Eclipse is a comprehensive
development tool that allows developers to create
Java applications faster and more efficiently.
Nexaweb provides an Eclipse plug-in that enables
users to develop Nexaweb applications within the
Eclipse development environment.
Nexaweb Studio 2.0 for Windows is
designed for use with Eclipse 3 running on top of
Sun JDK 1.4 or above. The Linux version is
designed for use with Eclipse 3 running on top of
Sun JDK 1.5. Using the studio with a different
configuration may have unexpected results.
1. Install Java SDK 1.4 or above
The
latest version of the Java Software Development Kit
can be downloaded from
http://java.sun.org. Install browser support
when installing the JDK. Doing so will ensure that
the Nexaweb client can run on the internet browsers
installed on the machine.
2. Install Eclipse IDE 3. x
Eclipse IDE version 3.1 can be downloaded from
www.eclipse.org. There is no installer
executable for Eclipse. Just extract the zip file
to a directory. When installing, make sure to note
the directory where Eclipse was extracted. This
information is needed when installing Nexaweb
Studio.
3. Install GEF Visual Editing Plug-in for Eclipse
Check
www.eclipse.org/gef for the latest version of
the GEF Visual Editing plug-in. There is no
installer for GEF. The zip file that is downloaded
from the GEF website should be extracted into the
Eclipse home directory.
4. Install Nexaweb Platform 4.0.
Nexaweb packages its software using ZeroG
InstallAnywhere packaging software.
To install
Nexaweb on Windows platforms, run the executable
(setup.exe) provided by Nexaweb distributed either
on CD or downloaded from the Nexaweb website. The
default installation directory for Nexaweb Platform
4.0 is in the folder Program Files/Nexaweb/Nexaweb
Platform 4.0.
For detail
instructions on how to install standalone Nexaweb
software, see the Nexaweb Deployment and
Configuration Guide.
5. Install Nexaweb Studio 2.0
Nexaweb Studio 2.0 is packaged into an executable
installer for Windows.
To install Nexaweb Studio, run the executable
(setup.exe) provided by Nexaweb distributed either
on CD or downloaded from the Nexaweb website. The
default installation directory for Nexaweb Studio
2.0 is in the folder Program Files/Nexaweb/Nexaweb
Studio 2.0.
During installation, the installer will prompt for
the installation directory of Eclipse, as shown in
Figure 1. The default for the installer is
c:\Eclipse, but Eclipse may have been extracted to a
different directory. Make sure that the installer
is pointed to the correct folder, or the studio will
not be properly installed.
Figure 1: Choose the Eclipse
Installation Directory.
6. Configure Nexaweb Studio for Eclipse.
The first time Eclipse is started after installing
the studio, the tool will prompt for the user to
configure the Nexaweb Studio. The pane shown in
Figure 2 will appear. Choose Yes to set up
the Nexaweb Platform Directory. A window will
appear that allows the user to specify the Nexaweb
Platform home directory. (Figure 3) Select the
installation location of Nexaweb Platform.
NOTE: The Platform installation folder should be
selected. This is normally Program
Files\Nexaweb\Nexaweb Platform 4.0.
Figure 2: Configure Nexaweb
Studio Settings.
7. Finish Configuring Nexaweb
Studio
In Eclipse, choose the menu item Window -
Preferences. This brings up the Eclipse
preferences pane. Nexaweb configuration page can
be found in the menu on the left hand side of the
page. The preference page is shown in Figure 4.
On this
page, assuming that the platform directory was
configured correctly, the default values should
work. However, the port and address of the Nexaweb
server can be changed on this page.
Figure 3: Choose Nexaweb
Platform Directory.
Figure 4: Nexaweb Preference
Page
8. Install Apache Tomcat 5 (Optional)
Nexaweb Studio can automatically start and configure
a Tomcat Server for testing Nexaweb applications
from within Eclipse. In order to do so, install
Tomcat 5. It can be downloaded from
http://jakarta.apache.org/tomcat. Nexaweb can
be run from any J2EE application server, but the
Studio can only automatically launch and configure
Tomcat.
