How to install ArcGIS plug-ins

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Installing ArcGIS plug-ins
ArcGIS plug-ins for the Eclipse Integrated Development Environment (IDE) have been created to ease ArcGIS Server Web ADF application development. This topic describes the necessary steps to install and configure Eclipse and the ArcGIS Web ADF plug-ins.
Downloading and installing Eclipse
ArcGIS Server for Java Eclipse plug-in is compatible with the Eclipse IDE for Java EE Developers Ganymede. 
Eclipse IDE for Java EE Developers has support for most popular Java Application Servers although, an application server is not included with any of the Eclipse download options. You must obtain an application server separately.
Relevant drivers for supported ArcGIS Server development include:
Eclipse Ganymede package for Java EE Developers is based on Eclipse SDK v3.4 and Web Tools Platform 3.0 and offers the following new features: 
  • New update User Interface (UI) for performing installation and updates based on the P2 UI. 
  • New dropins folder at the root of the Eclipse platform which allows for hot deployment of plug-ins. 
  • Remote Help Content Enhancements allowing for multiple remote infocenters to contribute content to the Help system. 
  • JSF Tag Registry View
  • Enhancements to the Web Page Editor (WPE) Property Pages
  • Create a Web Service by selecting a Java Bean in a Java Project
  • WSDL Zoom In/Out graph view
  • Ability to open WSDL's not associated with project
  • Check Full XML Schema Conformance
  • JavaScript Development Tools (JSDT)
Increasing the Memory Heap Size in Eclipse
Eclipse allocates 256 megabytes of java heap memory by default. However to avoid out of memory errors during installation of ArcGIS plug-ins it is strongly recommended that you increase this amount (to 1024 megabytes).  We also recommend adding the Max Permgen size available to Eclipse and set it to 256M.
  1. Open the eclipse.ini file under the eclipse installation directory(eg. C:\eclipse) with a text editor.
  2. By default, eclipse.ini contains something like:
          -showsplash
          org.eclipse.platform
          --launcher.XXMaxPermSize
          256m
          -vmargs
          -Xms40m
          -Xmx256m
  1. Which sets the heap space to 40MB initially and a maximum of 256MB, and also specifies a PermGen size of 256MB
  2. The suggested settings for ArcGIS Server development are:
          -showsplash
          org.eclipse.platform
          -vmargs
          -Dosgi.requiredJavaVersion=1.5
          -Xms784m
          -Xmx1024m
          -XX:PermSize=256m
          -XX:MaxPermSize=256m
          -XX:+UseParallelGC
  1. Save and close the eclipse.ini file.
Support for Eclipse Ganymede on Solaris 10 is limited to the SDK version only and not the Java EE bundle referenced above.  In order to install the ArcGIS Core Plug-ins on a SDK package you need to install the 'Eclipse XML Editors and Tools' from the 'Available Software' list in the Update UI. 
Compatibility with Eclipse 3.2 plug-ins: 
Eclipse SDK 3.4 is upwards compatible with Eclipse SDK 3.3. as described in the Eclipse 3.4 plug-in migration guide, and consequently, plug-ins for Eclipse SDK 3.3 should work with Eclipse SDK 3.4. 
Please refer to the following Eclipse WIKI sites for more information:
Installing ArcGIS Plug-ins on Eclipse Ganymede
There are multiple ways to install plug-ins on the Eclipse Ganymede platform.  Eclipse Ganymede is built with Equinox P2 which supports a new way of deploying Eclipse applications and plug-ins.  For experienced Eclipse users, the most noticeable difference will be the new software update dialog which replaces the 'Find and Install/Manage Configuration' approach in earlier versions.  Part of this changes includes the 'dropins' folder.  This folder is located in the root Eclipse directory and is initially empty.  The dropins concept allows for this folder to link to a central location for plug-ins which can be shared by several Eclipse installations. 
Installing using the dropins folder:
The easiest and recommended approach to install ArcGIS Server for Java plug-ins is to use the 'dropins' folder.  We will walk you through the process which allows for you to have various different plug-ins dropped in and kept separate by providing an additional layer of folders immediately below the dropins folder. 
Please note that in order to use the dropins folder Eclipse has to be installed with 'eclipse' as the root folder like this: 

eclipse
   |------dropins


But not for this:

