 | Level: Intermediate Trebor Fenstermaker (tcf@sunnysideave.com), Software Consultant, Sunnyside Avenue Software, LLC
07 Mar 2006 Although most users think of Eclipse as an Integrated Development Environment (IDE) for building Java applications, it is really something much more basic. Eclipse is a framework for building plug-ins, allowing any developer to extend its functionality to solve nearly any problem, just by leveraging a set of APIs and readily available libraries. In this four-part "Create an Eclipse game plug-in" tutorial series, you will solve a pressing problem most programmers encounter daily: how to break away to play a quick video game without switching applications and making it obvious. You will also learn the Eclipse plug-in architecture and learn how to define your own plug-in, develop an interface using SWT, and create code that interacts with other Eclipse resources.
In this tutorial
Here in Part 1, you will be introduced to the Eclipse plug-in architecture and learn how to define your own plug-in using the Eclipse tool itself. You will also begin to leverage the SWT to develop a simple user interface for your plug-in. You'll also create code to demonstrate how to interact with other Eclipse resources -- in this case, the Task List. By the end, you will have a good framework for which to build a simple breakout video game that will work directly in Eclipse; you will add that functionality in the remaining tutorials.
Prerequisites
See System requirements below.
System requirements
You will need Eclipse V3.2, and a Java compiler and interpreter, V1.4 or higher.
Duration
Under two hours
Formats html, pdf
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