Use Eclipse to develop groovy[docs.codehaus.org]

In Eclipse 3.5.x, click Help > Install New Software. 

You use Eclipse‘s standard installation process to download and install GroovyEclipse. The Eclipse user interface for software installation and update varies between 3.4 and 3.5. 

Eclipse 3.4.2 users: click Help > Software Updates and follow the dialogs to work with or add the GroovyEclipse update site - see step 3 for the URL.

To add the GroovyEclipse plugin download site to your Available Software Sites, click Add on the Available Software page. 

If you have previously added the site, click the blue down arrow and select if from the drop-down list of your available sites.

On the Add Site page, type a name in the Name box to assign a name of your preference to the site, or leave it blank to use a default site name constructed from repository metadata. 

In the Location box type the download URL the URL that corresponds to your version of Eclipse, and click Next. 

If you use 3.4.2 - "http://ci.repository.codehaus.org/greclipse/snapshot/e34" or 

If you use 3.5.x - "http://dist.springsource.org/milestone/GRECLIPSE/e3.5/"

On the Available Software page, checkmark Groovy-Eclipse Plugin, and if you wish to work with the plugin sources, Groovy Eclipse SDK. 

Click Next. 

Don‘t checkmark Groovy Compilers - they are included in the GroovyEclipse Plugin.

You can review the components to be installed on the Install Details page. 

As noted above, the GroovyEclipse Plugin includes two versions of the Groovy compilers: v1.7-beta2 (enabled) and v1.6.5. 

The JDT Core patch is an update to the Eclipse Java Development Tool (JDT) that enables Groovy/JDT integration.

Accept the license agreement and click Finish.

Eclipse prompts you to restart.

After Eclipse restarts, you can see that Eclipse‘s File > New menu now includes wizards for creating Groovy projects, classes, and test cases. 

You have successfully installed GroovyEclipse. 

For step-by-step instructions on how to create your first Groovy program using GroovyEclipse, see Create Your First Groovy Project.

In Eclipse, click File > New > Groovy Project.

If Groovy Project does not appear in the drop-down list, then select Other and search for Groovy Project in the dialog box.

In the New Groovy Project wizard, type a name in the Project Name box, and click Next. 

GroovyEclipse creates the project and a folder structure for it. A folder with the same name as the project appears in the Package Explorer. The project directory contains asrc and a bin folder, each empty.

The tabs and options in the Build Settings window are identical to those in the the Java Development Tool (JDT). 

Click Finish to proceed without customizing the build settings. 

For information about build options, see Eclipse help for the New Java Project Wizard; it applies to Groovy projects as well.

Select the project in the Package Explorer, and click File > New > Groovy Class.

In the Groovy Class wizard, type a name for the class in the Name box, a name for the package in the Packagefield, and click Finish to create the class and package. 

If you type the name of an existing package in thePackage field, the class is created there. 

Just like in the JDT, you can create a package as a separate step with File > New > Package, or when you use the create the first class

GroovyEclipse creates the new class. The new class, Greetings.groovy in this example, is listed in the Package Explorer, and opened in the editor. 

Note that, as generated by GroovyEclipseGreetings.groovy already contains the package statement and class declaration.

Paste this code into the file: 

static void main(def args) { 
   def mygreeting = "Hello World" 
   println mygreeting 
}

Right click anywhere in the editor and then Run > Run As > Groovy Scriptor Java Application.

Running as an Application will launch the compiled *.class files, whereas running as aScript will launch the uncompiled *.groovy files. In general, the results will be the same, but there are some subtle differences between the two.

The greeting is issued in the Consoletab.