What's New in the Windows Azure Plugin for Eclipse with Java (by Microsoft Open Technologies)

The Windows Azure Plugin for Eclipse with Java (by Microsoft Open Technologies) - May 2013 Preview has released. This is a major update accompanying the release of the Windows Azure SDK 2.0, which is a pre-requisite and will be downloaded automatically when you install the plugin. This release includes new features, bug fixes, and some feedback-driven usability enhancements since the February 2013 Preview:

• Automatic upload of the JDK and application server to, and deployment from, Windows Azure storage. A new option which automatically uploads the selected JDK and application server, when needed, to a specified Windows Azure storage account and deploys these components from there, instead of embedding in the deployment package or having the user upload then manually. This commonly requested feature can greatly enhance the ease of deploying the JDK and server components, especially for novice users. For a walk-through that uses these options, see Creating a Hello World Application for Windows Azure in Eclipse.
  
  
• Centralized storage account tracking and ability to reference storage accounts more easily (via a dropdown control). This applies to multiple features that rely on storage, such as JDK and server component deployment, and caching. For more information, see Windows Azure Storage Account List.
  
  
• Simplified Remote Access setup in the Publish to Cloud wizard. All you need to do is type in a user name and password to enable remote access, or leave it blank to keep remote access disabled.
  
  
• An update to the Package for the Windows Azure Libraries for Java (by Microsoft Open Technologies) library. This is based on version 0.4.2 of the Microsoft Windows Azure Client API.
  
  
• Support for sticky sessions on Windows Server 2012. Previously, sticky sessions worked only on Windows Server 2008 R2, now both cloud operating system targets support session affinity.
  
  
• Package upload performance improvements. Even when the JDK and application server are embedded in the deployment package, the upload portion of the deployment process can be approximately twice as fast as compared to previous versions.
  
  

The Windows Azure Plugin for Eclipse with Java (by Microsoft Open Technologies) - February 2013 Preview has released. This is a minor update which includes bug fixes, feedback-driven usability enhancements and some new features since the November 2012 Preview:

• Support for deploying JDKs, application servers, and arbitrary other components from public or private Windows Azure blob storage downloads instead of including them in the deployment package when deploying to the cloud.
  
  
• Ability to change the order in which user-defined components of a role are processed, through the addition of Move Up and Move Down buttons in the Components section of the Windows Azure Role Properties.
  
  
• An update to the Package for the Windows Azure Libraries for Java (by Microsoft Open Technologies) library, based on version 0.4.0 of the Microsoft Windows Azure Client API.
  
  

The Windows Azure Plugin for Eclipse with Java (by Microsoft Open Technologies) - November 2012 Preview has released. This is a major update which includes a number of new features, as well as additional bug fixes and feedback-driven usability enhancements since the September 2012 Preview:

• Support for Microsoft Windows Server 2012 as the cloud operating system.
  
  
• Support for Windows Azure co-located caching support for memcached clients.
  
  
• Inclusion of the Apache Qpid JMS client libraries for taking advantage of Windows Azure AMQP-based messaging.
  
  
• An improved New Project wizard, with a new page at the end that provides users with the ability to quickly enable several common key features in their project: sticky sessions, caching and remote debugging.
  
  
• Automatic reduction of role instances to 1 when running in the compute emulator, to avoid port binding conflicts between server instances.
  
  

The Windows Azure Plugin for Eclipse with Java (by Microsoft Open Technologies) - September 2012 Preview has released. This service update includes a number of additional bug fixes since the August 2012 Preview, as well as some feedback-driven usability enhancements in existing features:

• Support for Microsoft Windows 8 and Microsoft Windows Server 2012 as the development operating system, resolving issues that previously prevented the plugin from working properly on those operating systems.
  
  
• Improved support for specifying endpoint port ranges.
  
  
• Bug fixes related to file paths containing spaces.
  
  
• Role context menu improvements for faster access to role-specific configuration settings.
  
  
• Minor refinements in the Publish to cloud wizard and a number of additional bug fixes.
  
  

The Windows Azure Plugin for Eclipse with Java (by Microsoft Open Technologies) - August 2012 Preview has released. This service update includes additional bug fixes since the July 2012 Preview, as well as several feedback-driven usability enhancements for existing features:

• Within the Windows Azure Access Control Services Filter dialog:
  
  
  • Option to embed the signing certificate in your application’s WAR file, to simplify cloud deployment.
    
    
  • Option to create a self-signed certificate within the ACS filter UI.
    
    
  For additional information about the Windows Azure Access Control Services Filter, see How to Authenticate Web Users with Windows Azure Access Control Service Using Eclipse.
  
  
• Within the Windows Azure Deployment Project wizard (also applies to the role’s Server Configuration property page):
  
  
  • Automatic discovery of the JDK location on your computer (which you can override if desired).
    
    
  • Automatic detection of the server type when you select the application server installation directory.
    
    

The Windows Azure Plugin for Eclipse with Java (by Microsoft Open Technologies) - July 2012 Preview, which addresses a number of the highest priority bugs found and/or reported by users after the June 2012 release, has released. This is a service update only, no new features are contained.

Windows Azure Plugin for Eclipse with Java (by Microsoft Open Technologies) – June 2012 CTP has released. New features include:

• New Windows Azure Deployment Project wizard: Enables you to select your JDK, Java application server, and Java applications directly in the improved wizard UI. Included in the list of out-of-the-box server configurations to choose from are Tomcat 6, Tomcat 7, GlassFish OSE 3, Jetty 7, Jetty 8, JBoss 6, and JBoss 7 (stand-alone). Additionally, you can customize the list of server configurations.
  
