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Getting Started with MyEclipse

By Riyad Kalla & Jens Eckels

ABOUT MyEclipse

Downloaded over 10 million times, MyEclipse (http://www.MyEclipseIDE.com) is the #1 commercial Eclipse-based IDE, with industry-leading support for Java and Web developers. You will find this card useful for introducing you to MyEclipse, as well as developing valuable knowledge of the expansive feature set.

We'll explore the basics, like how to obtain MyEclipse and install it, the process of getting started on projects, development utilizing everything from source code editors to advanced code completion features, project deployment, advanced debugging and much more. You'll quickly discover that MyEclipse is the logical, Eclipse plugin-based solution for all of your J2EE integrated development environment (IDE) needs.

Each MyEclipse release is available either through the MyEclipse Web site at http://MyEclipseIDE.com, or via the popular Pulse tool profiling service at http://PoweredByPulse.com. MyEclipse is available for the major platforms, including Windows, Linux and Mac, and offers industry-leading features such as:

• Ajax & Web 2.0 tooling (including advanced JavaScript capabilities)
• Hibernate and Spring integration
• Support for Maven configurations
• Swing GUI design support
• Advanced reporting tools
• Industry-leading Java Persistence tooling and much more!

Getting MyEclipse

You can download MyEclipse a number of different ways, including:

Pulse-optimized Installer	A multi-threaded automatic software provisioning solution that will manifest the MyEclipse install directly onto your machine, handling future updates and dependency management automatically.
All-in-One MyEclipse Installer	This is a classic double-click installer that will install everything you need to get started with MyEclipse immediately.
ArchivedUpdate Site	This is an Archived (ZIP) Eclipse Update Site that you can use when doing your own install of MyEclipse directly into an existing install of Eclipse.

Getting started with MyEclipse is really straight forward, if you are coming from another non-Eclipse-based-IDE, it's good to know the following two things:

Views	This is the term used for individual panels of information (like an Outline,Properties Panel,Server Controls Panel, etc.)
Perspectives	This is a collection of views, typically all related to servicing the same task (e.g. working with a database or working on a web project).

Perspectives

You can quickly flip between the different perspectives in MyEclipse by using the Perspective Buttons on the top right of your screen:

There are many different perspectives in MyEclipse, each one geared towards helping you work more efficiently with a certain technology or tool. They are:

Icon	Description
CVS Perspective	For CVS tools and operations
Debug Perspective	For debugging any code you have a breakpoint set in (Java, JSP, JavaScript, etc.)
Java Browsing Perspective	For navigating Java class structures more intuitive in projects
Java Type Hierarchy Perspective	For viewing the hierarchy of types of classes
MyEclipse AJAX Perspective	For working with JavaScript and AJAX technologies
MyEclipse Database Explorer Perspective	For working with configured databases and persistence generation tools
MyEclipse Hibernate Perspective	For working with Hibernate configurations, POJOs and HQL queries
MyEclipse Image Editor Perspective	For editing images with simple image editing tools provided
MyEclipse Java Enterprise Perspective	For working with MyEclipse and Web/Java EE Web Projects
MyEclipse Java Persistence Perspective	For working with JPA-based entities and persistence technology
MyEclipse JavaScript Perspective	For working with JavaScript frameworks and source files.
MyEclipse Report Design Perspective	For working with the MyEclipse Reports reporting framework.
MyEclipse Swing/ Matisse Perspective	For designing Swing GUIs using the lauded Matisse designer.
MyEclipse UML Perspective	For creating UML Diagrams using reverse/forward engineering or by hand
Plug-in Development Perspective	For working on an Eclipse-based plugin
Resource Perspective	A simple file-explorer-esque view of projects and their contents
Team Synchronizing Perspective	For use with any Team (CVS, SVN, Clear Case, etc.) Commit/Update operations

As a quick reminder, you can lay your perspectives out anyway you'd like, either closing views you don't use or adding ones you use all the time. Be sure to save your changes using: Window > Save Perspective.

Developing with MYEclipse

Creating Projects

Working in MyEclipse, for the most part, starts first with a Project. You can create many different kinds of projects from the File > New > Project menu.

	EJB Project
	Enterprise Application Project
	Java Maven Project
	Java Project
	Report Web Project
	Web Project
	Web Service Project

Editing Source Files

MyEclipse supports editing many different kinds of source files (e.g. Java, JavaScript, HTML, XHTML, JSP, Struts/JSF/Facelet pages). Whenever you open a certain kind of source file, MyEclipse will always open that source file automatically in the best-suited editor for the job. You can force MyEclipse to open source files in different editors by right-clicking on the files and going to the Open With context menu.

