Eclipse 3.6 M5 is now available for download. There are lots of new and exciting features, like the ability to open and file directly from the command line. You can also use the synchronize view to compare patches:
Debug also introduced a few new features (like instance counts):
Check out all the new features in the New and Noteworthy.
Download the milestone:
http://download.eclipse.org/eclipse/downloads/drops/S-3.6M5-201001291300/index.php
or use p2 to upgrade to it:
http://download.eclipse.org/eclipse/updates/3.6milestones/
Tags: helios
Today we formalized some changes in the Eclipse Series of books. Some time ago Lee Nackman left IBM and his various roles related to Eclipse. Many of you may not know Lee but he was instrumental in the early days of Eclipse and IBM’s ongoing contribution and commitment to Eclipse. Lee, Erich Gamma and John Weigand envisioned and created the Eclipse Series of more then 20 books that today conveys so much vital information to the Eclipse community.
I’m pleased to report that I am taking over Lee’s place on the Eclipse Series editorial board. One of my first tasks has been to help in the redesign of the series look. The result of that effort can be seen in the OSGi and Equinox book going to press this week.
The original series had a sequence of Eclipse photos. This was fitting and attractive. Unfortunately, many of the photos looked similar and as a result is was hard to distinguish one book from another. For the new look we have standardized on a new color scheme and layout. Different books will have distinct images largely at the discretion of the authors but the overall look will be consistent.
We have also introduced a subtle branding differentiation through the use of the Eclipse or EclipseRT logos (see the top left corner) depending on their focus (tooling vs. runtime).
In this new role I will be looking for new ways to drive the content that the community needs. Writing a book is a huge investment and while many teams have made very significant technical contributions, they are not big enough or well-funded enough to write books. There are a few ideas kicking around for how to lower the barrier and what topics are in most need of coverage. While we have great wealth of new projects at Eclipse, the book pipeline is surprisingly sparse.
As with everything at Eclipse, the community can help. Your suggestions for formats, topics and indeed, content are more than welcome. Feel free to contact me directly or post comments on this blog.
Tags: books, eclipse, syndicate
After more than a year of work we have finally completed the entire OSGi and Equinox book. The text, artwork, index, front matter and now cover are done and will be off to the printer and a bookstore near you in the next few days.
The cover marks a departure from the original series style of Eclipse photos. The publisher and series editorial team felt that that theme had run its course and the wanted a new look. We are pleased to be the first book with the new look. Expect subsequent books in the series to have a similar upper portions with different main images in the lower half.
Note also the use of the EclipseRT logo on the upper right corner.
Books in the series will have either the Eclipse logo or the EclipseRT logo depending on their focus (tooling vs. runtime). The upcoming 2nd edition of the RCP book will be the second in the series to have the new cover style and the EclipseRT logo. We have not decided on the imagery yet though…
Happy reading…
Tags: eclipseRT, equinox, OSGi
Yesterday, the EclipseCon Program Committee made the final tough decisions and pressed the button to notify people if their submissions got accepted or not. I had the honor of putting together the Eclipse Runtime (EclipseRT) content.
If you’re coming to EclipseCon, you’ll have a great opportunity to learn about EclipseRT and OSGi.
Here are some of my favorite selections for runtime…
Tutorials
Getting Started with Eclipse RT
Build a Working OSGi Application
Building Server-Side Eclipse based web applications
Talks
Gemini – Helping Shape the Future of Enterprise Java
Composite Bundles – Isolating Applications in a Collaborative OSGi World
ScalaModules: OSGi the Easy Way with a Scala DSL
I hope you enjoy the program!
Tags: eclipseRT, equinox
Today, the Eclipse Foundation announced two new projects at Eclipse.org, Graphiti and Virgo.
The Graphiti project aims to offer an Eclipse-based graphics framework to enable easy development of state-of-the-art diagram editors for domain models. SAP plans to contribute the developed framework. This could have a large impact in the Eclipse Modeling space where graphic modeling is only getting better and better. The contribution is also important because SAP is showing that it’s strongly committed to the Eclipse ecosystem.
The Virgo project will provide a runtime platform for the development of server-side enterprise applications built on top of Equinox, and optionally using modules from the Gemini project. On top of that, the Virgo project solidifies the EclipseRT vision that a lot of us have been preaching for awhile.
Want to learn more about EclipseRT? Check out the whitepaper.
Another thing to note about the Virgo project is that tooling will be coming along but contributed to specific projects at Eclipse.
Developer tools that provide support for Virgo are out of scope for the Virgo project as part of EclipseRT. However, the Virgo team also propose to work with the existing WTP and PDE projects to contribute relevant developer tools for Virgo to those projects. These contributions will be based upon the existing Bundlor and dm Server development tools projects detailed below.
So far, it looks like three out of twelve zodiac signs are taken for OSGi related projects.
Which one will be next 
?
Tags: eclipse, gemini, OSGi, virgo
I spent part of today trying to debug a Linux specific issue in which wizard pages are not being shown properly. Actually, the content of some wizard pages are not showing up at all (Bug 298805 if you’re interested).
While thinking through the problem on IRC (yes, you should be on IRC), Susan McCourt had a great idea — install the SWT Spy and see what it shows.
The SWT Spy is a small tool that allows you to place your mouse over a widget and get information about that widget, including:
- Layout information
- Bounds
- Siblings
- Parent Chain (back to the shell)
I hacked the tool a bit to add the visibility field. The SPY is available from: http://www.eclipse.org/swt/tools.php. Once installed, you can toggle the spy using CTRL+ALT+SHIFT+”.”.
An oldie but a goodie.
Tags: swt, tips
