If you are using GWT and Eclipse, you are probably using some Eclipse plugin. Mostly Googlipse or the new Cypal Studio for GWT. Apart from the bug fixes, there are two more reasons to migrate from Googlipse to Cypal Studio for GWT. One is the support for WTP 2.0 and the other is the ability to create a WAR file in command line (works only with WTP 2.0).
Earlier to create a WAR file, you can go to File->Export->WAR and do it. But the trouble is it cannot be done in automated build. So people managed to have a ant based build scripts to do that. The script will essentially, compile java code (server side), invoke the GWT compiler and then copy all the the required files and make a WAR from them. The trouble is whenever a new module is added, you need to change the script. Whenever you add a new source folder in your project, you need to change the script, ... Basically you have two different places to make changes - one in the Eclipse configuration and the other in the build script.
Welcome to Cypal Studio for GWT. Now you can eliminate those ant scripts and let Cypal Studio for GWT do the job in command line as well. So all the configurations that you've done in your Eclipse will be in effect in command line also. Here is how you do it:
Many don't know that Eclipse can be run in command line. You have to specify the workspace(-data), an application id(-application) and the application specific parameters. In our case the application id would be "in.cypal.studio.gwt.core.ExportWar". It takes two parameters: one is the project name (-project) and the other is the destination to store the WAR file (-dest).
Assuming you have the launcher jar in the class path, the command line would be something like:
java -jar org.eclipse.equinox.launcher_1.0.0.v20070606.jar -data C:\workspace -application in.cypal.studio.gwt.core.ExportWar -project myGwtProject -dest C:\deployMe.war
This would compile your java source files and also invoke the GWT compiler for you. Simple isn't it?
The equinox launcher jar would be located in your eclipse\plugins directory. The version of the jar might change, if you update to a latest version of the Eclipse. If you want to untie the version number from your build scripts and use a more generic script, Eclipse has a nice wiki page, which should help you: Starting Eclipse in CommandLine with Equinox Launcher