While editing, you can always invoke :

Content Assist	CTRL-Space
Format Code	CTRL-Shift-F
Organize Imports	CTRL-Shift-O

Learning these three shortcuts can save you a lot of time.

You can combine the format code and organize import operation along with more code cleaning features all as part of saving a file (CTRL-S) automatically, so you never have to run it yourself. You can do this from the preference page:

Window > Preferences > Java > Editor > Save Actions

Web Application Development

MyEclipse supports working on Web Projects, EJB Projects and Enterprise Application Projects using the following Java EE specification levels:

• J2EE 1.3
• J2EE 1.4
• Java EE 5

Tooling

MyEclipse provides tooling for all the most popular persistence technologies, including full reverse-engineering and POJO/DAO generation support for:

• Hibernate
• JPA (Toplink, Hibernate & OpenJPA)
• EJB3

Frameworks

MyEclipse also supports a gamut of web services frameworks, including service and client generation in either bottom-up (from a Class file) or top-down (from a WSDL) scenarios for:

• JAX-WS Web Services and Clients
• WebSphere JAX-WS and JAX-RPC Web Services and Client (Blue Only)
• X-Fire based Web Services and Clients

Databases

Database Explorer makes working with your database a snap. An example of how you can visualize your tables and relationships quickly:

Wizards

Most all of the Web Service generation wizards can be launched directly from the tool bar, as well as the Web Service Explorer for testing your services. Just use these buttons to add services or explore:

MyEclipse will automatically handle building the different kinds of projects for you, but also provides support for Ant and Maven, if you prefer to use them, to perform tasks like testing, building or packaging your project.

Deployment & Running

MyEclipse provides integrated support for deploying your projects to your favorite application server (over 30 supported) in two different ways:

Exploded:	Development Mode, where saved changes are immediately hot-synced with the server.
Packaged:	Production Mode, where a single WAR or EAR is created and deployed to the server.

In addition to managing your project deployments from inside the IDE, you can also manage the Start, Stop and Restart cycle for all the most popular application servers, including Tomcat, Glassfish, JBoss, WebSphere, WebLogic, Resin, Jetty and more.

In addition to handling deployments and your server run-state independently, you can also run or debug your project even faster by using Run As or Debug As MyEclipse Server Application from the project's right-click context menu.

MyEclipse also includes an embedded version of Tomcat as well as the Derby DB, allowing you to develop DB-enabled Web Projects right out of the box with no additional software setup. Or, just test your own projects instantly.

Using Ant or Maven Builders

A handy tip that not many people know is that besides MyEclipse handling builds and deployment for you, if you have custom needs or pre-existing Ant/Maven scripts that you want to use, you can easily integrate these into your build process by adding a custom Ant or Maven builder to your project. This will run the script, and the selected targets, for the following build stages:

• After a Clean
• During a Manual build
• During a Auto build
• During a Clean

The targets to execute for each stage are fully configurable when setting up the custom builder. You can do that by right-clicking on your project and opening Properties, then going to Builders and clicking Add. From there you can configure the custom builder of your choice:

Keyboard Shortcuts

You can have total control over your keyboard shortcuts in MyEclipse. All shortcuts can be adjusted from the preference page: Window > Preferences > General > Keys.

Common Navigation Shortcuts

CTRL-Left Click	Open Declaration
F4	Open Type Hierarchy
CTRL-SHIFT-P	Go to Matching Bracket
CTRL-SHIFT-R	Open Resource
CTRL-O	Quick Outline
ALT-Left Arrow	Back in Edit History
ALT-Right Arrow	Forward in Edit History

Common Coding Shortcuts

CTRL-SHIFT-F	Format
CTRL-SHIFT-O	Organize Imports
ALT-SHIFT-R	Rename (Refactor)
ATL-SHIFT-C	Change Function Sig (Refactor)
CTRL-SHIFT-C	Toggle Comment
CTRL-SHIFT-\	Remove Block Comment

Common Debugging Shortcuts

ALT-SHIFT-D, J	Debug Java Application
CTRL-F11	Run Last Launched
F11	Debug Last Launched
CTRL-SHIFT-I	Inspect Value
F5	Step Into
F6	Step Over
F7	Step Return
F8	Continue Execution
CTRL-SHIFT-B	Toggle Breakpoint

Common View Shortcuts

CTRL-M	Maximize/Restore View
CTRL-F6	Next Editor
CTRL-SHIFT-F6	Previous Editor
CTRL-F8	Next Perspective
CTRL-SHIFT-F8	Previous Perspective
CTRL-E	Quick Switch Editor

WRITE LESS CODE

There are many different ways that MyEclipse helps you write less code. Besides providing some of the best industry-wide code generation wizards, we also provide support for simpler, every-day, enhancement like code templates, code content assist, and content assist templates.