In
order to allow the Studio Plug-in to automatically
start and configure the web server for your Nexaweb
Applications, the plug-in needs to know where the
Tomcat Server is installed and which Java Runtime
Environment will run the server. Pull up the Tomcat
configuration page on the left side of the screen
under Nexaweb as shown in Figure 5.
Figure
5: Configure Nexaweb to Use Tomcat.
Select the version of
Tomcat installed on the machine. Then select the
installation directory for that version of Tomcat.
The configuration file will be automatically
generated based on the Tomcat Home selection, but
can be changed manually if necessary.
In
order to specify the Tomcat Server JRE, expand the
Tomcat Preference tree item. Select Tomcat JRE
Settings. From the Launching JRE combo box at the
top of the preference page, select a version of JRE
that will launch the server. All other settings can
be left as default.
Note: The Tomcat JRE should be a from a JDK
install. If the Tomcat JRE is not linked to a
JDK install, the JSP pages on the Tomcat server will
not compile.
Figure
6: Select Tomcat JRE.
NXML (.nxml), XUpdate (.xu),
and Style Sheet (.xss) files are automatically
associated with the Nexaweb Editor in Eclipse.
However, Nexaweb Studio ships with the Oxygen XML
Editor for Eclipse. By associating Oxygen with
those three types of files, a developer will be able
to right click on a file of that type and open the
file in the Oxygen editor.
To associate Oxygen XML Editor
with the Nexaweb UI file types:
1.
Click Windows -
Preferences.
2.
Click Workbench - File
Association.
3.
Select the *.nxml list
item in the File types list.
4.
Select Oxygen XML Editor
in the internal editors list.
5.
Click OK.
6.
Repeat for .xu and
.xss file types.
Figure 7: File Associations Preferences page.
The following is a quick start guide
for developing Nexaweb applications using Eclipse.
For detailed information, see the Nexaweb Studio
documentation.
1. Click File – New – Other,
and select Nexaweb – Nexaweb Application.
(Figure 8)
2. Type test in the
Project Name field and click Next.
3. Accept all defaults and click
Finish.
4. Open the start page for the
application.
The default file that opens when the application is
run is index.nxml. NXML files (.nxml)
describe the user interfaces for Nexaweb
Applications. The UI elements are then linked to
Managed Client Objects (MCOs) that are written in
Java and perform actions.
To open the start page for this application, browse
to index.nxml in the www directory and open the
file. (Figure 9) After opening the file, the
studio will prompt to change perspectives to the
Nexaweb Visual Editor Perspective. Choose Yes
to switch. The Nexaweb visual editor allows a
developer to edit an NXML file graphically
without writing changing the underlying XML document
by hand. The Nexaweb Studio Guide provides
documentation on the visual tools of the studio.
For now, we will create an application using the
text based editor. To switch from the graphical
editor to the text based editor, select the
source tab at the bottom of the NXML editor.
(Figure 10)
Figure 8: New Nexaweb Application.
Figure 9: index.nxml
Enter this code and save the file:
<nxml>
<rootPane>
<window title="Hello World" width="200"
height="200"
bgColor="blue"/>
</rootPane>
</nxml>
Figure 10: Source XML Editor
5.
Start Nexaweb Server.
With the project selected, start the Nexaweb
Server. This can be done by choosing the Run
Nexaweb Server button on the Eclipse toolbar.
(Figure 11) After the server is finished starting
up, the application can be viewed either in the
Nexaweb client viewer, or in a web browser.
Figure 11: Run Nexaweb Server
6.View Application in Client
Viewer.
The application can be viewed by the Nexaweb Client
Viewer by selecting Run Nexaweb Application
from the Eclipse toolbar. This is shown in Figure
12, and the result should be something like Figure
13.
Figure 12: Run Nexaweb Application
Figure 13: Hello World
7. View Application in Web
Browser.
The application can be viewed in a web browser by
selection Run Web Browser – Default Web Browser
from the Eclipse toolbar. This is shown in Figure
14, and the result should be something like Figure
15.
Figure 14: Run in Browser
Figure 15: Hello World in Browser
Congratulations! You have just
created a Nexaweb application with Eclipse. For more
advanced topics such as MCO development/debugging,
see the Nexaweb Studio documentation.
