JBoss Developer Studio is a set of eclipse-based development tools that are pre-configured for JBoss Enterprise Middleware Platforms and Red Hat Enterprise Linux. Developers are not required to use JBoss Developer Studio to develop on JBoss Enterprise Middleware and/or Red Hat Linux. But, many find these pre-configured tools offer significant time-savings and value, making them more productive and speeding time to deployment.
This guide covers the first steps to get started working with JBoss Developer Studio. You will learn how to install and configure necessary software for your OS (operating system).
Thus this guide will provide you with detailed info on how to start JDK, JBDS and JBoss Tools.
You must have a working installation of JDK 5 before you install JBoss Developer Studio. Currently it will only fully work with a 32-bit JVM, not a 64-bit JVM. On a 64-bit JVM the visual editor fails to launch because of feature of OS architecture. Thus in this guide we will show you how to install a 32-bit Sun JDK 5.0 on a Linux Platform and Microsoft Windows Platform.
To install 32-bit Sun JDK 5.0 on Linux and configure it, you should follow the next steps:
Download the Sun JDK 5.0 (Java 2 Development Kit) from Sun's website. Choose "JDK 5.0 Update <x>" (where "x" is the latest update number) for download and then select "Red Hat Package Manager in self-extracting" file for Linux. Read the instructions on Sun's website for installing the JDK.
If you don't want to use SysV service scripts you can install the "self-extracting file" for Linux instead of choosing the "RPM in self-extracting" file. In that case you can skip the next step mentioned here. But it is recommended to use the SysV service scripts for production servers.
Download and install the appropriate -compat RPM from JPackage here. Please ensure you choose a matching version of the -compat package to the JDK you've installed.
Create an environment variable that points to the JDK installation directory and call it JAVA_HOME. Add $JAVA_HOME/bin to the system path to be able to run java from the command line. You can do this by adding the following lines to the .bashrc file in your home directory.
#In this example /usr/java/jdk1.5.0_11 is the JDK installation directory. export JAVA_HOME=/usr/java/jdk1.5.0_11 export PATH=$PATH:$JAVA_HOME/bin
Note:
When you add $JAVA_HOME/bin to $PATH, you should add it before the old $PATH not after it. This way, the machine will pick up the new JVM first. You only need to run "alternative" as a safe guard for the right JVM.
Set this variable for your account doing the installation and also for the user account that will run the server.
If you have more than one version of JVM installed on your machine, make sure you are using the JDK 1.5 installation as the default java and javac. You can do this using the alternatives system. The alternatives system allows different versions of Java from different sources to co-exist on your system.
As a root user, type the following command at the shell prompt and you should see something like this:
[root@vsr ~]$ /usr/sbin/alternatives --config java There are 2 programs that provide 'java'. Selection Command ----------------------------------------------- 1 /usr/lib/jvm/jre-1.4.2-gcj/bin/java *+ 2 /usr/lib/jvm/jre-1.5.0-sun/bin/java Enter to keep the current selection[+], or type selection number:
Make sure the Sun version [jre-1.5.0-sun in this case] is selected (marked with a '+' in the output), or select it by entering its number as prompted.
Repeat the same for javac and java_sdk_1.5.0.
[root@vsr ~]$ /usr/sbin/alternatives --config javac There is 1 program that provides 'javac'. Selection Command ----------------------------------------------- *+ 1 /usr/lib/jvm/java-1.5.0-sun/bin/javac Enter to keep the current selection[+], or type selection number: [root@vsr ~]$ /usr/sbin/alternatives --config java_sdk_1.5.0 There is 1 program that provide 'java_sdk_1.5.0'. Selection Command ----------------------------------------------- *+ 1 /usr/lib/jvm/java-1.5.0-sun Enter to keep the current selection[+], or type selection number:
You should verify that java, javac and java_sdk_1.5.0 all point to the same manufacturer and version.
Note:
You can always override this step by setting the JAVA_HOME environment variable as explained in the previous step.
