About Profiles
Profiles offers a quick and easy way to create, share and install Eclipse setups. A profile is a "snapshot" of an Eclipse-Workspace combination containing plug-ins, including links to source code and task repositories as well as workspace settings for your team (e.g. project metadata and preferences, build server configurations, working sets).
Yatta Profiles is completely free and based on the Eclipse Oomph open source project. Profiles is meant to help you using Eclipse and to vitalize the Eclipse community. Whether you are Eclipse user, committer or developer, Profiles is here to help you develop great software.
Components
The Launcher
Lightweight desktop app to help you manage all your Eclipse installations: Install, start, update, share or uninstall any profile via the Launcher. See a list of all your Eclipse setups, no matter where the corresponding installation or workspace is located on your computer. The Launcher allows you to start, update, share, delete or uninstall any Eclipse setup. You can also rearrange your profile list via drag and drop to ensure quick access to your favorite profiles.
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Menu
Manage your Launcher: Sign in, change settings, create a profile, send feedback, or browse online profiles.
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Profile Options
A profile's options menu. Edit profile details, publish, update or delete a profile from here.
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Profile State
A cloud icon indicates that this profile is available online. Local profiles are shown with a folder icon. The color shows the current state of the profile: A red icon indicates a profile that is not installed locally. Installed profiles have a green icon. And orange means that the profile has pending changes - either an incoming update or local changes that you can publish. Check the profile menu for details.
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Add Profile List
Create additional profile lists to manage your profiles effectively. Drag and drop profiles between lists to organize them.
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Tags
You can use tags to organize your profiles and see at a glance what's in them. Tags also make your profiles easier to find on the Hub for yourself and others.
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Online Visibility
See who has access to your online profile: just you (private profile), a group of people you invited (group profile), or everyone (public profile).
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The Yatta Plug-In
Eclipse plug-in that lets you share and update your running Eclipse (profile) directly from within your IDE.
The Profiles Hub
The Profiles Hub is the hub for Eclipse profiles. As soon as you upload and share a profile, it will be available on the Profiles Hub. If you are searching for a profile that meets your requirements of your project - for example a certain set of plug-ins - the Profiles Hub is the place to visit. Use the search and filter functions to find what you are looking for. From the Profiles Hub, you can access any profile which is publicly available.
Profiles was designed to make starting new projects with Eclipse really simple - so go ahead and try it!
Features
Installation
- Download a profile and get a working Eclipse setup including the workspace.
- Turn any Eclipse installation into a profile.
- Install your Eclipse IDE and workspace on another device - and even on another operating system.
- Delete or uninstall obsolete profiles.
Sharing
- Deploy your Eclipse setup and workspace to your whole team, and get everyone ready to start coding in seconds.
- Create a group to privately share your profile with your team.
- Share your profile publically to build up your own community of followers.
- Export your profile locally and import it via the Launcher
Updates
- Synchronize versions of plug-ins and Eclipse releases – with your whole team or all your followers at once.
- Always get the latest updates for your profiles. Be it plug-ins or the latest Eclipse release, you never have to start from scratch again.
Management
- Start any profile directly from the Yatta Launcher or create your own desktop shortcuts.
- See the contents of your profile at a single glance.
- Rearrange your profile list via drag and drop to find your favorite profiles faster.
- Make your profile unique: Customize name, description, color and icon.
Refer to the FAQ to find out what is included in a profile.
Before you Start
You have two options to get started with Yatta Profiles:
- Download the Launcher
- Access Yatta Profiles from your running Eclipse
Download the Launcher
To get started with Yatta Profiles, Download the Launcher
Access Yatta Profiles from your running Eclipse
- In Eclipse, go to .
- Search for Yatta Profiles.
- Click .
- Follow on-screen instructions.
Start the Launcher
Windows
- Wait for the download to complete.
- Double-Click the Launcher Icon.
Linux
- Wait for the download to complete.
- Type the following command in a terminal: java -jar yatta-eclipse-launcher-linux-64.jar
Mac OS
- Wait for the download to complete.
- Double-click the downloaded file and drag the Launcher Icon to your applications folder.
