The Symphony plug-in for Eclipse facilitates the software development cycle for Symphony applications. It provides Java code generation capabilities as well as service and application management tools for the Eclipse IDE.
The plug-in eases the task of application coding where client and service code must be written or adapted for the Symphony API. The plug-in automates some of the coding effort, thereby reducing or eliminating errors. Once the Java project wizard has created a framework of generated code, all you need to do is add the application logic.
The automation introduced by the plug-in extends to the creation and maintenance of Symphony applications. For example, the tasks of deploying a service or updating an application profile is simplified through the Symphony DE Platform Management Console (PMC), which is tightly integrated to the Eclipse environment. Depending on what type of Symphony operation you want to perform, the appropriate screen is presented to guide you through the operation.
The plug-in also features extensive online documentation to support your Symphony programming activities such as informative comments in the generated code, the Symphony Java API reference documentation, and a tutorial.
This section describes the steps for installing the Symphony plug-in into the Eclipse IDE.
The New Project wizard generates Java client, I/O message, and service code based on the information provided through the GUI screens. The result is a framework of generated code that can either be incorporated into your code or used as a basis for your application. Once your service code is complete, you can deploy it to the DE environment using the plug-in’s Symphony Service Packing Utility.
To launch the wizard, select from the Eclipse menu. You can create either a blank project or a project with generated code.
The following paragraphs describe the major steps in the flow of the New Project wizard (with generated code).
In this initial step, you provide the name of your application and Java package name for the generated classes. If you do not enter a package name, the wizard generates the code in the default namespace.
If you decide to change the application name after you have generated the code with the project wizard, the CodeGen icon on the Eclipse toolbar provides a dialog where you can change it.
In this step, you assign names to your client and service classes, and define whether your client will receive messages synchronously or asynchronously.
This is where you define the messages that will be used within your application, e.g., input and output message classes. If you already have a class that is serializable then you can include it as an element of this message. If you include a serializable class that doesn't exist, you will need to add the class to the project before compiling it.
In addition to client and service code generation, the plug-in supports a number of operations integral to the creation and maintenance of Symphony applications. Most of these operations are performed via the Symphony DE PMC, which is automatically launched when the applicable operation is selected. To access Symphony operations from Eclipse, select
from the menu.The Symphony Service Packaging Utility facilitates service package creation and deployment into the Symphony DE environment. Once you have entered the service class name, package name, and package path, and included the necessary file(s), you can invoke the utility to create and validate the service package. If you already have an application profile for this service, the utility can also deploy the service for you.
The Symphony DE PMC enables you to add a Symphony application to the DE environment by using either an existing application profile or creating a new application profile with basic settings. Once your application is set up, it is automatically registered with Symphony.
The Symphony DE PMC features an application profile editor for most basic and advanced configuration. Once updated, the application profile can overwrite an existing profile or be exported to a file.
For most basic application settings, you can edit the application profile directly with the Symphony DE PMC. However, there are some settings that cannot be edited by the GUI. In these cases, you must export the application profile and use an XML or text editor to edit the profile, then import it back to the application, i.e., re-register the application.
This feature allows you to view session and task status, application properties, and application profile via the Symphony DE PMC.
The service replay debugger allows you to replay actual events that occurred in your service instance when you ran your application in Symphony DE. This feature provides a debugger to step through the service code and find any errors in your service logic or in the environment.
Selecting this operation from the Eclipse menu launches the application profile editor in the Symphony DE PMC. Select Advanced Configuration from the dropdown list. You can then configure debug settings in the Error Handling section of the GUI. Refer to the Service Replay Debugger feature reference for further details.
When the plug-in is installed, it connects to the Symphony DE PMC through the default port specified in the vem_resources.conf file. Should the port be reconfigured in the file, you must specify the new port via the Platform Management Console icon on the Eclipse toolbar.