spring development - with or without eclipse + checking eclipse version - eclipse

Several tutorials mention that you can download spring in a tarball
and install it on your computer but when I go to the springsource
site all I can see is that you can download Spring Tool Suite
which is an eclipse plugin. So my questions are:
What if I wanted to work from the command line or an IDE other than eclipse?
The packages are available for Juno 3.8.2 or Juno 3.4.2, but how can I find
out my eclipse version? I've downloaded the most frequently downloaded version
of eclipse which is the one for Java EE developers but when I click on the Help
-> About entry I get:
Version: Juno Service Release 2
Build id: 20130225-0426
which does not match the eclipse versions on the springsource site 3.8.2 or 3.4.2,
so how do I know which plugin I need?
Thanks.

You can find out your Eclipse version by going to Help -> About Eclipse...
In the dialog that pops up, you will see something like:
Version 4.2.2
or
Version 3.8.2
If you downloaded the most commonly downloaded version, then you most likely have 4.2.2. The "Juno" release actually has distributions built for both 3.8.x and 4.2.x (a little complicated and confusing, I know). So, you should be able to install the Juno version of STS and be fine no matter what which version of Juno Eclipse you have.
EDIT
Your question is not very clear. I thought you were asking about how to install STS, but maybe you are asking about whether or not Eclipse is necessary at all. The answer is that of course, Eclipse is not necessary for Spring development, but it really is the easiest way to develop your spring apps (disclaimer, I am on the STS dev team).
There is no single way to just "downlaod the SpringFramework" because the framework is really just a very large set of jar files and their dependencies. Any single project typically only requires a subset of them as well as requiring other third party dependencies. For this reason, most people prefer working with a build tool like gradle or maven.
Probably the easiest way to get started w/o STS is to clone one of the sample projects from github. A list of the templates are available here: http://dist.springsource.com/release/STS/help/descriptors-3.0.xml which is obvioulsy meant to be consumed from inside of STS. But, you can use the file to grab links to the various github projects.

The Springsource Tool Suite (STS) is not required for developing with Spring. If the question is how you would install the STS, that's actually very easy. In Eclipse 3.7 (Indigo) or 3.8, 4.2 (Juno), click on the Help menu and select Eclipse Marketplace. If its not in the inital screen, use the find box type spring and click go which should bring up the the STS with the version of eclipse it is for in the title. Click install and the correct version and its dependencies will be installed for you. Try to use the eclipse marketplace for all the plugins you install, if possible. It makes things much simpler

Related

How to use spring tool suite plugin in existing Eclipse Kepler

I've downloaded the 'spring-tool-suite-3.2.0.RELEASE-e4.2.2-win32.zip' from STS website. After extracting I could see 'sts-3.2.0.RELEASE' folder. I want to use this plugin in my existing Eclipse Kepler. After putting it in Eclispe Kepler's dropins/plugins folder I could not see the STS anywhere in Eclispe. Let me know what to do for this.
There are two ways to get the Spring Tool Suite running on your machine. The first one is to download the full distribution for your platform, extract it, and run it as it is. It comes as a ready to use distribution that already includes Eclipse and a lot of additional plugins installed. That seems to be the bit that you downloaded. Although I would recommend to use the latest version (STS 3.6.1 on Eclipse 4.4) in that case.
The second way is to install the STS components into an existing Eclipse installation. You can do that by using the Eclipse Marketplace menu in your existing Eclipse installation. Browse for the matching STS version in there (the one that matches your Eclipse version) and install it from there.
Please keep in mind that installing the STS components into an existing Eclipse installation doesn't automatically gives you all the third-party plugins that we bundle with the STS distribution, like the latest Maven integration for Eclipse, the m2e-wtp add-on, the AJDT m2e connector, etc. In case you would like to use them, you would have to install them yourself - or use the STS distribution itself.
I would not recommend to manually install plugins into directories yourself. It usually causes trouble.
Here I would like to add some points in Martin answer that after installing STS how can you begin with it in eclipse. For that click on Window -->Perspective --> Open Perspective -->Other
Now you will find option of Spring in the list. Select it.
Finally you can use STS in your eclipse to make a spring project.

Eclipse Luna without built-in plugins

Eclispse Luna has been just released. I wanted to grab it from the download site. But here comes my problem. Even the Standard and Java Developer versions have features built-in which are not needed for me and just slows down the IDE. For example i do not use Mylin or Plug-in development. These things cannot be deleted from the installation... Is there an Eclipse Luna release which only contains the basic package?
Look at the Eclipse Project downloads
The Eclipse Platform is the smallest (but does not even have Java development).
The Eclipse SDK has Java and Plugin development and the Eclipse source. This is the one I always start from.