Generate Getters, Setters, Delegates, Constructors

Location	Source menu or right-click context menu from inside a source editor.
Purpose	To automatically generate methods or artifacts that would otherwise take a lot of typing to do.
Usage	Invoke any of the generation commands for the type of resource you would like generated.

Code Templates

Location	Window > Preferences > Java > Code Style > Code Templates
Purpose	Allows you to control how certain blocks of code are generated, including default comments or templated variables.
Usage	Automatic, whenever a code generation function is run (e.g. Generater Getters/Setters) it will use any customizations you've set.

Example #1: Can be used to change how new Class files are generated, to include a company-wide license at the top of the class file in a comment.

Example #2: Can be used to automatically add author, date and project information into a new method with a TODO marker until it's implemented.

Content Assist

Location	(Inside source code, invoked with CTRL-Space key sequence.)
Purpose	To provide help completing method calls as well as naming variables based on the type they are.
Usage	CTRL-Space while editing, any time, to see if MyEclipse has suggestions for you based on the current context. Completions are locationsensitive.

Example #1: String name = new |<-- Invoke here for "String", since it will match the type of the variable.

Example #2: MyClass |<-- Invoke here for "myClass" and a few other common variations based on the type name.

Content Assist Templates

Location	Window > Preferences > Java > Editor > Templates
Purpose	To create custom content assist suggestions based on your coding style.
Usage	CTRL-Space while editing, if the name sequence partially matches, will include whatever templates you have created with that name.

Example #1: Create a template "myfor" that creates a complex for-loop, including comments and templated argument variables. Type "my" or "myfor" and hit CTRL-Space to have your template inserted.

Example #2: There is a huge set of pre-defined templates you can already use. For example, try "sysout" and hit CTRL-space.

WORK AS A TEAM

MyEclipse supports integrated team source control tools like CVS out of the box. You can add support for your favorite source control system (Subversion, Perforce, Clear Case, etc.) all by adding the appropriate plugin to your MyEclipse install.

Version control allows you to easily keep your work safely versioned and combined with other team-member's work without needing to send emails back and forth to your team members with your changes in them.

Integrated Team (Version Control) operations can all be accessed from the Team menu off of the right-click context menu on your project. This includes:

• Update Commit
• Branch / Tag
• Merge
• Show History
• and every other operation you could need!

Extending MyEclipse - Plug-ins

Since MyEclipse is built on top of the Eclipse platform, you can easily extend it with any of your favorite Eclipse plugins in the same way you might extend Eclipse.

In addition to finding and installing your own plugins manually, you can use Pulse (www.poweredbypulse.com) to create a MyEclipse-based software profile and then Drag and Drop software from the included software catalog into the profile. Pulse will handle installing and running that for you automatically. You can even share these profiles with friends, co-workers and teams.

web site references

By reviewing and utilizing the helpful hints in this guide, you've already placed yourself a step ahead of the competition. MyEclipse is a pervasive tool in the Eclipse space, and there are multiple Web sites you can visit for more information and helpful hints.

We recommend the following specific sites to get the most out of your MyEclipse experience.

Web Resources	Description
MyEclipse Home Page myeclipseide.com	Where it all begins for MyEclipse users. Includes links for education, support and more.
MyEclipse Blue Edition myeclipseide.com/blue	Explore all that MyEclipse Blue Edition has to offer for WebSphere users.
MyEclipse Blog jroller.com/myeclipseblog	The best way to keep up with MyEclipse happenings.
MyEclipse Webinars myeclipseide.com/webinars.html	Free Webinars that demonstrate some of the most popular features of MyEclipse.
Pulse	Genuitec's powerful Eclipse tool profiling solution - can help manage MyEclipse.
Genuitec genuitec.com	Genuitec, the parent company behind MyEclipse and Pulse products.
Eclipse Zone http://eclipse.dzone.com	Community for Eclipse users and developers.
Eclipse Plugin Central eclipseplugincentral.com	The best and most extensive repository of Eclipse plugins.
Eclipse Foundation eclipse.org	Genuitec is a strategic member of the Eclipse Foundation.