Set up your web development environment

The instructions in this guide have been verified with the supported versions of third party components as specified below. Using an unsupported version may lead to unexpected results.

Before you can begin working with any of the App SDKs, you should ensure that your development environment includes all the required components and that they are correctly configured.

• Java Development Kit

• Eclipse IDE

• Apache Tomcat

• Essential Eclipse configurations

Java Development Kit

To install a Java Development Kit:

1. Download the Java SE Development Kit from:      

   • the Oracle website, or

   • an open source alternative, e.g., Eclipse Temurin, OpenJDK, or Amazon Corretto.

2. Install the JDK:      

   • On Windows:          

     • Run the installer file and follow the instructions step-by-step.

   • On macOS:          

     • Run the downloaded .dmg or .pkg installer and follow the instructions step-by-step, or

     • Use Homebrew, e.g.: brew install openjdk@17

3. Verify which version JAVA_HOME is pointing to:      

   • On Windows:          

     • Run echo %JAVA_HOME% in the command prompt.

   • On macOS:          

     • Run echo $JAVA_HOME in a terminal.

   • If JAVA_HOME is pointing to an older version, update it to point to the version you just installed.

4. Set the Environment Variables:      

   • On Windows:          

     1. Type Environment Variables in the Windows search bar.

     2. Click New under System Variables.

     3. Add JAVA_HOME as the variable name, and the JDK installation path as the value.

     4. Locate the Path variable, click Edit, then click New, and adding %JAVA_HOME%\bin

   • On macOS:          

     • Find your JDK installation path, e.g., via /usr/libexec/java_home -V

     • Open your shell profile file, e.g., ~/.zshrc for the default zsh shell, or ~/.bash_profile if using bash.

     • Add the following lines:
       export JAVA_HOME=$(/usr/libexec/java_home -v 17)
export PATH=$JAVA_HOME/bin:$PATH

     • Apply the changes with source ~/.zshrc (or the equivalent for your shell), or open a new terminal window.

5. Confirm that the installation was successful.      

   • On Windows:          

     • Using the command prompt, type java -version.

   • On macOS:          

     • Using the terminal, type java -version.

   • The installed Java version should then be displayed.

Eclipse IDE

To install Eclipse IDE:

1. Download the supported version of the Eclipse IDE for Enterprise Java and Web Developers installer from the Eclipse Foundation website.

2. Run the installer and choose the folder where it will be extracted before clicking Install.

3. If required to, choose a workspace directory.

Apache Tomcat

To install Apache Tomcat as your local web server:

1. Go to the Apache Tomcat homepage and select the desired version from the Download section.

2. On the Software Download page, scroll down to the Binary Distributions section and click on one of the following:      

   • zip (pgp, sha512)

   • tar.gz (pgp, sha512)

   • Windows zip (pgp, sha512)

3. Extract the zip to a secure location on your machine.

4. Record the path for future reference.

Essential Eclipse configurations

Add Tomcat Runtime to Eclipse

1. On Eclipse, access the Servers view.      

   • If there is no such tab, click Window on the top menu, hover over Show View and look for Servers.

   • If it is still not listed, enter Servers into the filter, expand the Server folder, select Servers, and click Open (or OK).

2. Create a new server and specify the Server Type by expanding the Apache folder, selecting Tomcat v10.1 Server, and clicking Next.

3. Specify the Tomcat installation directory by selecting the path from step 3 of Apache Tomcat.

4. Next, choose specific JRE version under the JRE dropdown before clicking Next or Finish.

A note on JavaScript errors

Eclipse can be configured to suppress to skip client-side JavaScript validation and prevent errors from being displayed. However, these errors are harmless and will not prevent Java from compiling.