Launch Eclipse
The Launcher shows all your Eclipse workspace combinations (profiles) in a comprehensive list. To launch Eclipse, just click on a list entry.
Install a Profile
To install a profile, you need a link to a profile page. You can ask your teammates or friends - or you can search for a profile at the Profiles Hub.
To install a profile:
- Follow the link to the profile page, or discover a profile.
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On the profile page, click
.
Note: If you don’t have the Launcher yet, it will download now. After the download is complete, start the Launcher to complete the profile’s installation.The Launcher asks you to confirm profile installation.
- Click
Optional: You can edit the profile's settings before you start the installation process.
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Change your profile's icon.
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Rename your profile: Give it a unique and descriptive name to make it instantly recognizable.
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Add tags to organize your profiles and describe their contents at a glance
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Information about the profile's parent
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Choose Eclipse path.
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Choose workspace directory.
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After a moment, the License Confirmation Window pops up. Make sure to read the License Agreements before you accept and proceed. After you accept the terms, the Launcher downloads the profile, installs it, and starts Eclipse.
Once Eclipse has opened, the workspace will be set up. In the meantime you can:
- Review information provided by the profile's author.
- Access the setup wizard.
- Further customize your environment.
Refer to the Almost Complete page displayed in Eclipse for more information.
The installed profile appears in the Launcher’s profile list. From now on, you can launch it directly from there. Congratulations, you are ready to start coding!
Create a Profile
Use the Install Wizard to create a simple no-fuss installer for your specific Eclipse IDE setup.
The steps below show you how to use the Install Wizard to select individual Eclipse IDE components to include in your installer.
Alternatively, you can also install an existing Profile from the Profile Hub or import an exported profile.
Step-by-step
- Open the Launcher. To start the Install Wizard, select from the main menu Create Eclipse Profile.
Tip: you can also access this option at any time using the side menu:
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In the first Wizard step, select your desired programming language by clicking one of the tiles:
After selecting a programming language, click Continue to proceed to the next step.
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Next, select your desired framework by clicking one of the available tiles again and then Continue to proceed.
Tip: jump back any time to a previously completed step by clicking them in the Wizard navigation:
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Select your preferred version control system.
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Finally, choose your build support tool (optional).
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Now you have selected all key components of your IDE, review them in the summary.
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On this step, you have the following options:
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Profile name: the automatically suggested name is based on your selected components, but you can change this to anything you like.
We recommend keeping it descriptive, especially if you want to share your Profile on the Profile Hub.
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Edit tags: add or delete tags which are relevant to your Profile. Click a cross icon x to delete a suggested tag, or click +add tag to add one of your own.
Tags help other users find your profile on the Hub if you should to upload and share your profile.
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Edit location: change the default path for the Eclipse installation and your workspace folder.
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View profile summary: click the + icons to expand and view the different categories of your profile content such as installed plugins, or settings.
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Update notifications: enable this option to automatically be alerted about updates for your profile and any of your selected components.
Note: All combinations of components in the Install Wizard are featured by Yatta: we review all updates to ensure compatibility of all combinations including stability and performance.
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- When you are ready to proceed with the installation, click Install. Now relax - the Launcher takes care of the rest!
Upload a Profile
Your profiles don't have to remain limited to your hard drive forever. You can create an online backup of a profile just for yourself, or you can share a profile with a selected group or with the community.
Before you start:
Sign in with your Yatta Account – or create one.
To upload your profile:
- Open the Launcher.
- Find the profile you want to upload in your profile list.
- Open the options menu.
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Select
.
The Launcher shows you a list with your profile’s contents for review:
Tip: This would be a good moment to review the tags on your profile. Meaningful tags help you keep track of your local profiles and let others find and follow your public profiles more easily. - Select again to confirm.
Your system browser opens and shows your profile's detail page. Back in the Launcher, the status symbol of your profile has changed from a folder to a cloud to indicate that your profile is now online.
From now on, you can access your profile from the Profiles Hub - for example to reinstall it on another machine, or to share it with your team or the community.
Tip: Take a moment when your profile opens in the browser and give it a good description. This will make it much easier for others to work with your profile when you share it.
