The Visual Editor is an open source editor. The provided components allow for visually editing java classes, in particular visual classes. The java component is integrated with the Eclipse java editor so that changes in either are reflected between them immediately.

The best way to contribute to this FAQ is to post your suggestion to the VE newsgroup with the subject prefixed by "[FAQ]". You may post just a question or both a question and answer.

VE is written in pure Java and should run on all operating systems officially supported by the Eclipse platform. It's been tested on Windows and Linux (GTK and Motif).

Note: At this time MAC OSX is not supported.

VE is licensed in accordance with the Eclipse Public License. Third party components built using VE are made available under their own licenses.

VE releases can now be downloaded through Update Manager.

VE 1.1.0.1 with Eclipse 3.1.2 has become a little complicated because of some Eclipse update site restructuring that has taken place. Because of this here are the instructions for VE 1.1.0.1:

1. Install Eclipse SDK 3.1.2 SDK. Download the appropriate zip file for your system.
2. Unzip into a clean directory
3. Run the eclipse.exe out of the eclipse directory and select/create a workspace
4. Do Help->Software Updates->Find and Install...
5. Select the Search for New features to install... and hit the Next button
6. Click on New Remote Site... button, and add this site (name it VE): http://update.eclipse.org/tools/ve/updates/1.0
7. Click on New Remote Site... button, and add this site (name it EMF): http://update.eclipse.org/tools/emf/updates
8. Click on New Remote Site... button, and add this site (name it Old Eclipse): http://update.eclipse.org/updates/3.0
9. Select VE, EMF, and Old Eclipse, and Hit Finish
10. Select the mirrors to use as they are asked for
11. Expand the tree VE->VE->Visual Editor SDK 1.1.0.1, and hit the checkbox on it
12. Expand EMF tree, EMF->EMF SDK 2.1.2->EMF SDK 2.1.2 and hit the checkbox on it
13. Expand Old Eclipse->GEF 3.1.1->Graphical Editing Framework 3.1.1 and hit the checkbox on it
14. Hit Next, accept the licences, hit Next, hit Finish

This will then allow a clean complete installation of VE

With Eclipse 3.2 there is Callisto, which makes it all simpler and one-stop shopping. See Callisto.

Or you can download the version of VE that matches your installation of Eclipse. (The SDK download contains documentation and source, while the runtime download does not.) You will also need to download the matching version of GEF and EMF. The download page will give this information for you. Exit Eclipse and unzip into the directory that eclipse is installed into. For example, if you have installed into "D:\XYZ\eclipse", you would unzip into "D:\XYZ". Restart Eclipse using the -clean option (only do this once) to clear the cache and verify that everything is installed. To do so, go to Help->About Eclipse Platform->Feature Details. Check the following entries:

Questions about the use of VE in user projects that are not addressed in this FAQ should be posted to the VE newsgroup. Questions and comments regarding the implementation of VE itself should be posted to the VE mailing list.

VE, like the Eclipse project, uses Bugzilla as its bug and feature tracking system. Entering a bug\feature report is as simple as filling in a web form on the eclipse bugzilla page. The first time you enter a bug you will need to create a new bugzilla account for yourself by providing an email address and choosing a password. Before submitting a bug, please be sure to check the list of open VE bugs and recentely closed VE bugs.

Install the SDK download into your target Eclipse. Now do the following from your development workspace (for Eclipse 2.1.2):

1. Do Window->Preferences->Plugin Development->Target Platform
2. Select the radio button for "another compatible application ..." and browse and select the eclipse directory of your target Eclipse.
3. Hit the "Reload" button, and then "OK".
4. Now go to File->Import...->External Plugins and Fragments
5. Make sure that "Copy plugin contents..." is not checked. Then hit Next.
6. From here select all of the org.eclipse.jem.* and org.eclipse.ve.* plugins.
7. Hit the "Add required plugins" button too.
8. Hit "Finish." This will proceed to load all of the binary plugins into your workspace.
9. Then go back to Window->Preferences->Plugin Development->Target Platform and hit "Deselect all" and then hit "Not in workspace", then hit "OK." This will fix it up so that no duplicate plugin warnings happen on execution.

If you get this message, look in the .log file. If you see a message that says NoClassDefFoundError for IVMServer, then you tried to use the source from the SDK and loaded it into your development workspace instead of the binaries. You cannot use the "Extract source archives..." checkbox on the import external plugins and fragments wizard. This is because the source is to be used for developers extending the VE, not developing the VE itself. There are jars that are created for the remote vm, and they aren't created when you use the source from the SDK

If you want to extend the VE, then see the How do I develop on top of VE (i.e. extend the VE)?

If you want to develop the VE itself, you will need to load the projects from CVS. See How do I checkout VE via CVS?

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