David, Bndtools is admittedly short on docs. Did you try the Getting Started tutorial?
http://bndtools.org/doc/tutorials/components/ One of the main advantages of Bndtools is the lack of a build step. You save your Java code… it is now running in the OSGi framework. As Steve Jobs would say: boom! Also Bndtools gives you really easy (IMHO!) editing of bundle contents, along with instant feedback on dependencies based on bnd analysis. Additionally we have automated versioning at the package level with backwards-compatibility analysis, and so on. You mentioned Maven Bundle Plugin. This is not a graphical tool, it's simply a plugin that makes Maven build bundles instead of plain JARs. It's currently the de facto standard way of building OSGi apps with Maven. Regards, Neil On Tuesday, 27 September 2011 at 12:31, David Griffin wrote: > Hi all, > > just a little feedback on my previous question regarding the best IDE for > OSGi bundle development. > > NetBeans (v7.0.1) > ================= > I have been able to: > 1. Manually create a Java project consisting of the OSGi in action Chapter 13 > paint example top-level app. sources and build it. > 2. Manually create a Java project consisting of the OSGi in action Chapter 13 > paint example square bundle sources. > 3. Manually modify the manifest.mf file to specify the bundle Activator > method and build the bundle. > 3. Put the two together (by adding a "bundles" folder into the "dist" > sub-folder of the top-level app. project folder and copying in the built > square bundle jar file. > 4. Run the top-level app and see the square icon appear and be able to place > squares in the window, i.e. application, framework and auto-deploy bundles > working. > > As of yet, I have not seen any graphical interface to configure the bundle > information (i.e. the META-INF folder contents). Does anyone know if there is > such an interface as standard, or if there is a NetBeans add-on available, > which will provide a more graphical interface to bundle creation/maintenance? > I saw Richard mention "Maven Bundle Plugin", which I have not looked into as > yet. That's next on my list. > > > Using Eclipse Java (Indigo Service Release 1 Build id: 20110916-0149): > ====================================================================== > > I could not find any project template for creating OSGi bundles, despite > seeing a web article that suggested there was at least one template available > under the root type "plugin" (which is not present in the above version of > Eclipse). > > I assumed that I would be able to manually create the Java projects as > previously achieved with NetBeans, so did not explore this option. > > I've experimented a little with BndTools under Eclipse, which looks like it > provides a more graphical interface, but I am finding that setting the > configuration options is not obvious (is there any documentation for this > tool?). > > > Summary > ======= > As a user with little experience with OSGi based Java development, I'm > struggling to find simple to use tools. That said, I think the fact that > there are so many free tools and related information available is impressive. > > Aside from buying Richards book ("OSGi in Action") which I think I'll need to > do next, can anyone provide me any pointers to good graphical (as opposed to > command line based) tools for OSGi development? > > > Dave > > > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > To unsubscribe, e-mail: [email protected] > (mailto:[email protected]) > For additional commands, e-mail: [email protected] > (mailto:[email protected])
