Windows 7 and the BlackBerry JDE Plug-in for Eclipse
Version 1.1 of the BlackBerry JDE Plug-in for Eclipse runs quite well on Windows 7 as long as you install the right things in the right order:
- 32-bit JDK 1.6.x — Start by installing the 32-bit version of JDK 1.6. Even if you’re running the 64-bit version of Windows 7, use the 32-bit version of Java, otherwise things won’t work. (I know, I tried!) For good measure, you might want to define a JAVA_HOME environment variable and put the JDK and JRE bin directories (%JAVA_HOME%\bin and %JAVA_HOME%\jre\bin) into your PATH.
- 32-bit Eclipse Classic 3.5.x — Don’t bother with Eclipse 3.6 or higher, they don’t work. (I know, I tried!) Visit the Eclipse downloads page and download the latest 32-bit version of Eclipse 3.5.x. Note: To “install” Eclipse you just extract the contents of the zip file, I like to extract it to C:\ to make it easy (i.e. you end up with C:\Eclipse as your Eclipse installation directory).
- BlackBerry JDE Plug-in Version 1.1 — Once you’ve verified that your virgin Eclipse installation works (just run the eclipse.exe application in the root Eclipse folder), download and install the JDE plug-in.
At this point you should be up and running and you can follow the tutorial and other documentation that’s on the JDE Plug-in documentation page. One of the first things you’ll want to do is add the BlackBerry Update Site to the list of Eclipse update sites and then download one of the pre-5.0 BlackBerry SDKs so you can target earlier devices.