Question

Im writing a server based application and i would like eclipse to be able to interact with it.

I was wondering if eclipse PDE can handle using an external jar to interact with RabbitMQ. Also would i have access to the editor i.e. could the server respond and then update the code on the users end inside the editor pane?

Also if anyone knows any good resources for eclipse plug-in development that would be great as the only books i can find on amazon are a few years old
Thanks,
Ben

Answer 1

You can include any JAR in your plugin and write code that uses it.

1. Copy the JAR into your plugin project (usually they’re placed into a lib folder in the project).
2. Open your plugin’s manifest or plugin.xml file and go to the Runtime tab.
3. In the Classpath section, use the Add… button to add the JAR.
4. Go to the Build tab and make sure the JAR is selected at least for the Binary Build.
5. Save.

Now you should be able to write code that uses the JAR and when you build your plugin it will be packaged in your plugin.

If you find that you’ll be writing multiple plugins that go together and all use the same JAR(s), there’s a better way to package it, but I’ll leave those details out for now.