Why Switch to Eclipse Mobile Tools for Java?

Reasons To Switch to the Eclipse Mobile Tools for Java

There have been a number of questions about why someone might want to switch from EclipseME to the Eclipse Mobile Tools for Java project. While I can understand why someone might ask that question if things are “just working” for them with EclipseME, there are a number of good reasons to make the switch.

It is important to note that there are no plans or reasons to create new releases of EclipseME. Everything that EclipseME had made available is now available in MTJ. Any time that I choose to apply to this hobby will be made to the MTJ project rather than making new changes to EclipseME.

Read on to see some of the reasons for transitioning to Eclipse Mobile Tools for Java.

• New Features
  • Device Management
  • Create MIDlet Suite
  • Debug Settings Warning
  • Preverification
  • JAD Editor
• Bug Fixes
• More Support

New Features

There are a number of new features in the 0.9 release of MTJ compared to EclipseME 0.7.9. These new features add a new level of polish versus EclipseME.

Device Management

Device management has been improved in a number of ways within MTJ.

When importing devices, it is now possible to have preprocessing symbol sets automatically created by MTJ. The Symbol Set preferences dialog can then be used to manipulate the symbols.

The Device Management dialog now allows for filtering the displayed devices via the drop-down at the top of the page.

Create MIDlet Suite

The Create MIDlet Suite dialog has been enhanced to bring it in line with the current Java project creation dialog.

Debug Settings Warning

Debug settings have been difficult to get set correctly for debugging Java ME emulators. MTJ now warns of incompatible debug settings and will even update debug settings to make them work for the emulators.

Note: In this snapshot you can see that both EclipseME and MTJ are loaded. The easiest way to distinguish the two plugins is the use of J2ME and Java ME. MTJ has been updated to use “Java ME” throughout.

When incompatible debug settings are found during launching, this dialog will be shown. If Yes is chosen, MTJ will alter your debug settings to allow for correct debugging of Java ME emulators.

Preverification

The “embedded” preverifier has been removed in this release. Instead, it is now possible to specify a default preverifier executable to be used for SDK’s that do not contain an preverifier such as Microemulator and MPowerplayer.

JAD Editor

The JAD Editor has received a large number of improvements in MTJ. The Overview page has been cleaned up and allows for more interaction with the project.

Motorola Specific Properties

A new page has been added to edit Motorola-specific JAD properties.

Nokia Specific Properties

A new page has been added to edit Nokia-specific JAD properties.

Push Properties

A new page has been added to edit Push JAD properties.

JAD Source

A new page has been added to directly edit the source of the JAD properties.

Bug Fixes

There have been a ton of bug fixes and polish work in MTJ 0.9 relative to EclipseME 0.7.9.

More Support

The EclipseME project has always had strong support via the user’s mailing list. There have been some great users on the list that have jumped in to help with support whenever they possibly could. That is something I’ve always been very proud to see. Despite that, support is always difficult and hard to find time for. By moving to MTJ, users will be able to take advantage of a larger support group.

Some of the options for support are listed here.

• Eclipse Mobile Tools for Java Web Site
  The root of the Eclipse MTJ web space.
• User’s Newsgroup
  Eclipse projects use Usenet Newsgroups for user interaction. This is the place that EclipseME users should go for help with MTJ.
• Developer’s Mailing List
  Eclipse projects use mailing lists for project development discussions . User’s should not use the mailing list for questions about use of MTJ. For those questions, please use the newsgroups.

EclipseME Users Mailing List

While I will keep the EclipseME user’s mailing list open for a while, it will eventually be phased out to pure MTJ support options. This is due in large part to the fact that as MTJ continues to grow, it will be difficult for me to keep track of the details and really provide useful support. The sooner that everyone makes the transition to MTJ support, the better it will be.