What's New in the Windows Azure Plugin for Eclipse with Java

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 in Windows Azure Using 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 Miscellaneous Role Configuration Settings.
  
  
• Environment variable configuration UI: So you no longer have to set environment variables via manual editing of the configuration XML. For more information, see Miscellaneous Role Configuration Settings.
  
  
• 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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