Updating the Force.com IDE

Updating the Force.com IDE is easy! Using Eclipse’s built-in update capabilities, you can quickly install new versions of the IDE as they become available. The instructions on this page will guide you through the process step-by-step.

More information about this product is available at the Force.com IDE main page.


Contents


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Updating the Force.com IDE to the Latest Version

Before you begin, you may want to review the release notes. If you are using a version of the IDE older than the Winter '08 Developer Preview, please read the additional upgrade instructions below.

  1. Launch Eclipse, click on Help > Software Updates > Find and Install.

    Find and Install

  2. Click on "Search for new features to install" and click "Next".

    Search for Updates

  3. At the “Update sites to visit" step, check the "Force.com IDE" update site from your previous installation. It should point to http://www.adnsandbox.com/eclipsetoolkit/release/. Also make sure “Automatically select mirrors” is checked. This is important. Click "Finish" to proceed.
    • All of the required dependencies were probably installed into Eclipse when you first installed the IDE, but it will not hurt to check the "Europa Discovery Site" (or in Eclipse 3.2.x, the "Callisto Discovery Site").

    Automatically Select Mirrors

  4. In the Search Results, select "Force.com IDE". If Force.com IDE does not appear in the results, it most likely means you already have the latest version installed. If you are certain there is a more recent version, make sure your Force.com IDE update site has the correct URL. Otherwise see the troubleshooting section below.
    • Because this is an update and you already have the dependencies, you shouldn't need to install anything else. If there is an error, you may need to go back, check the Europa (or Callisto) site, and then at this step click the "Select Required" button in the dialog.

    Search results

  5. Click "Next", accept the terms and click "Next" again. Click finish and presto, you’ve got the IDE installed.
    • You may be prompted to restart Eclipse. It is recommended to restart at this point, prompted or not.

  6. After Eclipse restarts, close and then reopen the Force.com Perspective to repopulate your existing projects. Note that it is advisable to create a new workspace unless you have a specific reason to keep the old workspace. As discussed in the Release Notes, the recommended procedure is to start a fresh workspace and new projects.
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Updating From Versions Older than December 2007

The Winter '08 version of the Force.com IDE introduced an incompatible change to the old Eclipse project structure. If you are currently using an older, pre-Winter '08 version, we strongly recommend starting from a clean Eclipse install. However, if you wish to update your existing Eclipse instance to the Force.com IDE, there are several issues to consider:

  • IDE Location: The updated IDE cannot be installed into the same Eclipse installation as the previous version. See Uninstalling the Apex Toolkit for Eclipse below for detailed instructions on removing the old plug-in.
  • Existing Projects: You cannot open Force.com IDE projects using the Apex Toolkit for Eclipse, because the new Force.com IDE maintains different and more extensive metadata. If possible, deploy all changes you've made in your projects into your Salesforce environments before upgrading to the IDE. When you create a new project, the IDE connects to the Salesforce environment you specify and populates the project with metadata components (custom objects, Apex classes, etc.). You must recreate any undeployed work as outlined in the next bullet.
  • Undeployed Apex Code classes and Apex Code triggers: If you have Apex Code classes or Apex Code triggers in a project that have been created or changed but not yet deployed, you must either deploy them before updating or save the files and rename them before adding them to the new project. This is necessary because the filename suffixes changed for this release:
    • Apex Code class files now end in .cls and Apex Code trigger files now end in .tgr, so you must create a new file and copy and paste the old content.
    • S-control files have not changed (they still end in .scf), so you can copy any undeployed s-control files to the new project.
  • Web Services Support: You must use the current version of the Force.com Web Services API. Earlier versions of the Apex Toolkit for Eclipse supported API version 9.0 or 10.0.
  • Apex Code Packages: If you wish to continue to use the deprecated packages instead of the current Apex Code classes, you must use your previous version of the Apex Toolkit for Eclipse and connect to the appropriate version of the Force.com Web Services API. Once you have changed the packages to classes, you can use them with the Force.com IDE.
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Uninstalling the Apex Toolkit for Eclipse

If you have already installed the older Apex Toolkit for Eclipse, you will want to remove it before installing to the Force.com IDE. To uninstall the Apex Toolkit, you must remove all versions of com.appexchange plugin installs. The easiest way to do this is with a script that will archive the older components.

  1. Save all changes from any Force.com projects to your Salesforce instances.
  2. Close all your Apex Toolkit for Eclipse projects and delete them.
  3. Get the zip: http://www.adnsandbox.com/eclipsetoolkit/tools/archive-appexchange-plugin.zip
  4. Follow the directions in the Readme file.
  5. Install the Force.com IDE following the installation instructions
  6. Create new Force.com IDE projects for each Salesforce environment you were previously using.

The script archives plugins/com.appexchange.* and features/com.appexchange.feature.* to ECLIPSE_HOME/salesforce-archive.


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Troubleshooting

  • If you stall out while trying to download the package, try a different mirror. You may need to try several different mirrors before you find one that will work.
  • If you notice that you can't use your existing projects after this upgrade, that is expected and described in the Release Notes. If you need to return to the previous version of the toolkit:
    • Uninstall the IDE (Help | Software Updates | Manage Configuration)
    • Reinstall the old Apex Toolkit for Eclipse:
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