Configure Eclipse 3.4 for Notes 8.5

Updated on 2 April 2009 for Ubuntu
Updated on 7 February 2009 for Notes 8.5 GOLD

When using the below description see you need to know three pieces of information for your Notes installation: install_id, rcp.base_version and rcp.path. Below is a table with this information for various releases on Notes.

Notes version Description
Notes 8.5 GOLD Windows 
install_id=1233734589660
rcp.base_version=6.2.0.200811140851
rcp.home=\framework
Notes 8.5 GOLD Ubuntu 
install_id=1238529570
rcp.base_version=6.2.0.200811140851
rcp.home=/framework

The binary Notes directory is in my Windows example C:\Program Files\Notes8 and in my Ubuntu example /opt/ibm/lotus/notes.

Step-by-step instructions (Windows)

  1. Download the latest build of Eclipse 3.4 from eclipse.org.
  2. Unzip and make the Eclipse IDE ready.
  3. Note the install path of your Notes 8.5. If you have a space in the path name I suggest using the 8:3 name instead (e.g. c:\progra~1\notes8 instead of c:\Program Files\Notes8). In the following I will refer to this location as <Notes>.
  4. Start Eclipse 3.4
  5. Add the Notes 8.5 JVM
    1. Select “Window\Preferences” from the menu
    2. Select “Java\Installed JREs”
    3. Click “Add”
    4. Select “Standard VM”
    5. Click the browse button and browse to the “jre” directory in the JVM directory under the Notes 8.5 JRE SE directory. For me this is “<Notes>\framework\rcp\eclipse\plugins\com.ibm.rcp.j2se.win32.x86_1.6.0.20080416-200805251412″\jre
    6. Name the JVM “Notes 8.5”
    7. In “Default VM Arguments” specify “-Xint”
    8. Click “Finish”
    9. Click “OK”
  6. Configure the target platform
    1. Select “Window\Preferences” from the menu
    2. Select “Plug-in Development\Target Platform”
    3. Check “Group plug-ins by location”
    4. In the location field specify “<Notes>\framework\rcp\eclipse”
    5. Click the “Reload” button
    6. Click the “Add…” button
      1. Select “File System” and click Next
      2. Click the “Add…” button and navigate to “<Notes>\framework\shared\eclipse”
    7. Now your target platform should look like this
    8. Click OK
  7. Create a launch configuration
    1. Click the arrow next to the Run button (the green arrow) and select “Run Configurations…”
    2. Right-click “Eclipse Application” and select “New”
    3. “Main”-tab
      1. Name: Notes 8.5
      2. Run a product: com.ibm.notes.branding.notes
      3. Runtime JRE: Notes 8.5
    4. “Arguments”-tab
      1. Program arguments: 
        -personality com.ibm.rcp.platform.personality
-product com.ibm.notes.branding.notes
-debug
-console
      2. VM arguments: 
        -Xshareclasses
-Drcp.home=${rcp.home}
-Dcom.ibm.rcp.install.id=${install_id}
-Drcp.install.config=user
-Dosgi.install.area=${rcp.home}\eclipse
-Dcom.ibm.pvc.osgiagent.core.logfileloc=${rcp.home}\rcp
-Dcom.ibm.pvc.webcontainer.port=0
-Declipse.pluginCustomization=${rcp.home}\rcp\plugin_customization.ini
-Declipse.registry.nulltoken=true
-Djava.protocol.handler.pkgs=com.ibm.net.ssl.www.protocol
-Djava.util.logging.config.class=com.ibm.rcp.core.internal.logger.boot.LoggerConfig
-Dosgi.hook.configurators.exclude=org.eclipse.core.runtime.internal.adaptor.EclipseLogHook
-Dosgi.framework.extensions=com.ibm.rcp.core.logger.frameworkhook
-Xbootclasspath/a:${rcp.home}\rcp\eclipse\plugins\com.ibm.rcp.base_${rcp.base_version}\rcpbootcp.jar;
      3. Click the “Variables…” button
      4. Click the “Edit Variables…” button
      5. Add the following variables
        • install_id=(see table above)
        • rcp.base_version=(see table above)
        • rcp.home=(see table above)
      6. Click “OK”
      7. Click “Cancel”
    5. “Plug-ins”-tab
      1. Launch with: plug-ins selected below only
    6. “Configuration”-tab
      1. Configuration file: Use an existing config.ini file as a template
      2. Location: <Notes>\Data\workspace\.config\config.ini
    7. Click “Apply”
    8. Click “Close”