Spring IDE plugin vs STS: feature comparison for version 3.3.0

Does anyone know where I can find the most recent feature comparison document for Spring IDE plugin vs SpringSource Tool Suite STS (version 3.3.0)?
I believe Eclipse made some good progress in Kepler release, (for example Maven support being shipped in) so was wondering if the feature gap between Eclipse+Spring IDE plugin and STS highlighted in 2.9.2 Feature Comparison were reduced in Eclipse Java EE Kepler.
There is not much difference now between Eclipse + Spring-IDE and STS. The main difference is that when you download STS, you are guaranteed that all the bits and pieces work together. When you install Eclipse + Spring-IDE, you may have some compatibility problems and trouble installing or upgrading.
My advice is this: if you already have an Eclipse that has custom plugins installed, then go with Eclipse + Spring-IDE and if you are starting from scratch, go with STS.

how to move the eclipse development platforms into one on ubuntu

i have eclipse
Eclipse IDE for Java EE Developers
Eclipse IDE for C/C++ Developers
Eclipse for PHP Developers
Pulsar for Mobile Java Developers
but how can i merge them and have a single interface just by changing perspective rather as if i have installed them from the update site as a plug-in can i just move all the files from each of them and put them in the plugins folder that is found in
a#a $ ~/.eclipse/org .../plugins
I think the best solution is to start from a clean installation and install components from the UI of this install. You can for example install first
Eclipse IDE for Java EE Developers
and then install the 2 other ones using the Help -> Install new Software menu.
The main goal of this solution is about dependencies. The install software action (using P2 internally) will manage dependencies for you. The copy solution you mentioned should result in dependencies not resolved and difficult to identify.

Installing eclipse Web Tools Platform (WTP) - update site does not work?

I'm trying to install the WTP (web platform tools) to my Eclipse installation so I can get the XSL transformations working. The base Eclipse they installed for me here was the plain Java IDE (the splash screen says "Ganymede" if that means anything). Looking at this site, the URL to get the download should be here: http://download.eclipse.org/webtools/updates/ ...But when I give that URL to the Eclipse update manager, I get an error telling me: "No repository found at http://download.eclipse.org/webtools/updates/"
Anyone else had this problem? Anyone know what might be up? Anyone know how to get the xsl-transform plugin installed?
EDIT:
I should have mentioned before that I want to find a way to do this without installing any new instances of Eclipse. This process will eventually be sent to several other developers who already have Eclipse (same version that I'm testing with) and I'd rather just do an in-place upgrade rather than have everyone go and install a new product.
UPDATE:
I found another plugin, Xcarecrows 4 XML which can also do XSL transforms. The interface is ugly and seems more than a little quirky, but it's also a small download, and at least it runs and transforms. Unless I can find an easy way to get WTP working, I'll probably just stick with this.
You can try and install WTP through the main Ganymede update site:
http://download.eclipse.org/releases/ganymede/
Or you can download the latest Java EE bundle and use that instead of your current Eclipse
(do NOT unpack it on top of your current Eclipse, but unpack it elsewhere, to test that second installation: it will come with WTP inside)
Note: check then "How do I start Eclipse" to point to your existing workspace in order to see all your previous project in your new Eclipse installation.
As mentioned in your link, XSL Tools is now part of WTP (for Eclipse 3.5 Galileo), and that may explain why your Eclipse Ganymede (3.4) might not interpret correctly the P2 update site for WTP (P2 being the new Eclipse provisioning mechanism introduced late in the 3.4 release cycle)
For Eclipse 3.5, you have an XSL Tools installation illustrated here:
But Eclipse3.4 is more likely to be compatible with XSLT0.5 and you will need a separate installation, because "XSL Tools" wasn't yet part of WTP.
I am not sure, however, where to find such an installation package within the Eclipse projects.
Use the following update site :
For Juno :
http://download.eclipse.org/webtools/repository/juno/
For Indigo :
http://download.eclipse.org/webtools/repository/indigo/
I'm assuming you don't have any firewall exceptions for Eclipse right?
The site for the WTP update is indeed the one you've listed. Maybe post a screenshot? You've added it specifically to your remote update site list?
Either way try a manual update which should be more reliable and get you up and running for now.
All-In-One Update (Eclipse IDE included):
Go to the Eclipse Download site.
Grab the all-in-one package: Eclipse IDE for Java EE Developers
Install, have a coffee and enjoy. (WTP is included)
Manual Update your existing installation of Eclipse:
Download the applicable WTP source package to your desktop
Shutdown Eclipse
Extract the package to your Eclipse installation directory
Startup Eclipse. (WTP is now available)
Follow the steps in the FAQ at http://wiki.eclipse.org/WTP_FAQ#How_do_I_install_WTP.3F .
Are you behind a proxy? If so, you need to make sure you configure your proxy settings in Eclipse.
Window > Preferences
General > Network Connections
Ok, I can probably get it working if I do a clean install of Eclipse. I can do that on my machine, but not the other team members' machines (at least not without going through many emails and paper work) so I'm going to say that XCarecrows 4 XML is the solution. It is able to do XSL transformations in Eclipse 3.4 and doesn't require anything else to be installed. Since XSLT is all I need, the plugin will do.
you can use the marketplace:
https://marketplace.eclipse.org/content/eclipse-java-ee-developer-tools-0
like the site says:
Drag to Install!Drag to your running Eclipse Workspace.