How to install ArcGIS plug-ins

Summary
ArcGIS plug-ins for the Eclipse Integrated Development Environment (IDE) have been created to ease ArcGIS for Server Web Application Developer Framework (ADF) development. This topic describes the necessary steps to install and configure Eclipse and the ArcGIS Web ADF plug-ins.

In this topic

Downloading and installing Eclipse

The ArcGIS for Server for Java Eclipse plug-in is compatible with the Eclipse IDE for Java EE Developers Ganymede. 
Eclipse IDE for Java EE Developers has support for most popular Java application servers although an application server is not included with any of the Eclipse download options. You must obtain an application server separately.
Relevant drivers for supported ArcGIS for Server development include:
Eclipse Ganymede package for Java EE Developers is based on Eclipse SDK v3.4 and Web Tools Platform 3.0 and offers the following features:
  • User interface (UI) for performing installation and updates based on the P2 UI. 
  • Drop-ins folder at the root of the Eclipse platform that allows for hot deployment of plug-ins. 
  • Remote help content enhancements allowing for multiple remote infocenters to contribute content to the Help system. 
  • JSF Tag Registry View.
  • Enhancements to the Web Page Editor (WPE) property pages.
  • Create a Web service by selecting a Java Bean in a Java Project.
  • WSDL Zoom In/Out graph view.
  • Ability to open WSDLs that are not associated with the project.
  • Check Full XML schema conformance.
  • JavaScript development tools (JSDT).

Increasing the memory heap size in Eclipse

Eclipse allocates 256 megabytes of Java heap memory by default. However, to avoid out of memory errors during installation of ArcGIS plug-ins, it is strongly recommended that you increase this amount to 1024 megabytes. You should also add the Max Permgen size available to Eclipse and set it to 256M.
To increase the memory heap size in Eclipse, follow these steps:
  1. Open the eclipse.ini file under the Eclipse installation directory(for example, C:\eclipse) with a text editor.
  2. By default, the eclipse.ini file contains items similar to the following:
    • showsplash org.eclipse.platform
    • launcher.XXMaxPermSize 256m
    • vmargs
    • Xms40m
    • Xmx256m
which set the heap space to 40MB initially and a maximum of 256MB and also specifies a PermGen size of 256MB.
  1. Configure the settings for ArcGIS for Server development as follows:
    • showsplash org.eclipse.platform
    • vmargs
    • Dosgi.requiredJavaVersion=1.5
    • Xms784m
    • Xmx1024m
    • XX:PermSize=256m
    • XX:MaxPermSize=256m
    • XX:+UseParallelGC
  2. Save and close the eclipse.ini file.
Support for Eclipse Ganymede on Solaris 10 is limited to the software development kit (SDK) version only and not the Java EE bundle referenced above.  To install the ArcGIS core plug-ins on an SDK package, you need to install the Eclipse XML Editors and Tools from the Available Software list in the update UI as shown in the following screen shot: 

Compatibility with Eclipse 3.2 plug-ins

Eclipse SDK 3.4 is upwards compatible with Eclipse SDK 3.3. as described in the Eclipse 3.4 plug-in migration guide; consequently, plug-ins for Eclipse SDK 3.3 should work with Eclipse SDK 3.4.
See the following Eclipse WIKI sites for more information:

Installing ArcGIS plug-ins on Eclipse Ganymede

There are multiple ways to install plug-ins on the Eclipse Ganymede platform. Eclipse Ganymede is built with Equinox P2, which supports a new way of deploying Eclipse applications and plug-ins. For experienced Eclipse users, the most noticeable difference will be the new software update dialog box, which replaces the Find and Install/Manage Configuration approach in earlier versions. Part of this change includes the "dropins" folder. This folder is located in the root Eclipse directory and is initially empty. The dropins concept allows for this folder to link to a central location for plug-ins, which can be shared by several Eclipse installations.

Installing using the dropins folder

The easiest and recommended approach to install ArcGIS for Server for Java plug-ins is to use the dropins folder. The following steps detail the process, which allows for you to have various different plug-ins dropped in and kept separate by providing an additional layer of folders immediately below the dropins folder. 
To use the dropins folder, Eclipse has to be installed with 'eclipse' as the root folder as shown here: 

eclipse
   |------dropins


Not like this:

eclipse3.4
   |------dropins
  1. Create an esri folder under the eclipse>dropins folder as shown in the following screen shot:

  2. Navigate to the <ARCGISHOME>\java\tools\eclipse_plugin\arcgis_update_site\server\ folder and copy the features and plugins folders. 
  3. Paste the features and plugins folders in the eclipse\dropins\esri\ folder created in step 1 as shown in the following screen shot:

To remove the plug-in, simply delete it from the dropins folder and restart Eclipse. 