  This UI improvement is an alternative to dragging and dropping compressed files and copying over startup scripts, which was previously the main approach. That method still works fine, but will likely be used only for more advanced scenarios.
  
  
• Server Configuration role property page: Enables you to easily switch the JDKs, Java application servers and applications associated with your deployment after you have created the project. For more information, see Server configuration properties.
  
  
• "Publish to cloud" wizard: Provides an easy way to deploy your project to Windows Azure directly from Eclipse, automating the previously manual heavy-lifting of fetching credentials, signing in to the Windows Azure Management Portal, uploading a package, etc. For an example of how to directly deploy your project to Windows Azure, see Creating a Hello World Application for Windows Azure in Eclipse.
  
  
• Windows Azure toolbar: A Windows Azure toolbar is now available in Eclipse:
  
  
  
  From left to right, the tool bar contains buttons that invoke the following features:
  
  
  • Run in Windows Azure Emulator: Runs your project in the emulator.
    
    
  • Reset Windows Azure Emulator: Resets the emulator.
    
    
  • Build Cloud Package for Windows Azure: Compiles your package for deployment.
    
    
  • New Windows Azure Deployment Project: Creates a new Windows Azure deployment project.
    
    
  • Publish to Windows Azure Cloud: Publishes your project to Windows Azure.
    
    
  • Unpublish: Deletes your deployment.
    
    
  Many of these Windows Azure toolbar buttons are used in Creating a Hello World Application for Windows Azure in Eclipse.
  
  
• Windows Azure Libraries for Java: Now available as part of the single Package for Windows Azure Libraries for Java (by Microsoft Open Technologies) library in Eclipse, accompanying the plugin installation and containing all of the necessary dependencies as well. Just add one reference to the library in your Java project and you don’t need to download anything separately. For more information, see Installing the Windows Azure Plugin for Eclipse with Java (by Microsoft Open Technologies).
  
  
• Microsoft JDBC Driver 4.0 for SQL Server available during plugin installation: During installation of the new plugin, the newest version of the Microsoft JDBC Driver for SQL Server can be installed.
  
  
• Windows Azure Access Control Service Filter (by Microsoft Open Technologies) available during plugin installation: This new component, included as an Eclipse library in the toolkit, enables your Java web application to seamlessly take advantage of Windows Azure Access Control Service (ACS) authentication using various identity providers, such as Google, Live.com, and Yahoo!. You won’t need to write authentication logic yourself, just configure a few options and let the filter do the heavy lifting of enabling users to sign in using ACS. You can just focus on writing the code that gives users access to resources based on their identity, as returned to your application by the filter inside the Request object.
  
  For a tutorial on using the ACS filter, see How to Authenticate Web Users with Windows Azure Access Control Service Using Eclipse.
  
  
• Automatic detection of the Windows Azure SDK 1.7 prerequisite: When you create a new Windows Azure Deployment Project, Windows Azure SDK 1.7 will be automatically downloaded if it is not already installed.
  
  
• Instance endpoints: Allows direct port endpoint access for communication with load balanced role instances. Instance endpoints can be added through the endpoints UI, available through the Endpoints properties page. This helps enable remote debugging and JMX diagnostics for specific compute instances running in the cloud in scenarios with multi -instance deployments. (Instance endpoints are also listed in
  
  
• Components UI: Makes it easier for advanced users to set up project dependencies between individual Windows Azure roles in the project and other external resources such as Java application projects; also makes it easy to describe their deployment logic. For more information, see Components properties.
  
  
• Automatic upgrade of previous versions of projects: When you open a workspace that has Windows Azure project created with a previous version of the plugin, the old projects will be shown in Eclipse as closed, because previous versions of projects are not compatible with the new release. If you attempt to open one of these old projects, an upgrade wizard will start. If you agree to the upgrade, a new project, with _Upgraded appended to the name, will be created and automatically updated to work with the new release. You can rename the new project as needed. As part of the upgrade, your original project will not be modified (and will remain closed).
  
  

Windows Azure Plugin for Eclipse with Java - December 2011 CTP has released. New features include:

• Session affinity (“sticky sessions”) support: Helping enable stateful, clustered Java applications with just a single checkbox. For more information, see Session Affinity.
  
  
• Pre-made startup script samples: For the most popular Java servers (Tomcat, Jetty, JBoss, GlassFish), that you can just copy/paste from your project’s samples directory into your startup script.
  
  
• Emulator startup output in real time: You can now watch the execution of all the steps from your startup script in a dedicated console window, showing you the progress and failures in your script as it is executed by Azure.
  
  
• Automatic, light-weight java.exe monitoring: That will force a role recycle when java.exe stops running, using a lightweight, pre-made script automatically included in your deployment.
  
  
• Remote Java app debugging configuration UI: Allows you to easily enable Eclipse’s remote debugger to access your Java app running in the Emulator or the Azure cloud, so you can step through and debug your Java code in real time. For more information, see Debugging Windows Azure Applications in Eclipse.
  
  
• Local storage resource configuration UI: So you no longer have to configure local resources by manipulating the XML directly. This feature also enables you to access to the effective file path of your local resource after it’s deployed via an environment variable you can reference directly from your startup script. For more information, see Local storage properties.
  
  
• Environment variable configuration UI: So you no longer have to set environment variables via manual editing of the configuration XML. For more information, see Environment variables properties.
  
  
• JDBC driver for SQL Azure: Gets installed via the plugin as a seamlessly integrated Eclipse library, enabling easier programming against SQL Azure.
  
  
• Quick context-menu access to role configuration UI: Just right-click on the role folder, and click Properties.
  
  
• Custom Azure project and role folder icons: For better visibility and easier navigation within your workspace and project.
  
  

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