Eclipse Integration
yWorks Ant Explorer is available as a plugin for the popular Java IDE Eclipse. It supports both the visualization and execution of Ant build scripts.
Installation
You can install the plugin by using Eclipse’s integrated Update Manager, which is available via the menu items “Help” – “Software Updates” – “Find and Install.”
A “New Remote Site” with URL “http://www.yworks.com/eclipse/update” has to be created.
Alternatively, the Jar archive containing the Eclipse plugin can be directly downloaded and extracted into the respective directory (normally, %ECLIPSE_HOME% or ${user.home}/.eclipse).
Usage
The views of yWorks Ant Explorer are opened whenever the visualization of an Ant build script is started via its menu item from the “Package Explorer.”
Furthermore, the views are automatically updated whenever they are visible and an Ant build script is opened inside the editor view.
The visualization view comprises two parts; one view holds the graph that displays dependencies between targets, whilst the other view displays the properties. Edges between properties denote that they are being used in other properties.
Further information for each view can be found in our documentation.
Restrictions
- Build processes are executed inside the same JVM that runs Eclipse.
This can lead to side effects, for example regarding the class path or open file handles, etc.
For problematic build scripts, we recommend that you use the yWorks Ant Explorer stand-alone version instead. - “Unesthetic” Icons
Unfortunately, Eclipse Version 3.0.1 cannot render transparent PNGs in the menu bar. Lower-quality GIFs are used to replace them.