Eclipse, dropins, console mode, Axis2 and dropins not installed

Question

i'm new to the eclipse dev platform, i have a strange behaviour here while trying to install the following plugins :

org.apache.axis2.eclipse.codegen.plugin_1.6.2.jar
org.apache.axis2.eclipse.service.plugin_1.6.2.jar

i have downloaded them from Apache, extracted in a folder plugins inside dropins one so that i have :

D:\eclipse\dropins\plugins
    org.apache.axis2.eclipse.codegen.plugin_1.6.2.jar
    org.apache.axis2.eclipse.service.plugin_1.6.2.jar

and i can not still use/see them from the File / New / Other / Select a wizard

BTW after reading some posts about the kind of difficulties, i found that starting eclipse from command line with "eclipse -console" allow me to see them in the File / New / Other / select a wizard => Axis2 Code generator and Axis2 Service Archiver

so please, how is the right way to do ? and why adding -console do the trick while "normal" start do not ?

EDIT: forgot to write infos about Eclipse :

Eclipse Java EE IDE for Web Developers.
Version: Indigo Service Release 2
Build id: 20120216-1857

EDIT : actually i have tested both dropping these jars inside a plugins subfolder of dropins or directly inside dropins, and none had worked. The only way to have the Axis2 service Archiver is to start with eclipse -console and having them in a plugins... i surely have missed something or have a dependency fail but i do not know how to check/correct that. This is why i have asked here.

EDIT : if this could help :

inside my bundles.info

org.apache.axis2.eclipse.codegen.plugin,1.6.2,dropins/plugins/org.apache.axis2.eclipse.codegen.plugin_1.6.2.jar,4,false
org.apache.axis2.eclipse.service.plugin,1.6.2,dropins/plugins/org.apache.axis2.eclipse.service.plugin_1.6.2.jar,4,false

inside console :

osgi> ss axis2

Framework is launched.

id      State       Bundle
24      <<LAZY>>    org.apache.axis2.eclipse.codegen.plugin_1.6.2
25      ACTIVE      org.apache.axis2.eclipse.service.plugin_1.6.2
461     <<LAZY>>    org.eclipse.jst.ws.axis2.consumption.core_1.0.105.v201004211
805
462     <<LAZY>>    org.eclipse.jst.ws.axis2.consumption.ui_1.0.103.v20100421180
5
463     <<LAZY>>    org.eclipse.jst.ws.axis2.core_1.0.204.v201004211805
464     <<LAZY>>    org.eclipse.jst.ws.axis2.creation.core_1.0.106.v201004211805

465     <<LAZY>>    org.eclipse.jst.ws.axis2.creation.ui_1.0.104.v201004211805
466     <<LAZY>>    org.eclipse.jst.ws.axis2.ui_1.0.303.v201003110431
467     RESOLVED    org.eclipse.jst.ws.axis2.ui.doc.user_1.0.100.v201005192217

osgi> diag 25
reference:file:dropins/plugins/org.apache.axis2.eclipse.service.plugin_1.6.2.jar
 [25]
  No unresolved constraints.

osgi> diag 24
reference:file:dropins/plugins/org.apache.axis2.eclipse.codegen.plugin_1.6.2.jar
 [24]
  No unresolved constraints.

and i do not find a file .metadata\.plugins\org.eclipse.pde.core\org.eclipse.equinox.simpleconfigurator in my Eclipse Workspace

best regards

Answer 1

I've found the dropins catalog to not be that dependable to be honest. Sometimes it works perfectly, othertimes nothing you do will make it work. I've written a question regarding it, but no answer yet: Plugins in dropins-catalog are not found

What you can do is to check if the plugin is found at all, or if there are dependencies issue that will prevent it from starting. I usually recommend Dude, where's my bundle as a good starting point to understanding how the bundles work with their different states. The osgi console can be a useful tool to see if your plugins are loaded at all. I wrote a more elaborate answer to a question where I described how it works: https://stackoverflow.com/a/9885646/207764

Answer 2

As explained in the Axis2 documentation, you need to "extract the content of the plugins folder in the ZIP archive into the dropins folder (i.e. do not create a plugins folder under dropins)".