Exporting your project as an Eclipse feature

To deploy your HATS rich client application plug-in to a runtime environment, you must first package it into an Eclipse feature. An Eclipse feature is a deployment artifact used to package associated plug-ins. To package your plug-in into an Eclipse feature, perform the following steps.
  1. Create an empty directory, for example c:\myHATS, on your local hard drive to store your exported HATS application feature. You will use this same directory to store the HATS runtime features and the site.xml file that contains the definition for an update site. For more information, see Exporting HATS runtime features and Creating an update site.
  2. From the HATS Projects view, right-click your rich client project and from the pop-up menu select Export > Export Feature.
    Note:

    If you have not specified your license settings, you will see a message that this application is not runtime enabled and cannot be run in a production environment.

    HATS rich client applications can be tested in a local test environment (Eclipse, Lotus Notes®, or Lotus® Expeditor Client), but cannot be run in a runtime (non-development) environment without first specifying license settings. This means that you can create and fully test an application in the HATS Toolkit development environment. You can also export the application, and a user can install it, but the user will not be able to connect with the application. That is, the runtime will be locked down and will not allow for any connections. For information about specifying license settings, see Enabling HATS runtime and license settings.

    If licenses have been purchased, click Enable Runtime to runtime enable your application. Otherwise, click Continue to continue the export process.

  3. Assuming your project is not already part of a feature, a dialog will prompt you to create the feature now. Click Yes to launch the Create a HATS Feature Project wizard.
  4. In the Create a HATS Feature Project wizard, complete the Feature ID, Name, Version, and Provider fields.
    Note:
    The Name field is automatically filled in as you fill in the Feature ID field. Validation is performed on the Feature ID and Name fields as you fill them in. The value you enter for Feature ID is also the name used for the feature project that is created, and all values are stored in the project's feature.xml file. HATS supplies the name, hostaccess, as a default for the Feature ID and Name fields and the version, 1.0.0, as a default for the Version field .
  5. The plug-in list is populated from all HATS rich client plug-in projects in the workspace. Select the plug-ins to include in the new feature. These plug-ins will be installed into the client when the feature is installed. Click Finish.
  6. Next, the Eclipse Export wizard appears. In the Deployable features panel, select your feature.
  7. On the Destination tab, select Directory and click Browse to locate and select your export directory, for example c:\myHATS.
  8. On the Options tab, ensure Package as individual JAR archives (required for JNLP and update sites) is selected. The other options can remain at their default selections.
  9. Click Finish.

Your exported HATS rich client application feature automatically includes the runtime extension plug-in and automatically includes a dependency on the HATS runtime features. The feature project is not displayed in the HATS Projects view, but is displayed in the Navigator view.

If you want to perform more advanced configuration of your HATS rich client application feature, instead of using the Create a HATS Feature Project wizard, you can use the standard Eclipse New Feature wizard provided by Eclipse. To launch this wizard, from the Rational® SDP toolbar select File > New > Other > Plug-in Development > Feature Project. This wizard performs basically the same functions as the Create a HATS Feature Project wizard except it does not automatically include the runtime extension plug-in, and it does not include the necessary dependencies on the HATS runtime features.