Working with Eclipse under Windows

This is a crash course on using the open-source Eclipse environment under Windows. It assumes a reader who

• wants to develop in C++ or for Blackberry, not straight Java
• is familiar with some Windows IDE, like a Visual Studio
• is not well-versed in Eclipse 

Installation

The modern installation of Eclipse for C++ is relatively trivial, just use the project Europa: http://www.eclipse.org/downloads/moreinfo/c.php. See the Gotchas section for minor tricks if things do not work out smoothly.

At the very least, the following packages need to be installed before Eclipse

• JRE from Sun
• Cygwin gcc/gdb from http://www.cygwin.com/setup.exe . Select fast hosts for installation (*.gov and kernel.org work well for me in the US), install stuff from Base and Devel sections. Install Cygwin into a directory that does not contain spaces in the name (\cygw works for me). Add this directory to PATH environment variable - otherwise Eclipse will not find the tools.

Gotchas

The following is a list of minor problems (but major annoyances) that I have encountered using Eclipse:

• Linker is unable to locate "WinMain@16". Solution is truly magical: Change your main() function return value type to "int" ☺.
• GDB session cannot be established. Solution: Add c:\cygw\bin to PATH in Windows.
• Eclipse cannot locate the source code. Solution: Add path mapping.
• Error message: *** target pattern contains no `%' is caused by a totally braindamaged "fix" (excluding colons from pathnames for no other apparent reason but the maintainer's dislike of Microsoft) in the recent Cygwin make code. Solution: Replace the broken Cygwin file with a precompiled older version www.cmake.org/files/cygwin/make.exe  instead.

Perspectives

All IDEs use multiple window configurations for different tasks, like editing and debugging. In Eclipse, this process is made explicit via "perspectives" - stored window configuration layouts. Eclipse likes to ask questions if it is OK to change to a new perspective - in my experience, answer shall always be "yes". The perspectives can be switched via a selector in the top right corner of the IDE. So, if you are wondering where all your editing screens have gone after a debugging session, don't worry - they are only a click away ☺.

Managing Projects

An idea of a project in Eclipse is quite different from other IDEs. For example, it prefers the source files to be in the directory tree maintained by Eclipse. Unfortunately, the C/C++ projects apparently go somewhat against the grain of "sea of classes" in Java and therefore are hard to graft onto primarily Java-oriented culture of core Eclipse developers. Some tips:

• Adding existing source files from non-Eclipse directories: You can add files or folder from any location using links. To add a folder, just right-click on your project->New->Folder, click on the advanced button on the bottom, enable "Link to folder in the filesystem" and select the folder you want to add. If you want to add just a file, right-click your project->New->File ..., etc. The files/folders you added this way will be marked by a little arrow (like windows shortcuts).
• Importing a makefile:
  •  Create a C - Makefile project (assuming the working dir of the make is the project root folder)
  •  Change the project properties:
    •  Go to the C/C++ Build - Builder settings and uncheck "use default build command"
    •  Add the command line (without the target to build) that calls your make, e.g. c:\make\make -f makefile.mak -k
    •  Go to the Behaviour tab and add your targets for running an incremental build, clean build and compile build (make sure "Build (Incremental Build)" is checked. Otherwise the build cannot be started at all.
  • If everything is configured properly you can now run the make by executing the menu entry Project -> Build Project
• Adding a library appears to be only possible via the project properties
• Adding object files can only be done via "Other objects" in Linker Build settings

Developing with Eclipse for BlackBerry

Setup:

1. Download the "Full Installer" from http://na.blackberry.com/eng/developers/javaappdev/javaeclipseplug.jsp
2. Follow the video, http://www.blackberry.com/DevMediaLibrary/view.do?name=eclipseJDE
3. If, contrary to the video, the only non-grayed item under "Blackberry" will be "Install signature keys":
   • Don't try to obtain and install the keys - you most likely do not need them
   • Instead, create a Blackberry project (File->New->Project->Blackberry)
   • Now the things will magically start to work