Eclipse Marketplace - An App Store for the Eclipse Ecosystem
Eclipse Marketplace is the source for Eclipse-based solutions, products, and add-on features. Thousands of developers visit Marketplace on a monthly basis to find new and innovative solutions. Solution providers are encouraged to list their products on Marketplace to gain exposure to the Eclipse developer community.
In June 2010, as part of the Helios release, Eclipse included a new Marketplace client that brings an 'App Store' like experience to Eclipse. The Marketplace client allows developers to browse and install Eclipse-based products directly from an Eclipse installation.
Listing your Products on Eclipse Marketplace
- The first step in listing your products on Eclipse Marketplace is to create an account and log in. Marketplace uses the same accounts from Eclipse Bugzilla, so if you need an account, go here to create one.
- Once you are logged into Eclipse Marketplace you will be able to add new content to the site using the 'Add Content' Link in the top navbar.
There are two types of listings you can add to Eclipse Marketplace:- Solutions - These are downloadable or installable products you may have. They can be full products, RCP applications, or plugins.
- Training & Consulting - These listings are here for companies that provide Training or Consulting services, and wish to advertise them on Eclipse Marketplace.
- Once you've submitted your listings it will be placed into the Moderation Queue and should appear on Marketplace in the next 24 business hours.
- In order to edit your listings, you can visit the 'My Marketplace' link at the top of the page.
Getting Ready for the Eclipse Marketplace Client
The Eclipse Marketplace Client was a new feature released in June 2010, with the Eclipse Helios Simultaneous Release. This new client provides an 'App Store' like experience for developers looking for Eclipse-based solutions. Solution providers on Marketplace will now have exposure to the millions of Eclipse users directly from an Eclipse installation.
The Marketplace client will display commercial solutions from Eclipse Foundation member companies and all open source solutions*. To make sure your solutions appear on the Marketplace Client, there are a number of steps to follow.
- If you have a commercial product, you likely want to provide access to a trial version of your product. Marketplace does not have any provisions for requesting payment for a commercial product.
- Your product must be able to install into an existing Eclipse installation. Unfortunately, the Marketplace client can't support products that require a new installation of Eclipse.
- There are two fields in your listings that are required for the Eclipse Marketplace Client to work successfully.
- Your product needs to be downloadable from an Eclipse p2 update site. Your listing on Marketplace requires the URL to that Update Site.
- You need to define the default installation of your product from this update site. A default installation consists of 1 or more installable features, which are identified by Feature IDs. You will need to specify these default Feature IDs in your Marketplace listing. More details on what to provide for this field can be found below
- We recommend you then test your information with a current version of the Marketplace client. The Marketplace Client is available in any Eclipse Package built for Helios (3.6) or later Eclipse Downloads. You can find the Marketplace Client by going to Help->Eclipse Marketplace
*For more information on which listings are displayed through the Marketplace Client please see the Marketplace client content inclusion policy.
How to specify Feature IDs
Feature IDs are used by the Eclipse Marketplace Client (MPC) to determine which features to install for your listing. These IDs are key in making sure that the MPC is able to install your products successfully.
You can find these IDs by opening the site.xml file at the root of your Eclipse Update site. Inside this file, you will find a list of <feature> tags for each of the features present on your Update Site. Please provide the feature id string for each feature that should be installed by default for your product.
Example Site.xml:
<site>
<feature url="path/to/feature.jar" id="org.eclipse.feature" version="x.x.x">
<feature url="path/to/feature.component.jar" id="org.eclipse.component.jar" version="x.x.x">
<feature url="path/to/optional.feature.jar" id="org.eclipse.optional.jar" version="x.x.x">
</site>
The bolded text above outlines the data that should be entered into the Feature ID field. We've left out the optional Feature ID as we only want to specify a default installation.
For a more detailed site.xml file here is a link to the Eclipse Mylyn Project's Site.xml file. Also, you can checkout FAQ How do I create an update site (site.xml)? to learn how to create an update site.