Step-by-step instructions (Ubuntu)

  1. Make sure you have Java and it’s on the PATH. If not download Java from Sun and install and then add the bin-directory from Java to the PATH. Also make sure the library path contains the binary Notes directory.
    To do the above follow these steps (assuming Java is in /opt/jdk1.6.0_13 and Notes is installed in /opt/ibm/lotus/notes):

    1. Start a Console
    2. Type: “gedit .profile” (enter)
    3. Go to the bottom of the file
    4. Insert the following 
      export JAVA_HOME=/opt/jdk1.6.0_13
export PATH=$PATH:$JAVA_HOME/bin
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$LD_LIBRARY_PATH:/opt/ibm/lotus/notes
    5. Save and close file
    6. Restart Ubuntu
  2. Download the latest build of Eclipse 3.4 from eclipse.org.
  3. Unzip and make the Eclipse IDE ready.
  4. Note the install path of your Notes 8.5. In the following I will refer to this location as <Notes>.
  5. Start Eclipse 3.4
  6. Add the Notes 8.5 JVM
    1. Select “Window\Preferences” from the menu
    2. Select “Java\Installed JREs”
    3. Click “Add”
    4. Select “Standard VM”
    5. Click the browse button and browse to the “jre” directory in the JVM directory under the Notes 8.5 JRE SE directory. For me this is “<Notes>/framework/rcp/eclipse/plugins/com.ibm.rcp.j2se.linux.x86_1.6.0.20081022b-200811140851/jre”\jre
    6. Name the JVM “Notes 8.5”
    7. Click “Finish”
    8. Click “OK”
  7. Configure the target platform
    1. Select “Window\Preferences” from the menu
    2. Select “Plug-in Development\Target Platform”
    3. Check “Group plug-ins by location”
    4. In the location field specify “<Notes>/framework/rcp/eclipse”
    5. Click the “Reload” button
    6. If only one directory was added (check the “Group plug-ins by location” checkbox) do as follows – otherwise skip:
      1. Click the “Add…” button
      2. Select “File System” and click Next
      3. Click the “Add…” button and navigate to “<Notes>/framework/shared/eclipse”
    7. Now your target platform should look like this
    8. Click OK
  8. Create a launch configuration
    1. Click the arrow next to the Run button (the green arrow) and select “Run Configurations…”
    2. Right-click “Eclipse Application” and select “New”
    3. “Main”-tab
      1. Name: Notes 8.5
      2. Run a product: com.ibm.notes.branding.notes
      3. Runtime JRE: Notes 8.5
    4. “Arguments”-tab
      1. Program arguments: 
        -personality com.ibm.rcp.platform.personality 
-product com.ibm.notes.branding.notes 
-debug
-console
      2. VM arguments: 
        -Xshareclasses 
-Drcp.home=${rcp.home} 
-Dcom.ibm.rcp.install.id=${install_id} 
-Drcp.install.config=user 
-Dosgi.install.area=${rcp.home}/eclipse 
-Dcom.ibm.pvc.osgiagent.core.logfileloc=${rcp.home}/rcp 
-Dcom.ibm.pvc.webcontainer.port=0 
-Declipse.pluginCustomization=${rcp.home}/rcp/plugin_customization.ini 
-Declipse.registry.nulltoken=true 
-Djava.protocol.handler.pkgs=com.ibm.net.ssl.www.protocol 
-Djava.util.logging.config.class=com.ibm.rcp.core.internal.logger.boot.LoggerConfig 
-Dosgi.hook.configurators.exclude=org.eclipse.core.runtime.internal.adaptor.EclipseLogHook 
-Dosgi.framework.extensions=com.ibm.rcp.core.logger.frameworkhook 
-Xbootclasspath/a:${rcp.home}/rcp/eclipse/plugins/com.ibm.rcp.base_${rcp.base_version}/rcpbootcp.jar:
      3. Click the “Variables…” button
      4. Click the “Edit Variables…” button
      5. Add the following variables
        • install_id=(see table above)
        • rcp.base_version=(see table above)
        • rcp.home=(see table above)
      6. Click “OK”
      7. Click “Cancel”
    5. “Plug-ins”-tab
      1. Launch with: plug-ins selected below only
    6. “Configuration”-tab
      1. Configuration file: Use an existing config.ini file as a template
      2. Location: <home_dir>/lotus/notes/data/workspace/.config/config.ini
    7. Click “Apply”
    8. Click “Close”

Resources