| <?php |
| /******************************************************************************* |
| * Copyright (c) 2015 Eclipse Foundation and others. |
| * All rights reserved. This program and the accompanying materials |
| * are made available under the terms of the Eclipse Public License v1.0 |
| * which accompanies this distribution, and is available at |
| * http://eclipse.org/legal/epl-v10.html |
| * |
| * Contributors: |
| * Eric Poirier (Eclipse Foundation) - Initial implementation |
| *******************************************************************************/ |
| ?> |
| |
| <h1 class="article-title"><?php echo $pageTitle; ?></h1> |
| |
| <p> |
| <a target="_blank" href="http://cloudfoundry.org/index.html">Cloud |
| Foundry</a> is an open source platform as a service (PaaS) that |
| is used in cloud computing. One of the keys to success of a given |
| platform is having some IDEs that help users to develop |
| applications to run on the platform. The <a target="_blank" |
| href="http://docs.cloudfoundry.org/buildpacks/java/sts.html">Cloud |
| Foundry Eclipse Tools</a> (CF Tools) is a framework that does |
| exactly that. It is a set of tools that allows developers to |
| easily develop, test, and deploy applications to Cloud Foundry, |
| directly within Eclipse. It has been jointly developed by IBM and |
| Pivotal Software, Inc. Other vendors are more than welcome to |
| contribute to the project. |
| </p> |
| <p> |
| The CF Tools are an open source project built on top of the <a |
| target="_blank" href="https://eclipse.org/webtools/">Eclipse Web |
| Tools Platform</a> (WTP). It allows adopters to quickly |
| implement a server type to interact with a Cloud Foundry server. |
| There are a couple of vendor specific implementations already |
| available in the Eclipse marketplace, e.g. <a target="_blank" |
| href="http://marketplace.eclipse.org/content/ibm-eclipse-tools-bluemix">IBM |
| Eclipse Tools for Bluemix</a>, <a target="_blank" |
| href="http://marketplace.eclipse.org/content/cloud-foundry-integration-eclipse">Cloud |
| Foundry Integration for Eclipse</a> and <a target="_blank" |
| href="http://marketplace.eclipse.org/content/hp-helion-development-platform-eclipse-plugin">HP |
| Helion Development Platform Eclipse Plugin</a>. The framework |
| runs on a wide range of Eclipse versions from Indigo to the latest |
| Luna version. |
| </p> |
| |
| <p> |
| <a |
| href="/community/eclipse_newsletter/2015/april/images/article2.1.png"><img |
| src="/community/eclipse_newsletter/2015/april/images/article2.1.png" |
| alt="" /></a> |
| </p> |
| <br /> |
| |
| <h2>Functions Provided by the CF Tools</h2> |
| <p>Here are some highlighted functions provided by CF Tools using |
| IBM Eclipse Tools for Bluemix as a case study:</p> |
| <h3>Installation</h3> |
| <p>Most of the vendor specific implementations are available on the |
| Eclipse marketplace. You can do a search on the Eclipse |
| marketplace and install the server support of your choice by using |
| the menu item Help > Eclipse Marketplace.</p> |
| |
| <p> |
| <a |
| href="/community/eclipse_newsletter/2015/april/images/article2.2.png"><img |
| src="/community/eclipse_newsletter/2015/april/images/article2.2.png" |
| alt="" /></a> |
| </p> |
| <br /> |
| |
| <h3>Server creation</h3> |
| <p> |
| In order to interact with a Cloud Foundry server, the first thing |
| that you need to do is to create a new server. Similar to other |
| WTP server types, you can create a server by selecting the menu <b>File |
| > New > Other > Server</b> and selecting the server of your |
| choice, e.g. <b>IBM > IBM Bluemix</b>. In the server creation |
| wizard, the user can specify the connection information for the |
| tools to connect to a Cloud Foundry server. The user can then |
| choose the organization and space for publishing the user |
| applications. |
| </p> |
| <p> |
| <a |
| href="/community/eclipse_newsletter/2015/april/images/article2.3.png"><img |
| src="/community/eclipse_newsletter/2015/april/images/article2.3.png" |
| alt="" /></a> |
| </p> |
| <br /> |
| |
| <h3>Servers view integration</h3> |
| <p>After the server has been created, you can find the server on the |
| Servers view and the list of applications that are installed on |
| the server, including the ones that are installed outside of the |
| Tools.</p> |
| <p> |
| <a |
| href="/community/eclipse_newsletter/2015/april/images/article2.4.png"><img |
| src="/community/eclipse_newsletter/2015/april/images/article2.4.png" |
| alt="" /></a> |
| </p> |
| <br /> |
| |
| <h3>Application deployment and management</h3> |
| <p> |
| The CF Tools framework allows you to easily deploy applications to |
| CF servers (e.g. WAR). To deploy an application, you can right |
| click on the server from the Servers view and select the menu <b>Add |
| and Remove</b> to add the application to the server. During the |
| application deployment, you can specify the related deployment |
| information, e.g. service bindings, environment variables and |
| application URL. The Tools also provide a <b>Save to manifest file</b> |
