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Download and Installation

        Installation of Standalone OpenRules
          Installation of Eclipse-based OpenRules
                    Step 1. Downloading OpenRules Plugin
                    Step 2. Installing OpenRules Configuration Projects
                    Step 3. Installing OpenRules Sample Projects
                    Step 4. Creating New OpenRules Projects
 

We assume that you have already installed Java 2 Standard Edition: J2SE SDK 1.4, 1.5 or higher and the environment variable JAVA_HOME is properly set (for example, for Windows it is typically set as JAVA_HOME=C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.5.0_05). You also should have Apache Ant 1.6 or higher installed and the ANT_HOME variable set.

Installation of Standalone OpenRules   

You may download a free standalone version of OpenRules from http://www.openrules.com/download.htm.  It contains one zip file "openrules_<version>.console.zip" that should be unzipped into your working directory, for example into C:\OpenRules.  A subdirectory openrules_<version> will be created.  It includes a subdirectory for every configuration or sample project included into the current OpenRules installation.

You are ready to start working with OpenRules' sample projects using just the Windows Explorer ("file manager").  If you are not familiar with Eclipse and if you do not want to install it at this point, just start with this straight-forward version of OpenRules.  To begin, open any subdirectory  like "HelloRules" and double-click to run.bat to execute the rules.  Look at the Excel file "Hello.xls" to see how the rules are organized.  Continue with the Getting Started document.

Feel free to contact OpenRules support at support@openrules.com with any questions or issues you may have.

Installation of Eclipse-based OpenRules

OpenRules includes a powerful Integrated Development Environment (IDE) that enables software developers to support and integrate complex rule projects. OpenRules Graphical IDE is implemented as a Plug-In for the de-facto standard Eclipse IDE . If you have not yet installed the free Eclipse, before proceeding install it from here.

Step 1. Downloading OpenRules Plugin

  1. Start your Eclipse IDE and turn off the mode "Build Automatically" in you Project menu. Choose Help + Software Updates + Find and Install.
  2. In the Install/Update window, select "Search for new features to install" and click "Next".
  3. In the "Update sites to visit" window, select "New Remote Site" and enter the following parameters:
            Name: OpenRules
            URL:   http://openrules.com/downloads/protected/eclipse for OpenRules-5 (you will be asked ID and Password) or
                       http://openrules.com/downloads/eclipse for a free evaluation version that corresponds to OpenRules-3.
    If you unable to access this URL, you should probably check your Eclipse HTTP Proxy settings using Windows+Preferences+Install/Update.
  4. Expand OpenRules site and choose the latest release OpenRules x.x.x. In the "Search Results" window, select "OpenRules x.x.x", and click "Next".
  5. In the "Feature License" window, accept the GPL license agreement and click "Next"
  6. In the "Install Location" window, click "Finish" and then in the "Feature Verification" window click "Install".  Wait for Eclipse to download all OpenRules plugins and features (~7Mb).  When the download is complete, answer "Yes" to the suggestion to restart your Eclipse workbench.

If you installed OpenRules earlier, the simplest way to upgrade is the following one:

  1. Close Eclipse.
  2. Using a file manager delete all subdirectories that start with the words "com.openrules" from your Eclipse directories "features" (1) and "plugins" (2)
  3. Inside your Eclipse workspace delete the old OpenRules configuration project "openrules.config" (just in case you may first copy it to a safe place)
  4. Start Eclipse and follow the download instructions above.

Step 2. Installing OpenRules Configuration Projects  ►top

Now you have to add different OpenRules configuration project(s) to your Eclipse workspace.  Initially you will need only one configuration project "openrules.config" described here.  Here are the installation steps:

  1. Select the Eclipse menu File + New + Project

  2. Select an OpenRules project, Category "Configurations" and the first project "Main Configuration Project -openrules.config".  Click "Next" like as shown below:


     

  3. In the new "Main Configuration Project" window click "Finish" without changing the project name "openrules.config".

You do not need to add other configuration projects until you want to make changes in the standard OpenRules Tools library "com.openrules.tools" or start working with a Web-based application that uses Forms library "openrules.forms.lib".

Step 3. Installing OpenRules Sample Projects  ►top

Now you may want to add different OpenRules sample projects to your Eclipse workspace.  The complete list of sample projects included in the latest OpenRules's installation is described here.  You may add all sample projects from categories "Hello Examples", "JSR94", and "Other Examples" in the same way as you have added the "openrules.config" project.

Step 4. Creating New OpenRules Projects  ►top

To add a new project, you can copy one of the provided sample projects or you can use project templates. From the Eclipse menu File + New + Project you can choose a project type from 3 options:

Read the Getting Started section to learn how to work with the provided sample projects.

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