into Workspace".
Choose the "Select archive file" option and browse to find the SoftSlate Commerce .zip file.
Click Finish. Eclipse should unzip and build the project and you're ready to start developing!
When you're ready to deploy changes, you can simply choose File -> Export ... -> Web -> War file to generate a .war file that may be deployed anywhere.
![[Note]](images/note.png) | Note |
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It is also possible to integrate Eclipse with Tomcat and run SoftSlate Commerce under Eclipse in Debug mode, which allows for hot swapping code changes, breakpoints and other features. To do this, create and configure a "Server" in Eclipse and add the project as a web module to the Server. |
To use Eclipse with SoftSlate Commerce under an existing Tomcat instance, follow these steps:
Install SoftSlate Commerce.
If you haven't already, install SoftSlate Commerce on your development computer, following the steps outlined in the chapter on Installing SoftSlate Commerce. Note that the license allows you to install SoftSlate Commerce on any number of development machines that are inaccessible to the public.
Download and Install Eclipse.
Visit www.eclipse.org to download Eclipse for your platform. It is free and runs on multiple operating systems. Follow the instructions on www.eclipse.org to install Eclipse. We strongly recommend you download the "Eclipse IDE for Java EE Developers" package for its Web Tools support, which includes JSP systax highlighting, among many other things.
Create a New Java Project.
Once Eclipse is installed, create a new Java project pointing to the the directory where SoftSlate Commerce is installed on your local computer. Go to
File -> New -> Project, selectJava Projectand click next, give the project any name you like, and then select "Create project from existing source" and find the SoftSlate Commerce installation directory.Configuration Settings.
As of version 3.0.3, Eclipse should automatically configure SoftSlate Commerce correctly when you first create the project. In case it does not, check the "Java Build Path" settings for the project to make sure they are correct:
- Go to the
File -> Properties -> Java Build Pathscreen. - Under the "Source" tab, add the
<installation-drectory>/WEB-INF/srcdirectory as the application's only source folder. - Under the same tab, make sure the "default output directory" is
<installation-drectory>/WEB-INF/classes. - Next, under the "Libraries" tab, click the "Add JARs" button and check
off all of the .jar files under the
WEB-INF/liband theWEB-INF/builddirectories.
When you're done configuring these settings, Eclipse should be able to successfully compile the application. You'll be off and running.
- Go to the
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If you plan to use the Tomcat as your application server, we suggest pointing your
Eclipse project to the same directory Tomcat uses for the application (under Tomcat's
|