Problems in Installation of Blackberry JDE Plugin for Eclipse

Question

I am having issues installing the BlackBerry JDE plugin. I have downloaded and installed the plugin from the BlackBerry site. The installation ran smoothly and completed. However when I open Eclipse the option for BlackBerry is not showing.

I don't know what the problem is exactly. I tried many things but I am heading nowhere. I want to know how to add the plugin and get started on BlackBerry development.

Answer 1

The default download of the BlackBerry Java Plug-in for Eclipse is a combination of Eclipse and the BlackBerry Eclipse plugin. For version 1.3 and 1.5, the install directory will contain a full Eclipse Helios installation, along with the BlackBerry plugin. You should start eclipse from that directory.

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From the download page, one of the new features for version 1.5 is:

Ability to download and install the BlackBerry Plug-in into an existing Eclipse environment by providing the BlackBerry Plug-in through an Eclipse update site.

So to take advantage of that, follow the instructions on "BlackBerry Java Plug-in for Eclipse Update Site" which explain how to add the site to your existing Eclipse setup, and then install the plugin from the site.

Answer 2

There are 2 options, as noted above.

The blackberry way: you download the full plugin (the name is misleading, since it's a full eclipse install including the plugin) from here.

The eclipse way: you install a 32-bit Java 6 SDK (64-bit is not supported and Java 7 has known problems with the code signing tool), then download the 32-bit Eclipse (I use version 3.7 "Indigo"), and install the plugin from Eclipse (Menu Help->Install new software, type the url "http://www.blackberry.com/go/eclipseupdate/3.6/java" inside the "Work with" box, then you need to select the plugin and at least a Blackberry SDK from the list)

If everything works, you should see the blackberry icon in the "About" box.

You should also see a Blackberry perspective (under Window->Open Perspective), a Blackberry menu item under "Project"), and a Blackberry section if you create a new project.

There is no such thing as a "Blackberry tab". The Blackberry development tools are integrated with the environment.