Installing using the update UI

To use the update UI from within Eclipse to install ArcGIS for Server for Java plug-ins, follow these steps: 
  1. To launch the UI, click Help>Software Updates. The Software Updates and Add-ons dialog box appears and contains two tabs. The Installed Software tab allows you to update or remove existing plug-ins and the Available Software tab allows you to manage install sites and install plug-ins. See the following screen shot: 

 
  1. The ArcGIS Java plug-ins support two SDKs: ArcObjects and ArcGIS for Server for Java Web ADF. The ArcObjects plug-in is for developers who want to build desktop applications and/or ArcGIS extensions. The Web ADF plug-in is for developers who want to build Web applications using ArcGIS for Server for Java. To create a new update site, click the Available Software tab and click Add Site. The Add Site dialog box appears as shown in the following screen shot:

 
  1. The Update UI supports drag and drop of a uniform resource locator (URL) straight from your browser or from your operating system (OS) file manager for local sites. You can either drag and drop the %AGSDEVKITJAVA%\java\tools\eclipse_plugin\arcgis_update_site\webadf location from your OS file manager or click the Local button to browse to the location on disk. Once the location is successfully loaded, click OK. See the following screen shot:

 
  1. Expand the local ArcGIS plug-in site you just added and select the ArcGIS plug-ins. See the following screen shot

 
  1. Click the Install button and follow the instructions on the dialog boxes that follow. Eventually you will be prompted to restart Eclipse. Click Yes and after Eclipse restarts, the WebADF plug-ins will be installed.
If you choose to manage your Esri plug-ins in the dropins folder and update the plug-in through the UI, your updated plug-ins will be saved in the main eclipse/plugins and eclipse/features folders, not under the dropins hierarchy as you might expect.

Accessing ArcGIS Help content

Packaging a comprehensive help system for the ArcGIS Engine and ArcGIS for Server SDKs can significantly increase memory size requirements and cause some user environments to hang when installed. The solution is to host the content as an InfoCenter site on a dedicated server, or locally on your development machine. Eclipse InfoCenters allow users to access help systems from remote servers over the Internet or an intranet. The ArcGIS Java Developer Help system is available as a stand alone external system that can be started in "server" mode using the start/stop scripts available at %ARCGISHOME%\java\docs\ once the Help system has been installed.
To access the ArcGIS Help content, follow these steps:
  1. On the server where the ArcGIS Java Developer Help system is installed, navigate to %AGSDEVKITJAVA%\java\docs\ and execute the startJavaHelpServer.bat script to start the server.
  2. The ArcGIS Java Developer Help system InfoCenter uses port 2112 by default. You can access the Help system locally with the following URL: http://localhost:2112/help/index.jsp.  Replace localhost with your server name or ip address to access the Help system remotely.
  3. Once you have confirmed that this Help system is up and running, you can use the Remote Help System feature in Eclipse v3.3 to access the Help system by merging your Eclipse local content with the ArcGIS remote content. The Help system will behave as though it were local. 
  4. Open Eclipse on your development machine and on the Eclipse main menu, select Window>Preferences. The Preferences dialog box appears.
  5. On the Preferences dialog box, navigate to Help>Content.
  6. The Eclipse Help system needs to know the address (host/IP) and port of the remote server to integrate with the local system. Select the Include help content from a remote infocenter check box and provide the following server location:
    • Host: Type a valid server name or IP address where the remote infocenter is located. In the example given, the server name is javabuild.
    • Path: /help.
    • Select the Use Port radio box and type 2112 in the port text box. 
The dialog box should resemble the following image with your server name replacing javabuild:

 
Eclipse Ganymede allows for multiple remote infocenters to contribute content to the Help system and consequently has a slightly different workflow shown in the following steps: 
  1. Click the Add button to add a remote infocenter. See the following screen shot:

  1. Enter the credentials as appropriate.  There is an additional Name parameter to allow you to keep track of multiple infocenters. See the following screen shot:



    The following screen shot shows the resulting dialog box with the new infocenter added:

  1. Click OKto close the Preferences dialog box. 
  2. Open the Eclipse Help system (Help>Help Contents) to see the ArcGIS Java Developer Help system integrated into your local Eclipse Help system. See the following screen shot:

    .





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