IBM WebSphere Application Server Developer Tools for Eclipse overview

IBM WebSphere® Application Server Developer Tools for Eclipse is a lightweight set of tools for developing, assembling, and deploying Java™ EE, and OSGi applications to WebSphere Application Server Liberty and traditional.

When combined with WebSphere Application Server Liberty and WebSphere Application Server traditional, IBM WebSphere Application Server Developer Tools for Eclipse provides a fast and lightweight environment for the rapid development and testing of Java EE web profile, and OSGi applications.

For more information about IBM WebSphere Application Server Developer Tools for Eclipse, see the following files:

What's new in IBM WebSphere Application Server Developer Tools for Eclipse

The following list describes new features for WebSphere Application Developer Tools for Eclipse:
  • WebSphere Developer Tools 23.2 is now available for Liberty, WebSphere Application Server V8.5x and WebSphere Application Server V9.x, providing support for running Eclipse 2023-06 (4.28) and 2023-09 (4.29) on Java 17

For information about features that were deprecated, removed, stabilized, and superseded in this and previous releases, see Deprecated features for WebSphere Developer Tools.

For a list of known restrictions that apply when you are working with WebSphere® Application Server Developer Tools for Eclipse and Liberty, see Developer Tools known restrictions and release notes https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/6841611.

For a list of known restrictions that apply when you are working with WebSphere® Application Server Developer Tools for Eclipse and WebSphere® Application Server traditional, see release notes https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/6841481.

Supported programming models

The following table lists the programming models available in IBM® WebSphere Application Server Developer Tools for Eclipse and indicates the application servers that they are supported on.
Programming model WebSphere Application Server Liberty WebSphere Application Server Liberty V8.5 WebSphere Application Server traditional V9 WebSphere Application Server traditional V8.5
Develop Java EE applications Yes*
Note: *The tools for developing EJB applications support EJB 3.0, 3.1, and 3.2.
 Yes*
Note: *The tools for developing EJB applications support EJB 3.0, 3.1, and 3.2.
 Yes
Note: The tools for developing EJB applications support EJB 3.2 and earlier.
 Yes
Develop CDI applications Yes* Yes* Yes
Note: The tools for developing EJB applications support CDI 1.2 and earlier.
 Yes
Develop JAX-RS applications Yes Yes Yes Yes
Develop JAX-WS applications Yes* Yes* Yes Yes
Develop OSGi applications Yes
Note: The tools for developing OSGi applications support the following technologies:
  • Web 2.5
  • Web 3.0
  • Web 3.1
  • Web 4.0
  • JPA
  • JAX-RS
  • JSF
 Yes
Note: The tools for developing OSGi applications support the following technologies:
  • Web 2.5
  • Web 3.0
  • Web 3.1
  • JPA
  • JAX-RS
  • JSF
 Yes
Note: The tools for developing OSGi applications support the following technologies:
  • Web 2.5
  • Web 3.0
  • Web 3.1
  • JPA
  • JAX-RS
  • JSF
  • EJB
 Yes
Note: The tools for developing OSGi applications support the following technologies:
  • Web 2.5
  • Web 3.0
  • JPA
  • JAX-RS
  • JSF
  • EJB
The star icon (*) indicates that support is available starting in Version 8.5.5 release for WebSphere Application Server Liberty.

Supported server tasks

The following features are supported on all WebSphere Application Servers, except for Liberty:
  • Migrate the server when you import applications that are targeted to a server that is not valid.
  • Run and debug administrative script files on the server.

Getting started

To get started, see Installing IBM WebSphere Application Server Developer Tools for Eclipse.

Getting help

WebSphere Application Server Developer Tools for Eclipse provides you with access to the Rational® Application Developer documentation.
Note: Some documented features are available only with the full Rational Application Developer for WebSphere Software product.
For details about how to integrate the workbench with the server, see Testing and publishing on a server.

Additional features available with Rational Application Developer for WebSphere Software

For enterprise-level development, consider using Rational Application Developer as your integrated development environment. Rational Application Developer provides a complete environment for Java, Java EE, web, web services, SOA, OSGi, mobile, and portal designers and developers, including the server development tools. It also provides integration and support for the following application servers and associated feature packs:
  • WebSphere Application Server Liberty
  • WebSphere Application Server traditional V9
  • WebSphere Application Server traditional V8.5

Rational Application Developer is designed to accelerate development and unit test to ensure delivery of higher quality applications. It offers tools for teams that are using the emerging trends of SOA, OSGi, and Cloud computing that help accelerate adoption and software delivery.

For more information about this product, see Rational Application Developer for WebSphere Software.