Adding external tools to the IDE

You can add external tools to the IDE using these steps. When these steps are completed, a new externaltools.xml file is located under $HCIROOT/client.

Note: This feature is only supported from the GUI; otherwise, only the default icon is used for the tools.

Supported icon formats include bmp, jpg, jpeg, png, and gif.

When an external tool is created, you can also add a script that runs bat and ksh scripts. With this functionality, you can create a tool that, for example, can start or stop a site.

You can create a bat file or create a new external tool. You can also add the bat file to the tool, and run the bat script in the IDE.

  1. Launch the IDE and change to the test site, for example, helloworld.
  2. Open the Client Preferences GUI and go to the External Tools tab. This tab has these columns: Tool Name, Path, Icon, and Category.
  3. Click Add. The Add Tool dialog box is displayed. All fields are required.
  4. Specify a Name. For example, Notepad.
  5. Click Browse next to Path and navigate to the external tool. For example, %windir%\system32\notepad.exe.
  6. Select the tool’s .exe file and click OK.
  7. The Icon field is optional. If this is left blank, then a default icon is used.
  8. Select the image file and click OK.
  9. Open the Category list and select a category. You can also specify a new category in the field. Click OK. The new tool displays on the dialog box.
  10. Click OK and on the Client Preferences dialog box.
  11. You must restart the IDE for the changes to take effect.
  12. After restarting the IDE, the new category is now on the selected category's menu.