I recently upgraded to Eclipse PDT Indigo. It was exciting and stuff. The download size has also been completely slashed – from approx 120mb to 89.2mb, so that makes me happy. It was remarkably easy to install and import my existing projects and stuff (I started a new workspace, rather than re-using the existing one). My first problem I ran into was trying to install the Mylyn Context Connector (that gives you task-focused Navigator view etc.), it was moaning about org.eclipse.cvs.feature.group being missing. The solution, although not immediately obvious, is to actually add the Indigo Update site… which is not included in the default PDT install (!). I think this is one of the reasons the PDT Indigo download is much smaller though…
- Help > Install New Software…
- Enter “http://download.eclipse.org/releases/indigo” into the “Work with:” box
- Hit enter… wait while it downloads
- Once it’s downloaded, go back up to the “Work with:” box and choose “Mylyn for Eclipse 3.5, 3.6 and 3.7 – http://download.eclipse.org/mylyn/releases/latest”
- Select “Mylyn Context Connector: Eclipse IDE” from the package list
- Do a little dance
I really wish Eclipse would make installing packages easier. It’s such hassle having to know the update sites for things left right and centre.
This was a bit annoying – basically I did some updates and so on to Eclipse PDT a month or so ago and after I found the comparison editor (e.g. right click two files > Compare With > Each Other, or comparing Git history) had stopped working. It just showed a blank grey screen and nothing worked (e.g. Checking for software updates). I hate fiddling with Eclipse to make it work (I hate Java) so I didn’t bother doing it. But today I really needed it. Thankfully it’s actually a reported bug that has a solution. So you don’t have to trawl through the whole bug report, basically the steps I took to fix it (from the bug) are:
- Go to Help > Install New Software
- Enter http://download.eclipse.org/releases/helios into the “Work with” address
- Wait for it to download the packages list
- Type PHP into the filter text box
- Three packages should appear, incidentally they are all the same at time of writing.
- Check PHP Development Tools (PDT) SDK Feature 2.2.1.v20101001-2300-… (snip)
- Click next and follow the normal installation procedure for packages
This worked for me gladly, and hopefully it’ll work for you if you have the issue, but as I’m no expert with Eclipse-wrangling, I’m afraid I can’t offer any more support on this if it doesn’t work, but good luck, hey?
Just a quickie mainly for my own reference. If you get this message:
The repository returned an unknown project. Please update the repository attributes.
The fix is pretty simple, but is not obvious unless you know it’s there… Just right click the task list query that has the error, go to “Repository” then “Update Repository Configuration”. Not sure why it happens, but it happened to me and this fixed it. Bling.
Eclipse PDT and Zend Studio are really nice editors for general use. Once they’re set up the way you want, they work mostly fine. I have an issue where I type a dollar symbol ($) and the code assist goes off in a wobbly, probably due to the size of the projects we work on at Netbasic, and the fact that we’re all working off a network drive (ridiculous in my opinion…).
The biggest gripe I have with Eclipse however, is trying to install plug-ins. I don’t think I’ve EVER installed a plug-in without having to manually mess around with dependencies and trying to manually resolve them. It’s a HUGE downfall, and makes any Eclipse IDE virtually unusable. It’s intensely annoying when I just want to get on with things, but some bloody plug-in I need (normally the CollabNet/Mylyn plugins) just won’t install without getting in a hissy fit.
Take for example this latest error:
Cannot complete the install because of a conflicting dependency.
Software being installed: Mylyn Task List (Required) 3.2.0.v20090617-0100-e3x (org.eclipse.mylyn_feature.feature.group 3.2.0.v20090617-0100-e3x)
Software currently installed: Zend Studio 7.0.0.v20090806 (com.zend.php.ide 7.0.0.v20090806)
Only one of the following can be installed at once:
Java 5 Compatibility Checker 3.2.0.v20090617-0100-e3x (org.eclipse.mylyn.compatibility 3.2.0.v20090617-0100-e3x)
Java 5 Compatibility Checker 3.2.1.v20090722-0200-e3x (org.eclipse.mylyn.compatibility 3.2.1.v20090722-0200-e3x)
Cannot satisfy dependency:
From: Zend Studio 7.0.0.v20090806 (com.zend.php.ide 7.0.0.v20090806)
To: org.eclipse.mylyn.ide_feature.feature.group [3.2.1.v20090722-0200-e3x]
Cannot satisfy dependency:
From: Mylyn Task-Focused Interface (Recommended) 3.2.1.v20090722-0200-e3x (org.eclipse.mylyn.context_feature.feature.group 3.2.1.v20090722-0200-e3x)
To: org.eclipse.mylyn_feature.feature.group [3.2.1.v20090722-0200-e3x]
Cannot satisfy dependency:
From: Mylyn Bridge: Eclipse IDE 3.2.1.v20090722-0200-e3x (org.eclipse.mylyn.ide_feature.feature.group 3.2.1.v20090722-0200-e3x)
To: org.eclipse.mylyn.team_feature.feature.group [3.2.1.v20090722-0200-e3x]
Cannot satisfy dependency:
From: Mylyn Bridge: Team Support 3.2.1.v20090722-0200-e3x (org.eclipse.mylyn.team_feature.feature.group 3.2.1.v20090722-0200-e3x)
To: org.eclipse.mylyn.context_feature.feature.group [3.2.1.v20090722-0200-e3x]
Cannot satisfy dependency:
From: Mylyn Task List (Required) 3.2.0.v20090617-0100-e3x (org.eclipse.mylyn_feature.feature.group 3.2.0.v20090617-0100-e3x)
To: org.eclipse.mylyn.compatibility [3.2.0.v20090617-0100-e3x]
Cannot satisfy dependency:
From: Mylyn Task List (Required) 3.2.1.v20090722-0200-e3x (org.eclipse.mylyn_feature.feature.group 3.2.1.v20090722-0200-e3x)
To: org.eclipse.mylyn.compatibility [3.2.1.v20090722-0200-e3x]
From what I understand here, I can’t install Mylyn because of a 0.0.1 version difference. Because of two packages that were released within a month of each other?! That – in my opinion – is stupid. I just want to get on with things but I can’t because of this.
I sincerely hope the next version of Eclipse will sort out this stupid dependency issue, as if I was the Eclipse development team, this sort of difficulty-of-use issue would be a real show-stopper. In addition, I have no idea why Zend would base their €399 IDE which is meant to be a “professional-grade” solution to “maximise developer productivity” on such a shoddy, buggy IDE.
I’ve started giving Netbeans for PHP a try, considering everyone is saying how much better it is than Eclipse PDT. So far I’m very impressed at it’s simplicity and ease of use – which for the main tool a programmer uses day in an day out for at least 8 hours, is a very good thing.
However I came across a couple of “issues” or teething problems rather, that thankfully with a short Google (sorry Bing…), I managed to find solutions for…
Read the rest of this entry »
