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Installing And Configuring Eclipse Plugins

Overview​

The purpose of this tutorial is to install the Enactor Tools, which is an Eclipse plugin. Please ensure you have completed the pre-requisites before starting this tutorial.

note

The following guide has been written with Microsoft Windows as the base operating system. As a result, some references to application options and screenshots may differ if you use a different operating system.

What You Will Learn​

  • How to install the Enactor Tools
  • How to configure Eclipse to support Enactor development

Prerequisites​

Java​

Java JDK 11 LTS https://adoptium.net/en-GB/temurin/releases/?version=11

MariaDB​

Maria DB 10.9.7 https://mariadb.org/

For this documentation you should use the following configuration:

  • Database with schema name of enactorem
  • A root user with a password of enactor is needed
  • Ensure a character set of UTF8 is used

Eclipse​

If Your Workspace Platform Version is TRUNK-SNAPSHOT, 2.7-SNAPSHOT or above 2.7.1615 (i.e Compiler Compliance Level of the Projects is Java 1.8)
Download :Eclipse 2025-09

For Other Platform Versions (i.e Compiler Compliance Level of the Projects is Java 1.7)
Download :Eclipse 2024-06

Eclipse Application Configuration​

Required Eclipse Changes​

  • Due to changes in the newer versions of the Java Virtual Machine that prevent JAXB from using reflection, following change need to be done in the eclipse.ini configuration file

Ensure that you have exited the Eclipse application.Navigate to the eclipse installation directory and select to edit the Eclipse.ini configuration file eg. C:\Users\[USER_NAME]\eclipse\[ECLIPSE_VERSION]\eclipse

--add-opens=java.base/java.lang=ALL-UNNAMED
  • Due to an Eclipse update, the following ensures the Enactor Tools plugin does not attempt to access its preferences before they have been initialised, the existing -Dosgi.dataAreaRequiresExplicitInit argument value should be updated to false in the same eclipse.ini file
-Dosgi.dataAreaRequiresExplicitInit=false
  • If you are using a Linux with the Wayland Display Server and have issues with the Enactor Tools not working properly, you can force Eclipse to use X11 as a GDK backend by using a script to launch Eclipse and adding export GDK_BACKEND=x11 to it:
#/bin/bash
export GDK_BACKEND=x11
./eclipse "$@"

On HiDPI screens it may also be necessary to define the UI scale and DPI in this script, for example export GDK_SCALE=2 and export GDK_DPI_SCALE=0.5.

  • If your Eclipse Version is 2025-09

    • Eclipse 2025-09 has an issue with per-monitor DPI scaling on windows UI Scaling Issue in Windows

      • Windows users should apply below settings to resolve it

        1. Window -> Preferences -> General -> Appearence
        2. Disable the Use monitor-specific UI scaling checkbox

    • Eclipse 2025-09 has an issue with tm.terminal package Missing TM Terminal dependencies

      • Follow these steps to downgrade to a stable Terminal version

        1. Disable Update Sites

          • Window -> Preferences -> search Available Software Sites.

          • Untick Latest Eclipse IDE Packages Release and Latest Eclipse Simultaneous Release.

          DisableAvailableSites

          • Click Apply and Close.

        2. Uninstall Current Terminal

          • Help -> Install New Software -> click the already installed link.

          • Search for TM Terminal, select the TM Terminal entry, and click Uninstall.

          UninstallCurrentTerminal

          • Restart Eclipse.

        3. Reinstall Stable Version

          • Help -> Install New Software -> Add.

          Name: TM Terminal
          Location: https://download.eclipse.org/releases/2025-06

          ReinstallStableVersion

          • Untick "Contact all update sites during install to find required software".

          ContactAllUpdateSites

          • Expand General Purpose Tools, check TM Terminal, and complete the installation.

          SelectTMTerminal

          • Restart Eclipse.

          • Finally, go to Window -> Preferences -> Available Software Sites and tick the checkboxes that were unticked in Step 1.

  • If your Eclipse Version is 2024-06

    • Eclipse 2024-06 has an issue with inbuilt M2Eclipse2.6.1 plugin

      • Update the plugin to latest version with below steps.

        1. Help -> Install New Software -> Add

          Name : M2Eclipse2.11.0
          Location Eclipse software repository, The Eclipse Foundation Eclipse
          Install and restart eclipse. If you have already imported maven projects, Right Click → Maven → Update Project

        2. Restart Eclipse for the changes to take effect.

Optional Eclipse Changes​
  • Eclipse can be given more RAM if the host machine has the capacity.To do this, update the values for the argument -Xms and -Xmx in the eclipse.ini
-Xms512m
-Xmx4096m

Restart Eclipse for the changes to take effect.

Enactor Tools Plugin Installation​

Launch the Eclipse application, when prompted for a workspace enter the following path C:\Development

Launch Eclipse Development Dir Workspace

Click the Launch button

To install the Enactor Tools plugin, Open the Install New Software wizard by selecting the Help Menu → Install New Software

Select Install New Software

Click the Add... button.

Install New Software Dialoge

Enter the name Enactor Tools in the Name text box

Enter one of the following URLs in the Location text box;

Add Enactor Tools Repository Details

Click the Add button

Enter your Enactor Active Directory Credentials.

Enter Active Directory Credencials

Click the OK button

Select the Enactor Tools plugin entry and click the Next... button

Select All Enactor Tool Kit Plugins

Complete the installation and allow Eclipse to restart.

note

  • Dismiss any errors/warnings regarding the Enactor Tools licence.

  • If there are any problems connecting to the Enactor Tools site over HTTP using Eclipse, it is possible to download a zip file of the update site from https://dev.enactor.co.uk/tools/ and manually add it to Eclipse from your local machine. For instructions on manually installing an Eclipse plugin, follow the instructions here.

Licence​

After the installation of Enactor tools, Eclipse will restart with a warning due to the absence of an installed licence. This is the Enactor Developer Licence required for the use of the Enactor Toolset, as distinct from the Enactor Runtime Licence required for the execution of Enactor Applications in the implementation environment.

If you have not already received an Enactor Tools Licence, please contact the Enactor Support Team to request one. Note that you will be requested to provide a serial number for your product installation. You can obtain this from the Licence Information option of the Eclipse Help menu as shown following:

Select Resource

Select Resource

This panel also provides the means to install the new licence. After selecting the Install New Licence browse to the location where you have stored the Enactor Tools Development Licence file you have been provided.