Essential Eclipse Plug-ins

Streek programmers should utilize these plugins:

• oXygen is an XML editor that supports XML, XSL, TXT, XSD and DTD documents. It offers a powerful code insight that guides the user to write valid XML content, following a DTD or an XML Schema. A license ($48 for an academic license as of Sept 2003) is required to use oXygen beyond the 30-day trial period. For those unable to obtain a license, an open-source XML editor plug-in called X-Men may prove an adequate substitute.
• Jalopy is a source code formatter for the Sun Java programming language. It formats any valid Java source code according to configurable rules, to facilitate conformance to coding style guidelines without burdening individual developers. Streek's cannonical coding style is published as (functionally identical) binary and xml-encoded configuration files in the ist-jxde tree (cf. the jalopy/ directory). The configuration (in its XML-encoded form) can be imported into Eclipse from the General pane of the Jalopy Preferences dialog. To reach the Jalopy Preferences dialog, open any .java file and choose from Eclipse's Window menu.
• PMD is a source code analyzer that applies configurable rules to source (Java) files and reports potential problems. PMD provides excellent feedback to new and veteran Java coders alike. The plugin allows filtering by severity of the identified problems, which renders useful and usable even the unmodified, default set of PMD rules. This plugin is best installed from within Eclipse (Help : Software Updates : Find and Install).

Eclipse Plug-ins currently under evaluation

The following Eclipse plug-ins are under evaluation.

• MyEclipseIDE is a comprehensive J2EE plug-in, with JSP syntax validation, an XML editor, and support for Struts and XDoclet, as well as productivity wizards and Application Server integration. This product requires a subscription-type license at $30 per year per developer (scheduled to increase to $50 per year in Q4 2004). It is being tested in version 3.0M7 of the Eclipse IDE.
• Patternbox is a design pattern editor for Eclipse. It creates Java classes and interfaces that can be customized depending on your application needs. Most approaches to that issue are wizard-dominated. This means you have to complete the whole design pattern instance at once. Using PatternBox you have freedom and flexibility to insert new pattern members whenever you want.
• JDepend4Eclipse is a wrapper for running JDepend from within Eclipse. JDepend4Eclipse is free and open source. JDepend traverses a set of Java class and source file directories and generates design quality metrics for each Java package. JDepend allows you to automatically measure the quality of a design in terms of its extensibility, reusability, and maintainability to effectively manage and control package dependencies. Package dependency cycles are reported along with the hierarchical paths of packages participating in package dependency cycles.
• Projectset is a plugin for project sets in Eclipse. A project set holds specific information needed to reconstruct a set of projects from a team repository to the workspace. For example, project sets can be used to group projects for a release or for contributing it to another person.
• Checkstyle adds a real-time static code analyzer to the Eclipse environment. The analyzer inspects your code, looking for deviations from coding standards and code constructs that are the source of possible bugs or performance and maintenance problems.
• Propsorter is a small plugin to sort your *.properties files alphabetically and remove duplicates.
• Veloeclipse is an HTML/Velocity Editor for Eclipse, based on veloedit (for velocity parsing and outline), including features you'd expect to find in a html editor.
• Omando EclipseUML is modeling software offering full native integration with Eclipse and WSAD. It uses the graphical GEF Framework and an optimized plug-in.
• FireAntz provides a visual interface for displaying and executing Ant buildfiles and their dependencies.
• MiddlegenIDE helps in writing Ant build files that implement Middlegen, a free general-purpose database-driven code generation engine. Input database connect information and select tables to generate mapping file and java classes. Current version supports generation of Hibernate mapping files and JavaBeans for Hibernate.
• SpringIDE provides a set of plugins for the Eclipse platform to ease working with Bean Factory configuration files for the Spring Framework.
• MavenIDE integrates Maven into Eclipse.
• EPIC - Perl integration is a collection of Perl plugins for Eclipse.
• JavaSpider helps you understand complicated Java programs by helping you draw a graph of objects and their relationships.

Installing plug-ins

Most plug-ins are installed by copying the appropriate package directory trees to the /plugins directory under your /eclipse directory. The plugins will be automatically installed next time you start Eclipse. Plug-ins that require a license, such as Oxygen, will prompt you for license information.

Certain plugins, such as MyEclipseIDE, conform to the Eclipse Product Extension Architecture, and are installed using an installer provided with the plug-in or by a manual process that the plug-in provider documents.