Hibernate Tools - Beginning Hibernate: From Novice to Professional - page 265

APPENDIX B
n n n
Hibernate Tools
T he Hibernate Tools toolset really consists of two quite distinct tools: a set of plug-ins to
enhance the Eclipse integrated development environment (IDE), and a set of tasks for the
Ant build tool. They are packaged together because they share significant chunks of imple-
mentation despite their very different façades. We have already used one of the Ant tasks
from Hibernate Tools in earlier chapters to generate our database schemas. In this appendix,
we will discuss the other available tasks. First, however, we will discuss the use of the toolset
as a plug-in for Eclipse.
n Caution At the time of writing, Hibernate Tools is at an advanced beta stage of development. You should
be aware that you may encounter rough edges and bugs when using these tools. Currently, the Ant tasks are
more polished than the Eclipse plug-ins. Even so, we think that it is well worth familiarizing yourself with all
these tools and even using them in production, as most of the problems can be worked around.
It is beyond the scope of this topic to attempt to teach you how to use Ant or Eclipse
(although we do walk you through some of the less common configuration details). To get the
most from this appendix, you should be familiar with both Ant and Eclipse—although it is
possible to use both parts of the plug-in independently.
General information on the latest versions of Hibernate Tools, any changes or new fea-
tures, the online documentation, and the locations of the various downloads are available
from the Hibernate web site ( http://tools.hibernate.org ).
The Eclipse Plug-In
Eclipse is one of the best-known and liked Java development environments to emerge in
recent years. Eclipse evolved originally as a proprietary component of IBM's WebSphere
Application Developer (WSAD) environment. IBM chose to release Eclipse, the IDE, as an
open source application. Thus, the open source Eclipse IDE emerged as a mature product
virtually overnight.
Eclipse is designed as a core application, the Eclipse platform, extended by various plug-
ins, typically including Java Development Tools ( JDT). For our purposes, we assume that you
will start out with this combination (known rather confusingly as the Software Development
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