Maybe add a few notes for any manual tasks that still have to be performed after the automatic setup. Or maybe explain how your contribution process works, or how to get write access to your project repositories.
You can use Markdown to format your profile description. You can also set a custom banner graphic and profile icon. Make your profile look nice to build your own follower base.
Share a Profile
If you want to make your profile available to others, you have different options to do so. You can share a profile and promote it publically - for example via e-mail or social media - or you can just quietly add it to the list of public profiles. You can also make your profile available to a select group of users, for example to your own development team, or you can use your online copy as a personal backup without ever telling anyone about it.
Before you start:
Before you can share your profile, you need to upload it to the Profiles Hub.
Change Visibility Settings
When you upload a profile to the Profiles Hub, you can decide who will have access to it.
Your profile has three visibility options available on the profile detail page:
- Private (default): Only you can access the profile detail page and re-download your profile.
- Group: You can define a group of people allowed to access the profile detail page and download your profile.
- Public: Anyone can access the profile detail page and download your profile.
To change the visibility settings:
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Go to the profile detail page at the Profiles Hub.
Tip: If you do not remember the link to your profile detail page, open your profile's options menu in the Launcher and select .
- Select a visibility option.
Share a profile publicly
Once you have a profile in your profile list, you can share it with others in many different ways, for example via e-mail, social media or within your project wiki.
You have two options to share your profile:
- from your running Eclipse
- via the Launcher
To share your profile from your running Eclipse:
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In the Eclipse toolbar, open the
context menu of the Yatta Plug-In.
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Click
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The profile will be uploaded to the Profiles Hub.
Congratulations, you have just sent your profile out into the world! Your friends and colleagues can now easily install it and work with your profile.
To share your profile via the Launcher:
- Open the Launcher.
- Find the profile you want to share in your profile list.
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Open the context menu and click .
- Review the profile to upload and choose your visibility settings.
- Upload the profile and follow the on-screen instructions.
Congratulations, you have just sent your profile out into the world! Your friends and colleagues can now easily install it and work with your profile.
Share a profile with a group
You can define a closed group of people allowed to access the profile detail page and to download your profile. This can come in handy when your profile contains sensitive information on your project, for example paths with the names of project partners. Defining a group makes sure only authorized users can access your profile.
To define a group:
- On the profile detail page, choose the visibility option .
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Enter the email addresses of new group members.
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Enter a domain, for example "@yourcompany.com", to grant access to all email addresses ending in "@yourcompany.com".
Your new group members are now authorized to access the profile detail page and download your profile. Every new group member receives an e-mail notification with the link to your profile detail page.
Import a Profile
To import a profile from a file you need a running Launcher. Once you have downloaded the Launcher and started it, you have 2 options to import and install your profile:
Drag & Drop
Navigate to the exported *.ep file in your file manager and drag the file onto the Launcher to trigger the installation.
This will open an install dialog where you can customize the profile name and icon, and change the locations for the Eclipse installation and workspace that we will set up for you.
Once you’re happy, confirm the install, lean back and let us take care of the rest.
File Navigator
In addition to drag&drop, you can use the Eclipse Launcher directly to install your profile. Follow the steps to create a new profile and choose the exported Eclipse profile as the source for your installation.
Manage Your Profiles
If you have more than one Eclipse installation, you may want to:
- create new profile lists, and manage their contents via drag and drop to find your favorite profiles faster,
- edit your profile settings, like name, subline and description,
- create desktop shortcuts for your favorite profiles,
- delete or uninstall a profile,
- sign in to the Profiles Hub to get an overview of all your public profiles,
- see how many people follow your public profile on the Profiles Hub.
Profile Status
To help you organize your profiles, the Launcher displays a status icon for each profile next to the profile's name.
| Icon | Status |
|---|---|
| local profile, installed on your computer | |
| online profile, installed on your computer | |
| local profile, never opened with the Launcher | |
| online profile, not installed on your computer | |
| local profile with incomming updates | |
| online profile with incomming or outgoing changes |
Create a desktop shortcut
If your profile list is just too long or if you use just one or two of the profiles listed in your Launcher actively, you might want to create desktop shortcuts to launch your favorites faster.
To create a desktop shortcut:
- Open the Launcher.