eclipse3.4
   |------dropins
  1. Create an 'esri' folder underneath the 'eclipse\dropins' folder.
  1. Navigate to '<ARCGISHOME>\java\tools\eclipse_plugin\arcgis_update_site\server\' folder and copy the 'features' & 'plugins' folders. 
  2. Paste the 'features' & 'plugins' folders in the 'eclipse\dropins\esri\' folder created in step 1. 
To remove the plug-in, simply delete it from the dropins folder and restart Eclipse. 
Installing using the Update UI:
Now we will take a look at using the Update UI from within Eclipse to install ArcGIS Server for Java plug-ins: 
  1. To launch the UI, click 'Help > Software Updates'.
  2. The 'Software Updates and Add-ons' dialog is displayed and contains two tabs.  The Installed Software tab allows you to update or remove existing plug-ins and the Available Software tab allows you to manage install sites and install plug-ins. 
  1. The ArcGIS Java plug-ins support 2 SDK's, ArcObjects and ArcGIS Server for Java Web ADF.  The ArcObjects plug-in is for developers who wish to build desktop applications and/or ArcGIS extensions. The Web ADF plug-in is for developer who wish to build web applications using ArcGIS Server for Java.  To create a new update site, click on 'Available Software' tab and click 'Add Site'.
  1. The Update UI supports drag & drop URL straight from your browser or from you OS file manager for local sites.  You can either drag & drop the '%AGSDEVKITJAVA%\java\tools\eclipse_plugin\arcgis_update_site\webadf' location from your OS file manager or choose to click 'Local…' to browse to the location on disk.  Once the location is successfully loaded, click 'OK'. 
  1. Expand the local ArcGIS Plug-in site you just added and select the ArcGIS plug-ins.
  1. Click 'Install…' and follow the instructions on the dialogs that follow.  Eventually you will be prompted to restart Eclipse.  Click 'Yes' and after Eclipse restarts the WebADF plug-ins will be installed. 
If you choose to manage your ESRI plug-ins in the dropins folder and update the plug-in through the UI your updated plug-ins will be saved in the main 'eclipse/plugins' & 'eclipse/features' folders and not under the dropins hierarchy as you might expect. 
Accessing ArcGIS Help Content
Packaging a comprehensive help system for ArcGIS Engine and ArcGIS Server SDK's can significantly increase memory size requirements and cause some users environments to hang on install.  The solution is to host the content as an InfoCenter site on a dedicated server, or locally on your development machine.  Eclipse InfoCenters allow users to access help systems from remote servers over the internet or an intranet.  The ArcGIS Java Developer Help System is available as a stand alone external system which can be started in 'Server' mode using the start/stop scripts available at '%ARCGISHOME%\java\docs\' once the Help System has been installed. 
  1. On the Server where the ArcGIS Java Developer Help System is installed, navigate to '%AGSDEVKITJAVA%\java\docs\' and execute the 'startJavaHelpServer.bat' script to start the server. 
  2. The ArcGIS Java Developer Help System InfoCenter uses port 2112 by default.  You can access the Help System locally with the following url: http://localhost:2112/help/index.jsp.  Replace 'localhost' with your server name or ip address to access the Help System remotely. 
  3. Once you have confirmed that this Help System is up and running, you can use the Remote Help System feature in Eclipse v3.3 to access the help system by merging your Eclipse local content with the ArcGIS remote content.  The help system will behave as though it were local. 
  4. Open Eclipse on your developer machine and on the Eclipse main menu, select 'Window->Preferences…'.
  5. In the Preference dialog, navigate to 'Help->Content'.
  6. The Eclipse Help System needs to know the address (host/IP) and port of the remote server to integrate with the local system.  Select the 'Include help content form a remote infocenter' checkbox and provide the following server location:
    1. Host: Put a valid Server Name or IP Address where the remote infocenter is located.  In our example the server name is 'javabuild'.
    2. Path: '/help'.
    3. Select the 'Use Port' radio box and put '2112' in the port text box. 
    4. The dialog should resemble the image below with your server name replacing 'javabuild'.
Europa Preferences dialog: 
Eclipse Ganymede allows for multiple remote infocenters to contribute content to the help system and consequently has a slightly different dialog. 
  1. Click the Add button to add a remote infocenter. 
  1. Enter the credentials as appropriate.  There is an additional 'Name' parameter to allow you to keep track of multiple infocenters.
Resulting Dialog with new infocenter added
  1. Click 'OK' to close the Preference dialog. 
  2. Open up the Eclipse Help System, 'Help->Help Contents', to see the ArcGIS Java Developer Help System integrated into your local Eclipse Help System. 





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