Eclipse/WOLips

I have Eclipse/WOLips working (Eclipse 2.1.3 with WOLips 1.0.7.50 on OS X Panther). Eclipse is a very nice Java IDE, providing many features that Xcode currently is missing for WebObjects/Java development (re-factoring tools, code completion, etc) and without some of Xcode’s peculiarities (indexing anyone?).

I had to struggle a bit to get it going, but with help from a couple of lists [ A , B ] I’ve got it all straightened out.

Here are a few things I ran into that might help someone else:

  • Apply the WebObjects 5.2 hack found here. I made copies of the required frameworks into /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks_Disabled/ and then linked the correct ones into /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/ so I can easily switch back and forth if I need to change IDE’s.
  • Do not try Eclipse 3.0 M* with WOLips – It’s really not ready… really.
  • Remove the Apache Xerces.jar from your class path – It will crash Eclipse 2.1.3 and cause you to waste an entire day discovering how really not ready Eclipse 3.0 M* is… Oh, yeah, this is documented in the Eclipse/WOLips help section… once you get Eclipse running. OK, its on the WOLips website too, but who would think to look there? Honestly.
  • Apply the Eclipse org.eclipse.core.ant patch found here
  • To add Webserver Resources (like images, etc) you need to do two things:
    First, add them to the wsresources section of the build.xml file so it looks something like this:

    <wsresources dir=".">
    	<include name="*.jpg"/>
    	<include name="*.gif"/>
    	<exclude name="**/*.woa/**"/>
    </wsresources>

    Then, go to: Eclipse -> Window -> Preferences -> WOLips -> ProjectBuilder -> WOApp Resources Include and add *.jpg, *.gif, etc. to the list.

I think that’s it for now, I’ll post more if I come across it..