Sysdeo Eclipse Tomcat Launcher plugin

http://www.eclipsetotale.com/tomcatPlugin.html

Sysdeo Eclipse Tomcat Launcher plugin

Download Installation Documentation Troubleshooting

 

 

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'

Version	File	Date	Comment
3.3.1	tomcatPluginV331.zip	21 June 2014	releaseNotesV331.txt Works with Eclipse 4.4
3.3	tomcatPluginV33.zip	20 January 2011	releaseNotesV33.txt Works with Eclipse 3.1 to 4.3 Add Tomcat 7 support
3.2.1	tomcatPluginV321.zip	10 May 2007	releaseNotesV321.txt Works with Eclipse 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 3.5 and 3.6 Fix a problem with HTTPS For a better Maven support have a look to this page
3.2	tomcatPluginV32.zip	13 April 2007	releaseNotesV32.txt Works with Eclipse 3.1, 3.2 and 3.3M6 Tomcat 6 support added
3.2 beta3	tomcatPluginV32beta3.zip	20 November 2006	releaseNotesV32beta3.txt Works with Eclipse 3.2 and Eclipse 3.1 Tomcat 6 support added
3.2 beta2	tomcatPluginV32beta2.zip	25 October 2006	releaseNotesV32beta2.txt Works with Eclipse 3.2 and Eclipse 3.1 Tomcat 6 support added
3.1	tomcatPluginV31.zip	15 September 2005	releaseNotesV31.txt Works with Eclipse 3.0 and Eclipse 3.1 (fix a problem with Eclipse 3.1M6)
3.0	tomcatPluginV3.zip	27 July 2004	releaseNotesV3.txt Works with Eclipse 3.0 and Eclipse 2.1
2.2.1	tomcatPluginV221.zip	1er August 2003	releaseNotesV211beta.txt Works with Eclipse 2.1 and Eclipse 3.0 M2

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

Tomcat Version	File	Date
4.1.24	jasperDebugPatchV4.1.24.zip	1 April 2003

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 (seehttp://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)