h1. Eclipse meets Jira: a HowTo
This short text has the goal to give a practical advice for an [http://www.atlassian.com/software/jira/ Jira]-Integration into the [[http://www.eclipse.org Eclipse]]-[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Integrated_development_environment IDE]].
The benefit of the integration of this two powerfull tools is just one more step closer to the "single point of development" approach.
A first impression of the capabilities of Jira gives Wikipedia .
btw: there is a connector for Microsoft visual studio, too. see http://confluence.atlassian.com/display/IDEPLUGIN/Atlassian+Connector+for+Visual+Studio . But we don't have some experience with the Jira integration into VS.
What Components does one need?
First of all: Eclipse with Mylyn. I suggest to use the latest version of Eclipse, Helios (this is afaik 3.6). Helios has an actual Mylin-Version (3.4) already included. Of course, an installation of a Jira-Server is also required, we have the Version 4.1 installed. To communicate from Eclipse to Jira and vice-versa, the Jira-Plugin is needed.
Where to get it?
- Eclipse: http://www.eclipse.org
- Jira: http://www.atlassian.com/software/jira/
- the Jira-Plugin: http://confluence.atlassian.com/display/IDEPLUGIN/Installing+the+Eclipse+Connector. It is recommended to use the Eclipse-update Site .
The source code of the connector is available at https://studio.atlassian.com/svn/PLVS . The source-code for connector is published as open source. To get an overview it is the best way to create a new project in eclipse an connect to the svn-repository.
Configuration
To start working with Jira inside Eclipse, some configuration work has to be done.
Jira Server
This Jira server must enable the xml-rpc functionality. Normaly, this is a task that has to perform the Jira Administrator. It has to be done once for all users.
http://confluence.atlassian.com/display/JIRA03x/JIRA+XML-RPC+Overview
Jira Plugin
The Jira-plugin has to be imported in every eclipse installation-folder (e.g. /eclipse/plugins). To perform this task, no special (adminstrator) permissions are required.
http://confluence.atlassian.com/display/IDEPLUGIN/Configuring+your+JIRA+Options+in+Eclipse
or
http://confluence.atlassian.com/display/IDEPLUGIN/Configuring+the+Eclipse+Connector#ConfiguringtheEclipseConnector-SettingUpaJIRATaskRepository
On SOS GmbH the URL of the Jira-Repository is http://www.sos-berlin.com/jira .
It is required, to set the proxy proxy.sos on port 3128 to get in contact with jira.
The (not required) Label should be "SOS Jira".
The userid and password, required on the form, is the same as one is using for the jira-access by a web browser.
Working with Jira
http://confluence.atlassian.com/display/IDEPLUGIN/Working+with+JIRA+Issues+in+Eclipse