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Expose plug-ins as Web services with Eclipse

Extend the Eclipse Framework to the server side

Kelvin X. Jiang (kxj1@columbia.edu), Student

Kelvin Jiang is a senior majoring in computer science at Columbia University and is a recent graduate of the Extreme Blue internship program. Kelvin has studied topics ranging from operating systems and databases to econometrics and statistics, and is interested in pursuing a career in business and technology consulting immediately after graduation. During the summer of 2006, Jiang developed a Web service framework for exchanging medical information within the Eclipse Open Healthcare Framework, at the Almaden Research Center in San Jose, California. Prior to working at IBM, he developed user interfaces of flagship Web products, such as Flowgo and MadBlast, and advised advertising clients, such as Sony Ericsson and Chase for eUniverse Inc., a leading Internet content provider in Los Angeles, California. Outside of work, Kelvin is an avid squash player and photographer.

Melih Onvural (monvura@ncsu.edu), Student

Melih Onvural is a senior pursuing a dual bachelor/master's degree in computer science and economics at North Carolina State University and is a recent graduate of the Extreme Blue internship program. He is currently conducting research under the instruction of Dr. Vincent Freeh and is volunteering time as a committer on the Eclipse Open Healthcare Framework project. His interests include coaching soccer, reading historical non-fiction, and maintaining aquariums.

Summary: With the recent development of a Open Services Gateway Initiative (OSGi) server-side implementation, you can now extend traditional Eclipse plug-ins as Web services. Using the Eclipse Equinox Incubator server-side project, an implementation of the OSGi framework that you can deploy on an application server, you can package and dynamically load Eclipse plug-ins in a Web application server. You can expose plug-ins as Web services, and at the same time allow them to interact with other plug-ins that were intended for client-side applications. This tutorial shows how this method unleashes the power of Eclipse Rich Client Platform (RCP) onto the Web.

Date: 08 Dec 2006
Level: Intermediate
PDF: A4 and Letter (698 KB | 20 pages)Get Adobe® Reader®

Activity: 10409 views
Comments:

Before you start

About this tutorial

This tutorial takes Equinox server-side technology and adds Web services ability to create an Eclipse plug-in-based Service Oriented Architecture (SOA). Most people would describe Eclipse as an IDE that simplifies Java-based application development. However, underneath the IDE sits a foundation, known as the Eclipse Rich Client Platform (RCP) layer, that makes the Eclipse platform both extensible and powerful. This layer is developed within the Eclipse Equinox project, which is an instance of the OSGi framework. The layer, through the power of OSGi, also permits the drop-and-restart plug-in installation model. In Eclipse 3.2, the technology that supported the Eclipse RCP layer as a client-side application was developed for the server side. Now Equinox server-side, through the work of the Eclipse Equinox project, allows you to extend the Eclipse framework's power and extensibility beyond client-side applications.

Objectives

This tutorial explains step by step how to transform a "Hello World" Eclipse plug-in to a Web service using Eclipse Equinox and then how to deploy it within Axis.

Prerequisites

Readers are expected to be familiar with Eclipse plug-ins, Web services, and Web application servers (such as Tomcat). The tutorial takes advantage of Eclipse Equinox V3.2 deployed in Apache Tomcat 5.5.x. It also uses Apache Axis 1.x. as the base for the Java Web services. It assumes prior experience with Apache Tomcat, Apache Axis, and the Eclipse development environment (including basic plug-in development). Before you begin, it would be helpful to familiarize yourself with Eclipse Equinox in a server-side environment. You'll find information in the tutorial's Resources section.

System requirements

The only system requirements for this tutorial are a running application server, the Eclipse application, and access to the necessary packages.

Comments

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Before you start
Creating Web services using Eclipse plug-ins and Apache Axis
Conclusion
Downloads
Resources
About the authors

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