Getting Started with the development on the eTextReader project

What you'll need

• A Java development environment. We are currently using the latest version of JDK 1.5. While you can use any environment that you like, Eclipse has been used for the majority of development and is the environment of choice. Eclipse can be downloaded at http://www.eclipse.org/downloads/.
• A J2EE web application container. If developing using Eclipse, you will be best off using an container compatible with the WTP Eclipse project. We use the Tomcat distribution, part of the Jakarta project, and available at
  http://tomcat.apache.org.
• An SVN client (or a development environment with built-in SVN support). In the Eclipse environment, we use the Subclipse SVN plugin, available at
  http://subclipse.tigris.org.

Checking the project out from the SVN repository

There are two main ways that you can check out the most recent SVN version of the eTextReader project: using an SVN client, or through the Eclipse user interface.

Checking out via an SVN client:

Using an SVN client, you can check out a working copy of the eTextReader project into the current directory using the following command:

svn checkout https://etextreader.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/etextreader

This will create a subdirectory named etextreader in the directory in which you ran the checkout command. Two projects will then be contained in this subdirectory: E-Text Reader and Process Textbook Page.

There are ant build files for these projects located in their respective directories that contain a number of targets.

Checking out using Eclipse

Most development of the eTextReader project has occurred in Eclipse, and so we provide a framework for developing within Eclipse. To check out the project from the SVN repository using Eclipse, you'll need the Subclipse plugin installed. The steps to take to get the project from SVN are then as follows:

1. Choose File->New ->Project from the Eclipse menu
2. Expand the SVN tab, and select Checkout Projects from SVN (if this entry doesn't appear, you don't have the Subclipse plugin properly installed).
3. Select Create a new reposistory location and click Next.
4. Enter https://etextreader.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/etextreader in the URL field.
5. Select both projects (use Ctrl-Click) for checkout and click Next.
6. Ensure that Checkout into the workspace as projects is selected, then click Next.
7. Select a workspace location, or use the default, and click Finish.

The SVN checkout process will take a while, but eventually you will have a working copy of the eTextReader application. It should build and execute

Setting up the Web Application Server

Using Eclipse

In order for Eclipse to be able to run the content server, you will need to create a server configuration for the Process Textbook Page project. The Apache Tomcat runtime is typically used. You can download and install the Tomcat runtime at
http://tomcat.apache.org/download-55.cgi

When installing the Tomcat runtime, you should set it up to not start up automatically, since the server will be run from within the Eclipse environment, and port conflicts will likely occur if the Tomcat installation is set to run when the machine boots. Once you've successfully installed the Tomcat runtime, you can follow the tutorial at the Web Tools Project website:

http://www.eclipse.org/webtools/community/tutorials/BuildJ2EEWebApp/BuildJ2EEWebApp.html

Scroll down to the section labeled Choose a Server Runtime Environment and follow the instructions, up through the section labeled Developing the Application.

Once you have created the server runtime, you will need to add the Process E-textbook Page project ...

TODO: Complete this portion once we have a chance.

Stand-alone installation

To be completed ...

Running the application

Several launch configurations are provided with the SVN distribution. These configurations are as follows:

• Browser.launch: this configuration launches the eTextReader reading a locally available textbook. This configuration is located in the Java Application portion of the Eclipse run configuration dialog.
• Browser - no textbook.launch: this configuration launches the eTextReader, and allows the user to select which textbook to begin working with. This configuration is located in the Java Application portion of the Eclipse run configuration dialog.

When the project is first downloaded from the SVN server, you will need to activate one of these launch configurations using the Run->Run ... menu from within Eclipse. These configurations will subsequently be available in the favorites menu of your toolbar, as shown in the following diagram: