• Introduction to Eclipse
• Creating a project for the JOGRE API
• Creating a project for a JOGRE game
• Creating a project for the JOGRE Server
• Conclusion

Eclipse is a very powerful open source plugin based IDE. The majority of implementation of the JOGRE source code has been done using Eclipse. To download a version of Eclipse click here for a link to their offical website and download a 3+ version.

When you load Eclipse for the first time you may be in the Resource perspective (indicated by a button on the top right hand side of the screen). If this is the case then close all the perspectives (Window - Close all perspectives) and open the Java perspective (Window - Open Perspective - Java). You should now see something like the following screenshot:

The first step required to get stuck into some JOGRE programming is to create a new project.

To start programming in Eclipse on the JOGRE API you first of all must download the JOGRE source code. Click here for a link to the download page and download JOGRE Alpha 0.2.3.

In the next screen the Project name must be set to something like JOGRE API and the location set to where the JOGRE source has been extracted to (e.g. c:\jogre\api). Click Next > again.

The last screen to appear is where you can set your source folder, output folder, projects and classes which are on the classpath. Ensure that the Default output folder box (on the Source tab) is set to JOGRE API/classes as in the following screenshot.

The JOGRE API doesn't have any project/jar file dependancies (apart from the Sun Java JDK) so ensure that the jogre.jar isn't in the build path (on the Libraries tab). You should have a screen like the following. Click the Finish button to complete the creation of the project.

If everything was successful you should see the project on the left hand side of the screen and be able to edit all the files from the JOGRE API.

To create a new project in Eclipse for implementing a game the source code download isnt required (although it is useful to see how some of the other games were created). To create a game using JOGRE you either need the jogre.jar file (from either the source or binaries distributions) or have the JOGRE API set up as a project (see previous section for details on this). This section will explain both approaches.

Create a new project (File - New - Project) and give it a suitable name (e.g. JOGRE Dominos). Game projects are stored under the jogre/games directory. Also ensure that the Create separate source and output folders is selected.

Click Next > and ensure the Default Output folder is set to [Project Name]/classes.

If you have only downloaded the binaries distribution you can simply add the jogre.jar file. Click on the Libraries tab and select the Add external JARs button to add the jar which is located in /jogre/api/jogre.jar. Click the Finish button to complete Project creation.

Once the game project is created you should have something like the following (left is created from project, right is created from JAR file).

Note: If you creating server controllers you must include the jogre/server/server.jar (or link to a Jogre Server project). This is discussed in "connect 4" tutorial.

The last task to do before creating classes is to create a suitable package. When creating a new game most of the classes are stored in the org.jogre.name_of_game.client package. To create a new package select File - New - Package to get a dialog like the following:

For more information on making a game check out the tutorials.

Creating a project for the JOGRE Server in Eclipse is quite easy. It depends on the JOGRE API and some libraries (which are stored in the /jogre/server/lib directory.

Now you can create a project by supplying a name like JOGRE Server and the location /jogre/server as follows:

Ensure once again the the Default output folder points to the classes directory and that the build path includes the JOGRE API. If the project has been created successfully there should be no compile errors (a compile error indicates the path isn't set up correctly).

The jogre/server/server.xml file can be customised to inform the server of which clients to support. This is done by adding a new <game> element as a child of <supported_games>. E.g. for dominoes:

<game id="dominoes" minPlayers="2" maxPlayers="4"/>

The server can now be run from the /jogre/server/server.bat batch file or through Eclipse by click on menu option Run - Run... and then selecting Java Application and clicking the New button. Fill in the options as shown on the following screenshot and hit the Run button.

If running through Eclipse ensure that the jogre/server/server.properties file has been copied to the jogre/server/classes output folder, otherwise a missing resources exception may appear. If the server runs sucessfully you should see the following in the console view in Eclipse:

As you can see the dominoes class has appeared as a game. If you create a server controller for it the [controller] tag will appear to its left. Check out the connect 4 tutorial for more information.

This concludes this document on how to set up Eclipse for development of JOGRE. Eclipse is highly recommended by many people and is by far my favourite IDE for its power, ease of use and helpful features. If you have any suggestions or queries about this document then feel free to contact the author Bob Marks.