Recipe 12.5 Deploying a Plug-in

12.5.1 Problem

You want to deploy a plug-in you've created.

12.5.2 Solution

Right-click the plug-in project, click Export, and follow the directions. Eclipse will handle the details.

12.5.3 Discussion

To deploy a plug-in, right-click the plug-in project and click Export. Check "Deployable plug-ins and fragments" in the Export dialog, and click Next to open the Export Plug-ins and Fragments dialog shown in Figure 12-12. Select org.cookbook.ch12.MenuPlugIn (1.0.0). To create a single deployable .zip file, use the Browse button to browse to eclipse/workspace/org.cookbook.ch12/MenuPlugIn; Eclipse will add the filename MenuPlugIn_1_0_0.zip. Then click Finish.

Figure 12-12. Exporting a plug-in

Clicking Finish creates MenuPlugIn_1_0_0.zip, ready for deployment. This file contains two files: MenuPlugIn.jar and plugin.xml. This .zip file, MenuPlugIn_1_0_0.zip, is what you deploy to users—all they've got to do is to unzip it.

You can specify the name of the .jar file the project will create when you create the project initially in the third pane of the New Plug-in Project dialog.