vaadin-framework/documentation/getting-started/getting-started-eclipse.asciidoc

---
title: Vaadin Plugin for Eclipse
order: 4
layout: page
---

[[getting-started.eclipse]]
= Vaadin Plugin for Eclipse

If you are using the Eclipse IDE, using the Vaadin Plugin for Eclipse helps
greatly. The plugin includes wizards for creating new Vaadin-based projects,
themes, and client-side widgets and widget sets. Notice that you can also create
Vaadin projects as Maven projects in Eclipse.

[[getting-started.eclipse.vaadin-plugin]]
== Installing the Vaadin Plugin

You can install the plugin as follows:

. Select "Help > Install New Software...".

. Add the Vaadin plugin update site by clicking [guibutton]#Add...# button.

+
image::img/plugin-install-addsite.png[]

+
Enter a name such as "Vaadin Update Site" and the URL of the update site:
http://vaadin.com/eclipse. If you want or need to use the latest unstable
plugin, which is usually more compatible with development and beta releases of
Vaadin, you can use http://vaadin.com/eclipse/experimental and give it a
distinctive name such as "Vaadin Experimental Site". Then click [guibutton]#OK#.
The Vaadin site should now appear in the [guilabel]#Available Software# window.

. Currently, if using the stable plugin, the [guilabel]#Group items by category# should be enabled. If using the experimental plugin, it should be disabled. This may change in future.
. Select all the Vaadin plugins in the tree.

+
image::img/plugin-install-available.png[]

+
Then, click [guibutton]#Next#.

. Review the installation details and click [guibutton]#Next#.

. Accept or unaccept the license. Finally, click [guibutton]#Finish#.

. After the plugin is installed, Eclipse will ask to restart itself. Click
[guibutton]#Restart#.


More installation instructions for the Eclipse plugin can be found at
http://vaadin.com/eclipse.


[[getting-started.eclipse.update]]
== Updating the Plugins

If you have automatic updates enabled in Eclipse (see "Window > Preferences >
Install/Update > Automatic Updates"), the Vaadin plugin will be updated
automatically along with other plugins. Otherwise, you can update the Vaadin
plugin manually as follows:

. Select "Help > Check for Updates". Eclipse will contact the update sites of the
installed software.

. After the updates are installed, Eclipse will ask to restart itself. Click
[guibutton]#Restart#.


Notice that updating the Vaadin plugin updates only the plugin and __not__ the
Vaadin libraries, which are project specific. See below for instructions for
updating the libraries.


[[getting-started.eclipse.libraryupdate]]
== Updating the Vaadin Libraries

Updating the Vaadin plugin does not update Vaadin libraries. The libraries are
project specific, as a different version might be required for different
projects, so you have to update them separately for each project.

. Open the [filename]#ivy.xml# in an editor in Eclipse.

. Edit the entity definition at the beginning of the file to set the Vaadin
version.


+
[subs="normal"]
----
<!ENTITY vaadin.version "**7.x.x**">
----
+
You can specify either a fixed version number, as shown in the above example, or
a dynamic revision tag such as [literal]#++latest.release++#. You can find more
information about the dependency declarations in Ivy documentation.

. Right-click the project and select "Ivy > Resolve".

+
Updating the libraries can take several minutes. You can see the progress in the
Eclipse status bar. You can get more details about the progress by clicking the
indicator.

. If you have compiled the widget set for your project, recompile it by clicking
the [guibutton]#Compile Vaadin widgets# button in Eclipse toolbar.

. Stop the integrated Tomcat (or other server) in Eclipse, clear its caches by
right-clicking the server and selecting Clean as well as Clean Tomcat Work
Directory, and restart it.


If you experience problems after updating the libraries, you can try clearing
the Ivy resolution caches by right-clicking the project and selecting "Ivy >
Clean all caches". Then, do the "Ivy > Resolve" and other tasks again.