12.1.1 Problem You want to install an Eclipse plug-in. 12.1.2 Solution Download the plug-in, and expand it in the Eclipse plugins directory. 12.1.3 Discussion Numerous plug-ins are available already, and many are free for the downloading. To install a plug-in, stop Eclipse if it's running, and download the plug-in to the eclipse directory, the directory that contains the workspace and plugins directories. | You can find more than 450 Eclipse plug-ins at http://www.eclipse-plugins.2y.net/eclipse/, and most of them are free. About 7,000 plug-ins are downloaded everyday from this site. Many of them support what Eclipse left outespecially drag-and-drop development for environments such as Swing, Struts, and SWT. | | Eclipse plug-ins come zipped or tarred, and you typically uncompress them in the eclipse directory. When uncompressed, the files for the plug-ins are stored automatically in the plugins and features directories. Each plug-in gets its own folder in the Eclipse plugins directory. Typically, you'll find the following files in every plug-in's folder: -
- *.jar
-
The code for the plug-in, stored in a .jar file -
- about.html
-
Shown when the user requests information about the plug-in -
- icons
-
Directory for icons (the standard is GIF format) -
- lib
-
Holds library .jar files -
- plugin.xml
-
The plug-in manifest, which is what describes the plug-in to Eclipse -
- plugin.properties
-
Holds text data used by plugin.xml | Although you usually uncompress plug-ins in the eclipse directory, some plug-ins are designed to be unzipped in the plugins directory. If installation instructions for the plug-in are unavailable, open the plug-in using an unzip or untar tool, and take a look at how it'll expand itselfthe file plugin.xml always has to go into a subdirectory of the plugins directory. | | That's all you need to do to install a plug-in. After expanding the plug-in's compressed file, start Eclipse again. You might see a dialog indicating that configuration changes are pending; restart Eclipse again if necessary. |