What Is Google Eclipse?

Whereas Trekkies might mean one thing when they say eclipse, techies refer to something quite different. Eclipse, in the world of computers and the Internet, is an open-source development platform that uses frameworks, tools and runtimes to develop software. Google developed a plugin for Eclipse, aptly named Google Plugin for Eclipse. The plugin lets you build Web apps using Eclipse and Google web technologies.

1. Versions

   • As of June 2011, the Google Plugin for Eclipse is in release 2.4 Beta, which means Google is still ironing out some of its bugs. Eclipse is in release 3.6, but the Google Plugin for Eclipse is compatible with earlier versions -- 3.4 and 3.5, though Google reports that installation with 3.4 can take a long time. Just point Eclipse to the remote directories containing the Google Plugin install files and follow the prompts to install the Plugin.
     

   What Google Plugin Does

   • After you've installed the plugin, you can use the Eclipse interface to create web applications. The Google Plugin comes loaded with all of Google's web technologies, so you can incorporate the Google Web Toolkit (GWT) into your applet design. Click "File" and "New" in Eclipse and then choose "Web Application Project." As part of the setup wizard for a new Web application project, you can enable GWT and the Google App Engine to build your Java projects.
     

   Running and Testing Projects

   • As you develop any project Google's App Engine Software Developer Kit, you can test your projects on a server to ensure that they work "live." The Google Plugin adds items to Eclipse's "Run" menu. After you install the Google Plugin, you'll see "Debug as..." > "Web Application" in the "Run" menu. Choosing this option prompts Eclipse to build your project, switch to Debug mode and open the project on a test server. You can then switch between code mode and debug mode to make changes on the fly.
     

   Support

   • As with most Google projects, the Google Plugin for Eclipse is backed by extensive help files. These help files are all stored online through Google Code, and include a length FAQ and a support community. The community is a user-contributed area where you can connect (using your Google account) to other Eclipse users to ask questions about the Google Plugin.