Sysdeo Eclipse Tomcat Launcher plugin

Plugin features

• Starting and stopping Tomcat 4.x, 5.x, 6.x, 7.x

• Registering Tomcat process to Eclipse debugger

• Creating a WAR project (wizard can update server.xml file)

• Adding Java Projects to Tomcat classpath

• Setting Tomcat JVM parameters, classpath and bootclasspath

• Exporting a Tomcat project to a WAR File

• Capability to use a custom Tomcat classloader to load classes in several java projects at the same classloader level than classes in a Tomcat project, see readmeDevLoader.html (Thanks Martin Kahr)

Support and contributions

Contact plugintomcat@eclipsetotale.com

Download

This plugin is free and open-source

Warning : installing plugins on Windows 7 can fail without error message, see this article for more information and workarounds : 'Eclipse Plugin Installation and Windows User Access Control'

Tomcat 4.x patch for JSP debugging (Thanks to Johan Compagner)

To install this patch, unzip the file in <%TOMCAT_HOME%>/classes for tomcat 4.0x, or in <%TOMCAT_HOME%>/common/classes for Tomcat 4.1.x

Installation

• This plugin does not contain Tomcat.
  (Download and install Tomcat before using this plugin).
  This is a design choice not to include Tomcat in the plugin distribution, this way the same plugin version can works with any Tomcat version.
  

• Download tomcatPluginVxxx.zip

• Unzip it in :
  - Eclipse_Home/dropins for Eclipse 3.4, 3.5 and 3.6
  - Eclipse_Home/plugins for Eclipse 2.1, 3.0, 3.1, 3.2 and 3.3
  

• Plugin activation for Eclipse 3.x :
  - launch eclipse once using this option : -clean
  - if Tomcat icons are not shown in toolbar : select menu 'Window>Customize Perspective...>Commands', and check 'Tomcat' in 'Available command groups'
  

• Set Tomcat version and Tomcat home : Workbench -> Preferences, select Tomcat and set Tomcat version and Tomcat home (Tomcat version and Tomcat home are the only required fields, other settings are there for advanced configuration).

• This plugin launches Tomcat using the default JRE checked in Eclipe preferences window.
  To set a JDK as default JRE for Eclipse open the preference window : Window -> Preferences -> Java -> Installed JREs.
  This JRE must be a JDK (This is a Tomcat prerequisite).
  

• The plugin sets itself Tomcat classpath and bootclasspath. Use Preferences -> Tomcat ->JVM Settings, only if you need specific settings.

Documentation and tutorials

Official documation (french) : http://www.eclipsetotale.com/articles/tomcat/tomcatPluginDocFR.html

Tutorials (english) :

• The Power of Three - Eclipse, Tomcat, and Struts

• Tomcat Tutorial: HelloWorld for Complete Fools

Troubleshooting

• Installing plugins on Windows 7 can fail without warning, see this article for more information and workarounds : 'Eclipse Plugin Installation and Windows User Access Control'

• In some case, despite it is correctly unzipped in Eclipse 3 'plugins' directory, the plugin is not loaded : run Eclipse with the -clean option to solve the problem.

• ClassNotFound when using DevLoader and launching Tomcat 5.5.12 and above
  Workaround : set context definition mode (Preferences->Tomcat) to 'Context files'.
  Explanations :
  This problem is due to a change in Tomcat 5.5.12 and above (see http://issues.apache.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=37302 ,
  We hope this bug will be fix but it seems that Tomcat developers don't care about it because it happens when a context containing its own loader is defined in server.xml file and since Tomcat 5 defining context in server.xml is not recommended)
  

• ClassNotFoundException on javac/Main when accessing JSP : Tomcat is started with a JRE instead of a JDK.

• If you have a problem with the plugin check eclipse log file (<%Your_Workspace_dir%>/.metadata/.log)

If you have any problem with this plugin send an email to plugintomcat@eclipsetotale.com .
(Select this button : Preferences->Tomcat->JVM Settings->Dump configuration to .log file, and include in your email the corresponding lines of your .log file, it is in <%Your_Workspace_dir%>/.metadata)