Configure Eclipse 3.5 for Notes 8.5.3

Please note: This is an extension of my Configure Eclipse 3.4 for Notes 8.5.1 to work with Notes 8.5.3. If you’re running Ubuntu please see the “old” (Notes 8.5) guidelines for information on how to configure Ubuntu for Notes/Eclipse Java development. If issues please let me know.

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 8.5.3 GOLD 
install_id=131779316645
rcp.base_version=6.2.3.20110915-1350
rcp.home=<Notes binary diretory>\framework

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

Step-by-step instructions (Windows)

  1. Download the latest build of Eclipse 3.5 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 3.5
  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. Specify <Notes>\jvm
    6. Name the JVM “Notes 8.5.2”
    7. Click “Finish”
    8. 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 8.5.1
      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”

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