In case you missed the post about the release of the BlackBerry Java Plug-in for Eclipse v1.3, this version of the plug-in provides support for the latest Eclipse version 3.6 (Helios). It’s designed to help with debugging performance and marks the start of a new way to distribute plug-ins by simplifying access and installation of SDKs. As stated in the post above, we will no longer provide an update site for the Java Plug-in for Eclipse 1.3 and BlackBerry® WebWorks™ on Eclipse, but we will keep update sites available for component pack downloads.

New features of the BlackBerry Java Plug-in for Eclipse v1.3 include:

1. Eclipse 3.6 (Helios) support with a new BlackBerry Java Development Eclipse perspective
2. New Application Wizards to get new BlackBerry® smartphone applications up and running quicker
3. A dynamic “Getting Started Welcome Page” to provide relevant and updated information of key development resources
4. Update Notification to let you know when new versions are available for download
5. Improved debugger performance for faster breakpoints and evaluation
6. MacOS X Java Plug-in for Eclipse feature parity

We encourage you to replace the current BlackBerry Java Plug-in for Eclipse v1.3.0 with this maintenance release, especially if you are using Windows 7. Download the latest plug-in from the Developer Zone today.

Let us know if you have any questions in the comments!

This means we will no longer provide an update site for the Java Plug-in for Eclipse 1.3 release and BlackBerry® WebWorks™ on Eclipse. However, we will keep update sites available for component pack downloads. Recently, we’ve been noticing a shift by developers from using one pre-installed Eclipse instance with multiple plug-ins to using several targeted Eclipse installations. This shift helps resolve incompatibilities between plug-ins and Eclipse or JDT versions, which means that there are better plug-in loads, increased stability, and fewer corrupted workspaces.

We also think this new direction for plug-in distribution will decrease partial installs due to Internet connectivity issues in many regions, which we know our developer community – and new developers in particular – have found frustrating.

We recognize that advanced Eclipse users may want to manage their environment on their own for multiple plug-ins. With this in mind, we will continue to explore other options for advanced users. In the meantime, send us your feedback by commenting below, or on our support forums where we’ve started a thread on this topic. Thanks for your feedback – we’re listening!

If you’re a registered BlackBerry® Developer Zone member, you may have recently received an invitation to participate in our developer survey. I am following up that email to encourage your participation, as this survey is a direct way to tell us what you need to be more successful with your BlackBerry platform development. Your answers will help guide our product planning and feature development!

With this survey, we are most interested in understanding which BlackBerry development tools you are using regularly, and on which host platforms (Windows®, Linux®, MacOS X). We are also interested in your language choices for application development both on and off the BlackBerry OS, and in which development phases you are spending your time. Most importantly, we really want to understand how we can improve your time to market, and we’ll use your answers to the types of questions you see above as a metric of our success.

This survey will become a regular occurrence – at least twice a year. We use this data to better understand your usage of developer tools and the areas that are challenging your success. There is a combination of multiple choice and open-ended questions, so you will have the ability to give us direct feedback for your personal needs.

The survey should take about 10-15 minutes but could end up saving you hours with improved development tools and solutions from Research In Motion this year. Not to mention your feedback is incredibly valuable to us in terms of letting us know what you like, dislike, what you’d like to see more of, and so on!

Take a moment and tell us what you think!

Take a moment and tell us what you think

Thanks and have a good weekend!
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Some of the details in particular:

1. Eclipse 3.6 (Helios) support with a new BlackBerry Java Development Eclipse Perspective
2. New Application Wizards to get new BlackBerry smartphone applications up and running quicker
3. A dynamic Getting Started Welcome Page to provide relevant and updated information of key development resources
4. Update Notification to let you know when new versions are available for download
5. Improved debugger performance for faster breakpoints and evaluation
6. MacOS® X Java Plug-in for Eclipse feature parity

This release unifies the feature set between the Mac OS X and Windows® versions of the plug-in, with one exception – the Mac OS X does not include a simulator yet. In the meantime, to allow device debugging for a wider range of devices, we are also releasing debug files for in-market 6.0 devices. Additionally, we are delivering instructions on how you can find debug files for pre 6.0 devices for your debugging needs.

Check out this link on our Developer Zone for more information on using and creating debug files!