The goal of this example is to create a simple Eclipse PDE product and to successfully build it with pde-maven-plugin.
You have downloaded and installed the RCP target as per the options steps in Getting Started You need the target setup with the delta pack or else the Ant PDE tasks will fail.
Check Window > Preferences > Plug-in Development > Target Platform, is set to the RCP installation (e.g. D:\ide\target\eclipse-rcp-3.2.1)
To build a product you need it to be based on an Application first.
File > New > Project... Plug-in Development > Plug-in Project (Next) Project name: "test.pde_maven_plugin.simple_application" Uncheck "Use default location" and set Location to "<Your Workspace>\PDE_Plugin_Tutorial\plugins\test.pde_maven_plugin.simple_application" Source folder: "src/main/java" Output folder: "target/classes" (Next) TROUBLE SHOOTING: Eclipse will complain that "Project contents cannot be inside workspace directory" which is non-sense since you can import projects within project now. This may be a bug with the validation code of the Project builder. You can trick Eclipse by typing and deleting a character in "Project name" which will clear the error message allowing you to click Finish. Choose "Yes" to "Would you like to create a rich client application". The rest of the defaults for "Plug-in Content" are ok. (Next) Choose "Hello RCP" as the template to use. (Next) The defaults for "Basic RCP application" are ok. (Finish)
If the "test.pde_maven_plugin.simple_application" editor is not already open then open "plugin.xml" and ensure you are on the "Overview" tab.
Select "Launch an Eclipse application" from the Testing area of the Overview tab.
Verify that "Hello RCP" application starts up.
Having run this will automatically create a new launcher for this application. If you click on the drop down arrow on the Run toolbar button and select Run..., you will see the new "Eclipse Application" configuration. If this is the first time you have clicked "Launch an Eclipse application" the configuration will be called "Eclipse Application".
Right click on the project and select New > Product Configuration.
parent folder = "test.pde_maven_plugin.simple_application" (should already be selected)
File name = "simple_product.product"
Use a launch configuragion = the same as the one used to test the application, most likely "Eclipse Application".
(Finish)
In the "simple_product.product" editor window:
Product Name = "PDE Simple Product Example"
Product ID: (New...)
Defining Plug-in: (Browse...) and select test.pde_maven_plugin.simple_application
Product ID: product
Application: test.pde_maven_plugin.simple_application.application
(Finish)
Verify this product configuration by selecting "Launch the product" from the Testing area of the Overview tab, te "Hello RCP" application should start up the same as previously.
Now that we know the product project works, we can create the pom.xml to get this running in Maven.
In this pom we need to indicate that we want a PDE product build by specifying pdeProductFilename and the pdeBuildVersion details. The pdeBuildVersion does not default to a value and you must specify it so that the scripts supplied with Eclipse can be located. Obtain the value by browsing to $eclipseInstall/plugins/org.eclipse.pde.build_pdeBuildVersion/scripts/productBuild. On an Eclipse 3.2.1 installation this value is 3.2.0.v20060603.
<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0"
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/maven-v4_0_0.xsd">
<modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
<groupId>test.pde_maven_plugin</groupId>
<artifactId>simple_application</artifactId>
<packaging>zip</packaging>
<name>Simple Product PDE Example</name>
<version>1.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
<description>A Simple Product PDE Example</description>
<build>
<plugins>
<plugin>
<groupId>org.codehaus.mojo</groupId>
<artifactId>pde-maven-plugin</artifactId>
<extensions>true</extensions>
<configuration>
<eclipseInstall>D:\eclipse-3.2</eclipseInstall>
<pdeProductFilename>simple_product.product</pdeProductFilename>
<pdeBuildVersion>3.2.0.v20060603</pdeBuildVersion>
</configuration>
</plugin>
</plugins>
</build>
</project>
The Ant PDE installation process requires a properties file that specifies the build configuration. For more information consult Building an RCP application from a product configuration file
You can use You can use $eclipseInstall/plugins/org.eclipse.pde.build_pdeBuildVersion/templates/headless-build/build.properties as a starter file.
Copy $eclipseInstall/plugins/org.eclipse.pde.build_pdeBuildVersion/templates/headless-build/build.properties to PDE_Plugin_Tutorial/plugins/test.pde_maven_plugin.simple_application/buildConfiguration.
Right click build.properties and open with Proeprties File Editor. Find and set the following variables:
| Variable | Value |
| product | simple_product.product |
| base | path/to/parent/of/eclipse target, e.g. D:/ide/target |
| baseLocation | the directory containing eclipse, e.g. eclipse-rcp-3.2.1 |
| buildDirectory | Comment out this variable, as this is provided by pde-maven-plugin |
| configs | The build architecture, e.g. win32, win32, x86. Note: pde-maven-plugin currently only support building one config, it does not support multiple configs. |
| archivePrefix | simple_product |
Everything is setup and ready to go. Type "mvn install" to build your pde plugin from the command line.
When everything is complete you should see that your product zip file "..\..\I.TestBuild\TestBuild-win32.win32.x86.zip" gets installed into your local maven repository as "simple_application-1.0-SNAPSHOT.zip"
Browse to your m2 repository and extract <Your M2 REPO>\.m2\repository\test\pde_maven_plugin\simple_application.0-SNAPSHOT\simple_application-1.0-SNAPSHOT.zip to the somewhere (e.g. D:\tmp\)
Double click the "launcher.exe" and see it run exactly as it did inside Eclipse.