ApCoCoA-1:HowTo:Install and Work with the Eclipse GUI

From ApCoCoAWiki
Revision as of 10:17, 11 February 2009 by S schuster (talk | contribs)

Introduction

This HowTo shows you how to get started with the new Eclipse Graphical User Interface (GUI) for (Ap)CoCoA.

Currently, the new GUI is still in an alpha state, which means there might be annoying bugs or the look and feel will change in the near future with new releases.

If this doesn't frighten you, you are more than welcome to,

Prerequisites

  • A current Java runtime environment (Java 5 JRE recommended)
  • Eclipse If you are new to Eclipse, the variety of different packages to choose may be confusing. However, for using ApCoCoA it does not matter which package you choose and we therefore recommend to choose the smallest one (which currently is the Eclipse IDE for C/C++ Developers)
  • ApCoCoA


Installation

Installing and Running Eclipse

After you download one of the Eclipse packages (e.g. the Eclipse IDE for C/C++ Developers), unpack the downloaded package go to the newly created folder eclipse and start the eclipse executable. That's all. After starting Eclipse, you will be asked to provide a workspace directory. This is where all your projects and ApCoCoA files will be stored. If unsure, just take the suggested default value. If you start Eclipse for the first time, you are presented with the welcome screen, which you just can close.

Welcome-Screen.jpg

If you downloaded the Eclipse IDE for C/C++ Developers you now see the C/C++ perspective (a perspective is a special collection of ) which is the starting point for this tutorial. Eclipse Initial.jpg


Installing the Plugin

One of the really nice things in Eclipse is the ease of installing and updating plugins, i.e. extensions of the Eclipse platform that add new features and functionality, as the GUI plugin does. To install the ApCoCoA GUI plugin, follow these steps.

Update Site.jpg

  • Then check Apcocoa GUI ...
  • ... and click Install...
  • Eclipse then looks up the plugins that have to be installed and presents you with a review and confirm page. Click Next.

Review and Confirm.jpg

  • Accept the license agreement and klick Finish.

Accept License.jpg

  • Next you will be asked to restart the Eclipse platform which is recommended.
  • Finally, you should see some new additions in the menu and tool bars.

New Additions.jpg

You are now ready to set up and use ApCoCoA with Eclipse.


First Steps

Configure Eclipse

  • Window > Preferences > ApCoCoA Preferences
  • Set paths to the ApCoCoA command line executable and ApCoCoA Server or BBF Server
  • TBC.