Best way to upgrade eclipse in combination with SWT Designer

[pijn_mar]

What is the best/preferred way to upgrade SWT designer and Eclipse to their latest builds.

I currently have Eclipse RC3 running in cobination with SWT Designer 4.0.1 Build 2005.06.23

I have tried Software Updates option but that did not do it

[Eric Clayberg]

What is the best/preferred way to upgrade SWT designer and Eclipse to their latest builds.

The best/preferred/only way to update Designer is to download the latest build from our web site and install it.

[Kelly]

When I install a new eclipse I rename the old eclipse directory C:\eclipse to c:\eclipse.old, then install Eclipse and WindowBuilder.
I then have to pull out the swt.dll file from the Eclipse jar file and place it in the C:\eclipse\plugin directory.
I also have my workspace directory at C:\workspace so I do not lose my Eclipse settings.
The Eclipse update software does not seem to work for me, no idea why but no big deal reinstalling Eclipse anyway.

If I am only upgrading WindowBuilder then I just unpack WindowBuilder into the eclipse directory telling the unzip software to overwrite all files.

No idea if this is the correct way to do this but it seems to work for me.

[Eric Clayberg]

I should also add that it is a good idea to "clean" your Eclipse "configuration" directory after installing any new or updated plugins.

If you are installing v3.0.x or v4.0.x into an Eclipse 3.0 or 3.1 (pre-M5) environment, delete your Eclipse "configuration" directory before restarting Eclipse. This is to avoid a common Eclipse 3.x plugin cache bug. If you are installing into Eclipse 3.1 M5...GA, delete everything in the "configuration" directory except the config.ini file.

[Slot Head]

With eclipse 3.0.2 and earlier, a lot of us got in to the habit of deleting eclipse's Configuration folder after installing the Designer and before starting eclipse. This was due to a bug in eclipse, not the designer.

We now need to break that habit. It not only no longer seems necessary, but also seems to mess things up badly enough that eclipse did not start for me.

[Eric Clayberg]

With eclipse 3.0.2 and earlier, a lot of us got in to the habit of deleting eclipse's Configuration folder after installing the Designer and before starting eclipse. This was due to a bug in eclipse, not the designer. We now need to break that habit.

I disagree. "Cleaning" your "configuration" directory is still quite important. Our installation instructions are very clear on this:

If you are installing v3.0.x or v4.x.x into an Eclipse 3.0 or 3.1 (pre-M5) environment, delete your Eclipse
"configuration" directory before restarting Eclipse. This is to avoid a common Eclipse 3.x plugin cache bug.
If you are installing into Eclipse 3.1 M5...GA, delete everything in the "configuration" directory except the config.ini file.

It not only no longer seems necessary, but also seems to mess things up badly enough that eclipse did not start for me.

If you delete the entire directory as you would have done in Eclipse 3.0, you would indeed be in big trouble. Under Eclipse 3.1, you must preserve the config.ini file. Everything else in the configuration directory can (and should) be deleted.