- Go to the profile's options menu.
- Select .
A shortcut appears on your desktop.
Edit Profile Settings
You can edit the defaults for parent directories for your local Eclipse installations and workspaces. You can still change to other directories for a single profile.
To edit default settings:
- Go to the Launcher's main menu.
- Click .
- Change the directory you wish to edit.
To edit settings for a single profile:
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Open the Profile’s Options menu.
- Click .
- Edit the settings you wish to change.
- Click .
You have the following options:
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Change your profile's icon.
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Rename your profile.
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Manage the tags of your profile
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Review the content of your profile
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Because the Eclipse is already installed, you cannot change the path. It's only to review the path of the Eclipse installtion.
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Review or change the workspace of your profile. You cannot change the workspace while your profile is running.
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Update a Profile
The Launcher will notify you if an update is available for a profile. At some point, you may also want to modify a profile and share your changes.
An update for the profile is available.
You have modified a profile yourself. Go on and publish your changes.
Publish your own changes or download an update.
To update your profile:
- Open the profile’s Options menu.
- Click .
To publish your changes:
- Open the profile’s Options menu.
- Click .
Delete a Profile
- Choose the profile you want to remove.
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In the profile’s Options menu,
click
.
The Launcher asks you to confirm profile deletion.
Checkbox uninstall Eclipse used with this profile
Remove the profile from the Launcher’s profile list. Your Eclipse installation remains untouched. (default)
Delete the profile and your corresponding Eclipse installation. - Click .
Frequently Asked Questions
In this section, we have collected some more or less common questions and solutions for problems you may encounter when you use Yatta Profiles. If you come across anything we have not covered, or if you have a tip that you think might be helpful for others, please notify us and we will try to include it.
Your Profile
All uploaded profiles are set to private by default. No one but you can see them or download them. To help you decide whether to upload or share your profile (be it with a group or publicly), have look at the contents included in a profile in the table below. It shows what exactly is uploaded to the Profiles Hub and what you share with others if you decide to change your profile's visibility from private to group or public.
If you are looking for a way to host your profiles in a private cloud or on premise, please contact us!
To help you decide whether to share your profile publically, the table below shows what exactly you will share with others when you send your profile out into the world.
Examples:
https://github.com/eclipse/yatta.git
https://${company_name}\${product_name}.git
Always check your paths before you
share a profile that might include such sensitive data.
| Shared | Not Shared |
|---|---|
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Plug-ins are not shared if
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Source code repositories (links):
|
|
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Local projects (if not shared in SCM like Git, SVN, etc.) |
|
Source code |
|
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Eclipse.ini memory settings:
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Yes. When you upload your profile, the visibility will be set to private by default. Once your profile is online, you can change it’s visibility settings.
You have three different visibility options: private, group and public. You can define a group to allow a limited number of people access to your profile, or set visibility to public to make it available to anyone.
Yes. You can install any profile on Windows, Linux or Mac operating systems. No matter on which operating system they were first authored.
We are also working on profiles for Eclipse-based Cloud IDEs.
Yes. You can define a target platform either in your projects or in the workspace preferences.
Define a target platform as part of your project so that the *.target file is committed to version control alongside your projects. Your target platform will be checked out and activated during workspace setup. In case you have defined a local target platform in the workspace preferences, your profile will contain the full target definition. It will be imported into the workspace preferences and activated during workspace setup.
- In the Eclipse toolbar, open the the context menu of the Yatta Plug-In.
- Select Record preferences.
Any preferences you change from now on will be included in your profile's setup information
No, you can export it via the Yatta Plug-In locally and share the file with your team.
To install the profile locally, just drop the exported file onto the Launcher window, or import it via "Create Profile" in the side menu.
Some content-filtering firewalls don't allow the download of certain files like executables. This might cause your profile installations to fail.
We are currently working on solutions for on-premise enterprise hosting options. Please contact us for more information.
