Abator for Eclipse Quick Start Guide

To get up and running quickly with Abator in the Eclipse environment, follow these steps:

1. Create an Abator configuration file:
   1. File>New>Abator for iBATIS Configuration File
   2. Specify the location of the file, and the name of the file (defaults to abatorConfig.xml)
   3. Finish the wizard
2. Fill out the configuration file appropriately. At a minimum, you must specify:
   1. jdbcConnection information to specify how to connect to the target database
   2. A target package, and target project for the javaModelGenerator
   3. A target package, and target project for the sqlMapGenerator
   4. A target package, target project, and type for the daoGenerator (or you can remove the daoGenerator element if you don't wish to generate DAOs)
   5. At least one database table
3. Save the file
4. Right click on the configuration file in Eclipse's navigator, or package explorer, view and take the menu option to "Generate iBATIS Artifacts"

Important things to note:

1. Abator will not overwrite any custom changes you make to the objects it generates. You can run it over and over again without fear of losing custom changes.
2. Abator does supply a custom editor for Abator configuration files, but it is very low function. The editor is associated with all XML files that are Abator configuration files. If you are using RAD/RSA, then the included XML editor is much more useful. Or if you use some other XML plug-in (like XML Buddy), it is likely that the editor supplied with the plug-in will be more useful.