Eclipse build tool

[Swerrgy Smith]

Hi all,

I have a newbie question.

Netbeans uses Ant as its internal build tool by default.
Which tool does Eclipse use as its internal build tool?

Thank you.

[Ram anil]

Eclipse uses its own internal compiler (compiles incrementally). If you want to play with compiler version, you can do it in windows-->preference-->java-->compiler

[Swerrgy Smith]

pakka techie wrote:Eclipse uses its own internal compiler (compiles incrementally). If you want to play with compiler version, you can do it in windows-->preference-->java-->compiler

No, I mean the build tool to build JavaEE applications ...

[Tim Holloway]

Swerrgy Smith wrote:

pakka techie wrote:Eclipse uses its own internal compiler (compiles incrementally). If you want to play with compiler version, you can do it in windows-->preference-->java-->compiler

No, I mean the build tool to build JavaEE applications ...

Eclipse does its own builds. At the micro level, there are several auto-wired components, such as the one that compiles Java source to class files. You can also define and add external tools and reference them on the Project Settings dialog.

For really complex builds such as J2EE projects, Eclipse can invoke Ant, or, with proper plugins installed, it can invoke Maven. Actually, given a suitable plugin, it can invoke any build tool you want. Or you can define your "build tool" as an external program or script. Eclipse is a general-purpose framework and isn't interested in forcing you to use any specific way to build.

In fact, Eclipse itself has absolutely no J2EE support built in at all. Whatever J2EE functions you have come from one (or more) of the J2EE support plugins such as MyEclipse or WTP (which is available bundled with some Eclipse distros).

[Swerrgy Smith]

Tim Holloway wrote:

Swerrgy Smith wrote:

pakka techie wrote:Eclipse uses its own internal compiler (compiles incrementally). If you want to play with compiler version, you can do it in windows-->preference-->java-->compiler

No, I mean the build tool to build JavaEE applications ...

Eclipse does its own builds. At the micro level, there are several auto-wired components, such as the one that compiles Java source to class files. You can also define and add external tools and reference them on the Project Settings dialog.

For really complex builds such as J2EE projects, Eclipse can invoke Ant, or, with proper plugins installed, it can invoke Maven. Actually, given a suitable plugin, it can invoke any build tool you want. Or you can define your "build tool" as an external program or script. Eclipse is a general-purpose framework and isn't interested in forcing you to use any specific way to build.

In fact, Eclipse itself has absolutely no J2EE support built in at all. Whatever J2EE functions you have come from one (or more) of the J2EE support plugins such as MyEclipse or WTP (which is available bundled with some Eclipse distros).

Hi Tim,

Do you mean Eclipse use Ant as its default internal build tool for JavaEE projects?
If so, why can't I find file build.xml in a JavaEE project generated by Eclipse (In Netbeans, I get this file everytime I make a new JavaEE project)?

Thank you.

[Bhuvaneswari Suresh]

Tim says "Eclipse does its own builds. At the micro level, there are several auto-wired components, such as the one that compiles Java source to class files. You can also define and add external tools and reference them on the Project Settings dialog."


So, Eclipse uses it own builds by default. If you want to go for Ant as the build tool for the project you configured in Eclipse, you can use Ant or any other. HTH !

~Bhuvana

[Tim Holloway]

And welcome to the JavaRanch, Bhuvaneswari!

Eclipse itself doesn't even do Java, much less J2EE. However, few of us around here use the base distro - we usually use a Java or J2EE distro. These distros have additional plugins to assist in Java support and Java development. There are also third-party plugins such as MyEclipse.

The basic JDK Eclipse distro, which is pretty much universal for all the other Java platform environments, has integrated support for Ant. However it does not automatically use Ant, and it does not have any automatic Ant build.xml generation/maintenance support. It leaves all that up to you (or to any Ant enhancement plugins you may find useful). All the built-in support does is provide dialogs that allow you to set Ant run options for run/debug profiles and have Eclipse launch these profiles to actually run Ant within the Eclipse environment.

One of the principal advantages of Eclipse over many of its competitors is that Eclipse is a general-purpose framework that can then be enhanced in whatever direction suits you. Because it does not come with a built-in agenda, it also doesn't assume that you are going to do things only one way. So when you have specialized needs, you either install a suitable plugin or you handle it yourself. And J2EE is in Eclipse's view, a second-level specialized need, where basic Java support was the first level.