| option that saves the deployment information in the manifest.yml |
| file for the application. The information saved in the manifest |
| file will be prefilled in the deployment dialog when deploying the |
| application again. |
| </p> |
| <p> |
| <a |
| href="/community/eclipse_newsletter/2015/april/images/article2.5.png"><img |
| src="/community/eclipse_newsletter/2015/april/images/article2.5.png" |
| alt="" /></a> |
| </p> |
| <br /> |
| |
| <p>You can also update the application during your development |
| without restaging the application.</p> |
| |
| <h3>Server editor</h3> |
| <p>The server editor is one of the key features of the CF Tools |
| framework. It allows you to view and configure server connection |
| information, application and instance information, application |
| environment variables, and control applications. It also allows |
| you to manage and bind services to the application, etc.</p> |
| <p> |
| <a |
| href="/community/eclipse_newsletter/2015/april/images/article2.6.png"><img |
| src="/community/eclipse_newsletter/2015/april/images/article2.6.png" |
| alt="" /></a> |
| </p> |
| <br /> |
| |
| <p>It also allows you to query and create new services on the fly.</p> |
| <p> |
| <a |
| href="/community/eclipse_newsletter/2015/april/images/article2.7.png"><img |
| src="/community/eclipse_newsletter/2015/april/images/article2.7.png" |
| alt="" /></a> |
| </p> |
| <br /> |
| |
| <h3>Remote System View</h3> |
| <p>The Tools integrate with the Eclipse Remote System view to show |
| the files on the deployed instance in the cloud. You can click on |
| the Remote System View link in the server configuration editor to |
| view the application artifacts deployed on the instance running in |
| the cloud.</p> |
| |
| <h3>Application Debug</h3> |
| <p>Application development will be difficult without the ability to |
| debug an application. The framework also provide functions to |
| allow you to debug java applications running in the Cloud.</p> |
| |
| <h3>Extensions and APIs</h3> |
| <p>In terms of extensibility, the CF Tools framework also provides |
| extensions and APIs for adopters to provide vendor specific |
| implementations.</p> |
| |
| <h3>Branding extension</h3> |
| <p>The branding extension point |
| org.cloudfoundry.ide.eclipse.server.core.branding allows adopters |
| to customize products to provide any needed fit and finish, e.g. |
| default cloud foundry URL, account sign up URL, wizard icons and |
| labels, etc.</p> |
| |
| |
| <p> |
| <a |
| href="/community/eclipse_newsletter/2015/april/images/article2.8.png"><img |
| src="/community/eclipse_newsletter/2015/april/images/article2.8.png" |
| alt="" /></a> |
| </p> |
| <br /> |
| |
| <h3>Application Extension</h3> |
| <p>Application extension point |
| org.cloudfoundry.ide.eclipse.server.core.application allows |
| adopters to define different supported application types that are |
| unique to the adopter’s cloud foundry server implementation. |
| Combined with the publishing implementation in the WTP server |
| extension |
| org.eclipse.wst.server.core.model.ServerBehaviourDelegate, the |
| adopter can publish different types of applications seamlessly |
| using the same user interfaces. For example, in the IBM Eclipse |
| Tools for Bluemix, the Tools has implemented the application |
| publish support for the Liberty packaged server and the JavaScript |
| applications.</p> |
| |
| <h3>Application Wizard Extension</h3> |
| <p>Adopters can also customize the deployment dialog by implementing |
| the extension point |
| org.cloudfoundry.ide.eclipse.server.ui.applicationWizard if they |
| need extra information specified when deploying their new |
| application type.</p> |
| |
| <h2>Summary</h2> |
| <p>In this article, we have covered the highlights of the functions |
| and extensions provided by the Cloud Foundry Eclipse Tools. As an |
| application developer, you can enjoy the ease of use of the Tools |
| to help you to develop your applications in Eclipse and run them |
| on a Cloud Foundry server. As a vendor specific provider, when |
| combined with the rich set of extensions from WTP, adopters can |
| provide even more functions as needed, such as incremental publish |
| on Java applications in Bluemix. The sky is the limit! Download |
| one of the extensions and try it yourself.</p> |
| |
| |
| <div class="bottomitem"> |
| <h3>About the Authors</h3> |
| |
| <div class="row"> |
| <div class="col-sm-12"> |
| <div class="row"> |
| <div class="col-sm-8"> |
| <img class="author-picture" |
| src="/community/eclipse_newsletter/2015/april/images/yuen.jpg" |
| width="90" alt="yuen" /> |
| </div> |
| <div class="col-sm-16"> |
| <p class="author-name"> |
| Elson Yuen<br /> |
| <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ibm.com/ca/en/">IBM Canada |
| Ltd.</a> |
| </p> |
| <ul class="author-link"> |
| <!--<li><a target="_blank" href="">Blog</a></li> |
| <li><a target="_blank" href=""></a></li> |
| <li><a target="_blank" href=""></a></li> |
| $og--> |
| </ul> |
| </div> |
| </div> |
| </div> |
| </div> |
| </div> |
| |
