OpenRules utilizes the power of free open source Eclipse IDE, a de-facto standard project management tools for software developers within a Java-based development environment. OpenRules installation includes an Eclipse plug-in that makes OpenRules projects a natural part of the Eclipse development environment.

Eclipse with the OpenRules plug-ins allows software developers to create and maintain complex Java projects with extensive rules components.  Eclipse is used for code editing, debugging, and testing of rule projects within a single commonly known integrated development environment.

OpenRules has been designed to catch as many errors as possible in compile-rime vs run-time when it is too late.  Eclipse Plug-in diagnoses any errors in Excel-files before you even deploy or run your OpenRules-based application. 

To make sure that Eclipse control your OpenRules project, you have first to right-click to your project folder and "Add OpenRules Nature". You always can similarly "Remove OpenRules Nature".  To be validated, your main xls-files should be placed into an Eclipse source folder while all included files should be kept in regular folders.  OpenRules displays a diagnostic log with possible errors inside Eclipse Console.  The error messages include hyperlinks that will open the proper Excel file with a cursor located in a cell where the error occurred.

Besides error diagnostics, Eclipse naturally integrates OpenRules with its built-in version control mechanism for both Excel-based rules and related source code files.  With Eclipse, OpenRules customers may take advantage of highly reliable and user-friendly interfaces for two commonly used version control systems - Subversion and CVS.

By using OpenRules plug-in you can deploy business rules as Web Services from the Eclipse IDE and use them to smoothly integrate them with any Java or .NET applications. With a rich library of 3rd party Eclipse tools, your rules-based application will be enhanced by leading modeling, reporting and monitoring tools.