Make sure that the java executable is in your path and that you are using an appropriate version. To verify your Java environment, type "java -version" at the shell prompt and you should see something like this:
[root@vsr ~]$ java -version java version "1.5.0_11" Java(TM) 2 Runtime Environment, Standard Edition (build 1.5.0_11-b03) Java HotSpot(TM) Client VM (build 1.5.0_11-b03, mixed mode, sharing)
To install and configure 32-bit Sun JDK 5.0 on Microsoft Windows, follow these steps:
Download the Sun JDK 5.0 (Java 2 Development Kit) from Sun's website. Choose "JDK 5.0 Update <x>" (where "x" is the latest update number) for download and then select your Windows Platform options to perform the installation.
Create an environment variable called JAVA_HOME that points to the JDK installation directory, for example:
C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.5.0_11\
In order to run java from the command line, add the jre\bin directory to your path, for example:
C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.5.0_11\jre\bin
To do this, open the Control Panel from the Start Menu, switch to Classic View if necessary, open the System Control Panel applet (System), select the Advanced Tab, and click on the Environment Variables button.
Now, when 32-bit Sun JDK 5.0 has been successfully installed, we can pass on to the next step.
This chapter will provide you with detailed information on how to install JBoss Developer Studio and all the JBoss Tools modules.
Let's start with the JBDS installation.
JBDS comes with a simple installer, bundled with tested/pre-configured versions of Eclipse, WTP, JBossEAP, Seam, and SpringIDE. Thus, to start perform the next steps:
Download the appropriate installation file for your platform from Red Hat website.
Run in console:
java -jar jbdevstudio-linux-gtk-1.1.0.CR1.jar
Follow the instructions presented by the installation wizard
Provide the installation path
Select Java VM
Selecting Default Java VM you set default Java VM of your system (to verify your Java environment, type "java -version" in console).
Selecting Specific Java VM you can provide the path to non-default Java VM.
Note:
JBoss Developer Studio needs Java 5 and "gij" isn't available on every platform.
Installation process includes JBoss Enterprise Application Platform. Select Yes to use it in JBoss Developer Studio.
Note:
The installer installs JBoss Enterprise Application Platform for running your applications if you select this option during the installation process. If you want to use a different server than ours, you can change the setting in JBoss Developer Studio.
Check your installation paths and see the components to install. If you'd like to change something, press Previous button. Click Next to start installation.
This release of JBoss Tools is what went into our JBoss Developer Studio which provides an easy-to-install Eclipse based IDE fully configured and ready to run with the bundled JBoss Enterprise Application Platform.
In short JBoss Tools are just a set of Eclipse plugins and JBoss Developer Studio adds:
An installer
Eclipse and Web Tools preconfigured
JBoss EAP with JBoss AS and Seam preconfigured
3rd party plugins bundled and configured
Access to RHEL and Red Hat Network
Access to the JBoss/Red Hat supported software
For additional information see JBoss.com
Here, let's consider the installation of the JBoss Tools modules.
JBoss Tools is an umbrella project for the JBoss developed plugins that will make it into JBoss Developer Studio. The JBoss Tools modules are:
JBoss AS Tools
Seam Tools
Hibernate Tools
Visual Page Editor
JST Tools
JBPM Tools
To install the JBoss Tools plugins for Eclipse, you need the following:
Get Eclipse 3.3.1 and Web Tools 2.0.1
The quickest way to get a WTP version is to download "Eclipse IDE for Java EE Developers" via www.eclipse.org.
Note:
Remember to choose the download that matches your OS and use Java 5 when you run it.
Get the JBoss Tools build
You can also find the latest development release of JBossTools from JBossTools Stable Update Site
Finally, install the build
Unzip the file(s) directly into your Eclipse plugins/features directory and it will be readily available. It might be necessary to start Eclipse with eclipse -clean to make sure it starts clean and rereads the new list of plugins.
If you need to install any standalone plug-in from JBoss Tools visit a JBoss Tools Wiki page to read about dependencies between standalone plug-ins.
In this section we'll show you how to work with the welcome page of the JBoss Developer Studio.
The welcome page is the first page you see when you first launch JBoss Developer Studio.
