Below are my personal notes what plug-ins are needed to get “perfect” Eclipse web development set-up. Basically they are just my own notes so that I don’t need to Google everything all over again every time I reinstall. I hope the readers can find new pearls here or suggest improvements.
This post is update to previous Eclipse web developer plug-in memo post. New versions are available and some plug-ins have become deprecated. This blog post reflects those changes.
These instructions are good for:
- Python developer
- PHP developer
- Java developer
1. Choosing Eclipse distribution
- On Window, use EasyEclipse
- On Linux, use Eclipse provided by the distribution – Eclipse links against the embedded Mozilla browser and this is distribution specific – EasyEclipse has some issues here. For Ubuntu users:
sudo apt-get install sun-java6 eclipse
- On OSX, use EasyEclipse
EasyEclipse bundles some of the stuff listed here with it – when using EasyEclipse you don’t need to have separate PyDev and Subclipse downloads.
Eclipse for 64-bit Linux has various problems. You might want to run 32-bit Eclipse (another relevant blog post). When you use Linux distribution specific Eclipse install, all your personal Eclipse files go to .eclipse folder under your home folder.
Installing plug-ins
Eclipse has internal updater/web installer. All plug-ins are downloaded as ZIP files and extracted to Eclipse folder or installed through the internal updater. Paste Eclipse update site URLs to menu Help -> Software updates -> Find and Install, New Remote Location.
Python
PyDev is a plug-in for Python and Jython development. It has enhanced commercial extensions for professional developers with more intelligent autocomplete and debugger.
Site URL: http://pydev.sourceforge.net
PyDev Eclipse update URL: http://pydev.sourceforge.net/updates/
PyDev extensions Eclipse update URL (this commercial, but worth of every penny): http://www.fabioz.com/pydev/updates
PDT
PDT download provides Eclipse, HTML editor, PHP editor and CSS editor.
Site URL: http://www.eclipse.org
Eclipse update site URL: http://download.eclipse.org/tools/pdt/updates/
1. Java
If you need to do J2EE development use IBM’s Web Tools Platform. If you don’t need Java capabilities don’t install these, since they just bloat Eclipse and make the start up time worse.
Subclipse
Subclipse provides Subversion version control integration to Eclipse.
Eclipse update site URL: http://subclipse.tigris.org/update_1.4.x/
In the installer, uncheck the integration modules checkbox or the installer will complain about missing modules.
Aptana Studio
Aptana Studio is state-of-the-art Web 2.0 development suite for Eclipse. It has Javascript, CSS and HTML editors. It supports various Javascript libraries out of the box and has support for Firefox and IE in-browser Javascript debugging.
Eclipse update site URL: http://update.aptana.com/update/studio/3.2/site.xml
ShellEd
Syntax coloring for Unix shell scripts
Project site: http://sourceforge.net/projects/shelled
SQL Explorer
SQL terminal and SQL editor with some GUI capabilities.
Eclipse update site URL http://eclipsesql.sourceforge.net/
SQL Explorer needs MySQL JDBC driver. Download from here. Install MySQL connector by extracting the file and adding it from SQL Explorer preferences.
