Installing an integrated development environment

You can create an integrated development environment (IDE) by installing the Eclipse IDE and MobileFirst Studio. You can use the IDE to develop, test, and configure mobile apps before you deploy them to MobileFirst Server or to mobile devices.

Before you begin

  • Ensure that Maximo Anywhere is installed on the computer where you are installing the IDE.
  • It is recommended that you install the IDE on a computer that is independent of the server.
  • Depending on the mobile platform that you plan to develop apps for, ensure that you installed the Android, iOS, or Windows development tools.
  • Oracle JDK version 8 (v1.8) is required to run Eclipse and to build apps for Android, iOS, and Windows devices.

  • To preview the apps in the MobileFirst Studio mobile browser simulator, install Google Chrome.

  • To allow Eclipse to install the required plugins, ensure that your firewall is temporarily disabled.
  • If you are installing an integrated development environment on a Mac OS X computer, follow the instructions in this technote: Installing a Maximo Anywhere development environment on Mac OS X.

About this task

MobileFirst Studio is an Eclipse-based development environment that can be used to configure the Maximo Anywhere apps. You install MobileFirst Studio from the Eclipse integrated development environment (IDE) workbench. A set of platform development tools are also required to build and deploy the mobile apps.

You can use the mobile browser simulator, the Android Emulator, or the iOS Simulator to view and test the mobile apps.

You can customize the mobile apps when they are deployed. For more information, see Customizing Maximo Anywhere mobile apps.

Procedure

  1. Install Eclipse IDE:
    1. Go to Eclipse IDE for Java EE Developers and download Eclipse IDE for Java EE Developers (Eclipse Kepler 2).
    2. Extract the compressed folder and run the Eclipse application.
  2. Set up your Eclipse development environment:
    1. Check whether the Eclipse JSDT plug-in is installed. The JavaScript Development Tool (JSDT) plug-in helps you navigate through the Java™ Script code in Eclipse.
      1. Select Help > About Eclipse > Installation Details and click the WTP icon (Eclipse Web Tools Platform).
      2. In the About Eclipse Features window, browse the Feature Name list for Eclipse JavaScript Development Tools.
    2. If the JavaScript Development Tools plug-in is not already installed, complete the following steps:
      1. Select Help > Install New Software > Add.
      2. In the Add Repository window, specify the following URL in the Location field: http://download.eclipse.org/webtools/repository/kepler.
      3. In the Name field, specify Eclipse WTP.
      4. Select Web Tools Platform (WTP) 3.5.1 (or later) > JavaScript Development Tools and install the plug-in.
    3. Set Google Chrome as the default web browser by selecting Window > Preferences > General > Web Browser > Use external web browser. If Chrome is not available in the External web browsers window, click New, specify Chrome in the Name field and browse to the Chrome.exe file which is in the C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application directory on Windows systems. Click OK to apply your changes. Alternatively, you can set your default web browser to Chrome.
  3. Install MobileFirst Studio Consumer Edition:
    1. In Eclipse, select Help > Install New Software > Add.
    2. In the Add Repository window, click Archive.
    3. Browse to the MaxAny_762_MobileFirst_71/MobileFirstStudio.zip folder and click Open > OK.
    4. On the Available Software pane, select IBM MobileFirst Platform Studio Development Tools. The following items are selected for installation: IBM Dojo Mobile Tools, IBM jQuery Mobile Tools, and IBM MobileFirst® Platform Studio.
    5. Click Next > Next > Finish.
    6. Restart Eclipse to apply the changes.
  4. Import the MaximoAnywhere project into MobileFirst Studio.
    1. In Eclipse, click File > Import > General, select Existing Projects into Workspace and click Next.
    2. Click Select root directory and specify the path to \IBM\Anywhere.
    3. Select the MaximoAnywhere project and click Copy projects into workspace. Click Finish.
    4. In the Project Explorer pane, expand all nodes. Right-click the OSLCGenericAdapter folder and select Run As > Deploy MobileFirst Adapter.
    5. Right-click the application folder and click Run As > Run on MobileFirst Development Server.
    6. To preview the app, right-click the application folder and click Run As > Preview.
  5. To build apps for Android devices, install the Android Development Tools (ADT) plug-in:
    1. In Eclipse, select Help > Install New Software > Add.
    2. In the Add Repository window, specify the following URL in the Location field: https://dl-ssl.google.com/android/eclipse/.
    3. In the Name field, specify Android Development Tools and click OK.
    4. On the Available Software pane, click Select All > Next > Next > Finish.
    5. Restart Eclipse and specify a workspace directory.
    6. Open the Eclipse Preferences window and specify the Android SDK path. Click Apply > OK to apply the changes.
    7. On the Welcome to Android Development pane, select Use existing SDKs and browse to the SDK directory. Click OK > Next > Finish.