With the help of its page you will be able:
to get quick access to Getting Started Documentation (guides, tutorials and viewlets)
to create new Seam projects, jBPM Process, JSF or Struts projects using JBDS wizards
to get short description of perspectives that JBDS offers for more productive development
to visit JBoss Developer Studio web resources.
Start work with JBoss Developer Studio by clicking on Workbench button or simply close the welcome page.
Make sure JBoss Developer Studio is not running
Uninstall your current version of JBoss Developer Studio by running uninstaller
If you have comments or questions, you can discuss them at our JBoss Developer Studio Forum.
When writing to the forum for questions, please include the following information:
JBoss Developer Studio version
Exact error message
Steps to reproduce the issue
For easy reference to JBoss Developer Studio related questions, our FAQ provides answers to the most "popular" questions. The sections of questions are organized by type.
Visual Editor does not start under Linux
Linux users may need to do the following to get the visual editor to work correctly on their machines.
On Red Hat based Linux distributions install the xpLib.i386 package
Type
<!-- <br/> --><span class="java_plain">ln </span><!-- <br/> --><span class="java_operator">-</span><!-- <br/> --><span class="java_plain">s libstdc</span><!-- <br/> --><span class="java_operator">++</span><!-- <br/> --><span class="java_separator">.</span><!-- <br/> --><span class="java_plain">so</span><!-- <br/> --><span class="java_literal">.5.0.7</span><!-- <br/> --><span class="java_plain"> libstdc</span><!-- <br/> --><span class="java_operator">++</span><!-- <br/> --><span class="java_separator">.</span><!-- <br/> --><span class="java_plain">so</span><!-- <br/> --><span class="java_literal">.5</span>
and/or use
<!-- <br/> --><span class="java_plain">yum install libXp</span>
Open the JBDS perspective. If you see the Help view open, close it and restart JBDS
If none of these work, do the following:
Clear the Eclipse log file, <workspace>\.metadata\.log
Start Eclipse with the -debug option:
<!-- <br/> --><span class="java_plain">eclipse </span><!-- <br/> --><span class="java_operator">-</span><!-- <br/> --><span class="java_plain">debug</span>
Post the Eclipse log file (<workspace>\.metadata\.log) on the forums.
Do I need to have JBoss server installed to run JBoss Developer Studio?
No. JBoss Developer Studio already comes bundled with JBoss server. We bundle it together so that you don't need to download any additional software and can test your application in a Web browser right away.
If you want to use a different JBoss server installation, after JBoss Developer Studio is installed open Servers View (select Window > Show View > Others > Server > Servers), then right click on this view > New > Server and follow the wizards steps to point to another Jboss server installation.
JBoss Developer Studio works with any servlet container, not just JBoss. For more information on deployment, please see the Deploying Your Application section.
I have an existing Seam 1.2.1 project. Can I migrate/import the project to a JBDS Seam project?
We highly recommend you to create Seam 1.2.1 project using the JBDS. In other case try to do manually:
Create a Seam Web project to get the JBoss tools structure
Then from your Seam 1.2.1 seam-gen project start doing the following:
Copy src to src
Copy view to Web content
Copy resources individual files to where they are in the seam web project etc.
I have an existing Struts or JSF project. Can I open the project in JBDS?
Yes. From main menu select File > Import > Other > JSF Project (or Struts Project) and follow wizards steps.
Can I import a .war file?
Yes. Select File > Import > Web > WAR file, then follow importing steps.
Is it possible to increase the performance of Eclipse after installing your product?
JBoss Developer Studio preconfigures eclipse via the eclipse.ini file to allocate extra memory, but if you for some reason need more memory then by default, you can manually make adjustments in this file. For example:
-vmargs -Xms128m -Xmx512m -XX:MaxPermSize=128m
How can I add my own tag library to the JBoss Tools Palette?
See Adding Tag Libraries in Visual Web Tools Guide.
JBDS on JBoss: JBoss Developer Studio
Forum: JBoss Forum
Download: JBDS Download
All JBoss Developer Studio/JBoss Tools documentation you can find here.
The latest documentation builds are available here.