by Lars Vogel
Version 1.1
Copyright © 2009 Lars Vogel
12.06.2011
| Revision History | ||
|---|---|---|
| Revision 0.1 | 26.07.2009 | Lars Vogel |
| created | ||
| Revision 0.2 - 1.1 | 17.10.2009 - 12.06.2011 | Lars Vogel |
| Minor rework | ||
Table of Contents
The standard deployment format for Java is a .jar file. A jar file is a zip file which contains the necessary resources to use the Java libraries, e.g. the class files.
In Eclipse RCP and Eclipse plugin development you work with Eclipse bundles or OSGi bundles . If you want to use standard Java libraries (jars) in this environment you have to convert them to a plugin. After creating a new plugin project, you have to export the necessary packages for these jars and and add the new plugin as a dependency to the plugin which is using the functionality provided by the new plugin.
If you repackage a jars into a plugin it is wise to check if the license allows this.
The following gives an example how to convert jars to Eclipse plugins.
Create a new Plugin project by selection File-> New -> Project...-> Plug-in Development -> "Plug-in from Existing JAR Archives"
Add the jars you want to have in this new plugin. Press next.
Maintain a name and a version for this plugin. Uncheck the flag "Unzip the JAR archive into the project". Press then finish. Unchecking the flag "Unzip the JAR archive into the project" prevents that the class files are extracted from the Jar which is usually not necessary.
You have now bundled your jars into a new plugin. Open the file "MANIFEST.MF" and validate that all required package are exported on the tab "Runtime". All the packages from your jars should be included in the exported packages as OSGi will otherwise present other plugins from accessing them.
In the plugin project which should use the library, select now select your plugin.xml and the tab dependencies. Under required Plug-ins press add and add your generated plugin as a dependency to your RCP application. This will make the classes from the jar available to your plugin.
Before posting questions, please see the vogella FAQ. If you have questions or find an error in this article please use the www.vogella.de Google Group. I have created a short list how to create good questions which might also help you.
Eclipse RCP Training (German) Eclipse RCP Training with Lars Vogel
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JUnit Tutorial Test your application
Git Tutorial Put everything you have under distributed version control system
