The Coder's Handbook

Setting Up Eclipse and Slick 2D

DOWNLOADING AND RUNNING

Downloading the File


  • Click on the button below to download Eclipse Portable from Google Drive

  • This is a portable application: it will run on any computer without installation. It includes three elements:

    • Eclipse - Your integrated development environment (IDE). This is an editor, compiler, and debugger.

    • Java Development Kit - The language itself which allows your program to run

    • Slick 2D - A game development library built with the Lightweight Java Games Library (LWJGL) and Open GL.



Unzipping the File

    • Right click on the zipped folder and choose Extract All.

    • On the next screen, choose Extract.

    • You should now have an unzipped folder in the same directory.

    • This step may take a little while (~5 minutes on lab PCs)

    • Once complete, delete the original zipped folder

Move To Flash Drive

    • Create a folder on your flash drive called Computer Science

    • Copy the unzipped Eclipse Portable folder to your Computer Science folder.

Running

    • When you first run the program on a school computer, you may get a blue warning screen from Windows

    • In the top left click More Info and a new option at the bottom will appear.

      • Choose Run Anyway.

SETTING UP PROJECTS

Finding the Projects

    • Your version of Eclipse comes preloaded with three example projects from Mr. M

    • Unfortunately, the processing of zipping the file causes Eclipse not to be able to find them

    • To update Eclipse on their locations, you'll need to:

      • Select File --> Open Projects on File System

      • For import source, choose Directory

      • Navigate to your Eclipse Folder, then to go Data and select Workspace

      • Your screen should look similar to the one on the right.

Hello World


    • First, let's open up the project HelloWorld

    • In the package explorer on the left you'll select the Project, then open up src (your source code) and default package.

    • Click on Hello.java. The code will display on the right.

Running a Project


    • When you want to run a project, make sure you have one of the following selected in the package explorer. This allows Eclipse to find which main you want to run.

      • The class that contains your main method

      • The top level of the project

    • Press the Green "Run" Button

      • If this runs the wrong project, click the down arrow to the right of it and select "Run as Java Application" and choose the file you want to run from a list

Eclipse doesn't care what tab you have open on the right, only what is selected in the package explorer.

SlickExample

  • This project is an example of how you can use graphics in Slick2D. Just consider it sample code - it's not tied to any specific project.

  • Open it up and poke around. When you're ready, try running it as you did with Hello.

  • To exit out of a full screen slick project, you will need to press ALT-F4.

  • If you see the screen on the right when loading it up, don't panic!

    • This is just Eclipse asking you which Slick2D thing to run. Look for the one called Main and select it. If it's not at the top, they're in alphabetical order.

  • You should see a bunch of shapes and some interaction with key presses.

ProjectTemplate and Making New Projects

  • For your convenience, Mr. M has made a blank project template. You want to be careful not to overwrite it.

  • When making a new project, you'll want to COPY the template and PASTE it in the package explorer

    • Just click on the project and press CTRL-C then CTRL-V.

    • Give your new project an appropriate name

Renaming Projects and Linking Errors

  • Due to the way the Slick2D libraries are set up, you need to be careful and avoid renaming your project using the Refactor menu option.

  • Instead, when you want to rename a project simply copy it, paste it, give it a new name, and delete the old one.

  • This is very silly, but saves you an annoying step.

SETTING UP YOUR WORKSPACE

Preferences

  • Go to Window --> Preferences to change Settings. In general, it's easy to just search for things you want to change, such as:

    • Font - You can customize your font and size. Your code is listed as "Text Font."

    • Theme - Under appearance you can change to other modes, like Lightmode.

Window Positions

  • Feel free to move aroundthe console, outline, or package explorer.

  • If you lose a window and want to brings things back to normal go to Window --> Perspective --> Reset Perspective

TROUBLESHOOTING

Linking Error and Native Files

  • Every Slick project comes with a files that connect the library to your native operating system.

  • When you rename your project, sometimes these links might get broken. To fix them...

    • Opening the Build Path

      • Right click on your project in the Package Explorer

      • Select Build Path ---> Configure Build Path (see fig. 1)

    • In the Java Build Path

      • Expand JRE System Library

      • Click on Native Library Location and choose Edit (see fig. 2)

      • Select Workspace and navigate to libs --> natives. (see fig. 3)

      • Hit Okay, then Apply and Close