You can also ask your network administrators to white-list the following URLs:
- http://cdn.yatta.de/update/profiles/yatta-eclipse-launcher-*
- http://cdn.yatta.de/eclipse-mirror/releases/*/*/binary/*
- http://cdn.yatta.de/eclipse-mirror/eclipse/updates/*/*/binary/*
- http://cdn.yatta.de/eclipse-mirror/technology/epp/packages/*/binary/*
This will help with the installation of most profiles, although some might still fail if they require executables from 3rd-party sites. Contact us if you need to assemble a whitelist for your profile.
On Profiles for Eclipse
Profiles is based on the Oomph framework, which means that at least some parts of Profiles are already open source (e.g. the Oomph Eclipse Installer’s UI). Parts of Profiles will, however, remain closed source.
There are two reasons for this: First, we’d like to make it as easy as possible for you to find what you are looking for. A scenario where dozens of different websites host hundreds of different profiles goes against the initial idea behind Profiles: to keep the community together and strengthen its’ centripetal force. That’s why we hope you will help us turn the Profiles Hub into a place for the community - by the community.
Second, if Profiles was to get open-sourced, we believe Profiles and the Profiles Hub should be hosted at eclipse.org. We are trying to find a solution with the Eclipse Foundation. If there is a possibility to host Profiles at eclipse.org and to integrate the Profiles Hub into the Eclipse Marketplace website, the complete Profiles UI – including the Profiles Launcher – could in fact become open source.
Account and User Data
No, not necessarily. You can install profiles or use the Launcher without registration (e.g. students installing a profile for their class or similar).
You do have to create an account if you want to upload and / or share a profile to the Profiles Hub, or if you want to access a group profile. If you upload a profile to the Profiles Hub you may want to update or delete it afterwards. Without an account linked to your profiles, you wouldn't be able to do that. If you want to access a group profile, the profile author needs to authorize you first. Without an account, it would be hard to determine if you are allowed to access a profile.
For the moment, please send an email to profiles@yatta.de . We will make the changes for you.
We are working on a number of community features to create more possibilities to make the Profiles Hub a real community platform driven by Eclipse developers. As this is a work in progress, your account only consists of a username and an email address. In the future we will provide you with more features, like links to your homepage, project or corporate website, a system for commenting and rating profiles, personal notifications and many others.
For the moment, please send an email to profiles@yatta.de . We will delete your account for you.
Before you leave: Profiles is a free project for the community. We are actively working on improving the Eclipse IDE. Tell us what you think and help making Eclipse an even better IDE.
When you visit our websites, the webserver stores certain data in log files, for example the times when you start and cease visiting our websites or the subpages you called up.
Furthermore, our website uses Google Analytics. Google Analytics uses cookies (text files which are placed on your computer). For more information on log files and cookies, please refer to our Privacy Policy , specifically sections:
2.2 Provision of “Yatta Profiles”2.4 Use of our website
2.5 Google Analytics and Cookies
The Launcher
Usually, proxy detection works automatically. If this isn’t the case and you’re unable to install an Eclipse profile, you can configure the proxy manually in the Launcher Settings.
- Open the Launcher's side menu and choose .
- Go to .
- Activate Manual Configuration.
- Enter proxy information and your credentials.
- Save your changes.
That's it. You're ready to install your first profile.
Try checking your Java Version. Please install JRE 1.7 or above. Also check if you have the right version for your operating system installed (32bit or 64bit).
If the problem persist, please contact our support.
The exporter plug-in (or Yatta Plug-In) is necessary to export your profile's setup data so you can share it and push updates. Due to incompatibilities with existing plug-ins, the exporter plug-in sometimes fails to install when you launch a local profile for the first time.
To resolve the issue, try to install the plug-in manually from the Eclipse Marketplace.
Open the main menu and select Edit Launcher Settings. Select Uninstall the Launcher.
Uninstalling will remove all files associated with the Launcher - but your Eclipse installations or workspaces won't be affected by uninstalling the Launcher. They will remain in their installation directory. The Yatta Plug-In will remain in the Eclipse toolbar. You can remove it separately like any other Eclipse plug-in.
To uninstall the Launcher follow the steps listed below.
If you have never changed the default installation directory, you can find your Eclipse installations here:
Windows:
%localappdata%\Yatta\Launcher\installations
Linux:
/home/USER/.local/share/Yatta/Launcher
Mac:
/Users/USER/Library/Application Support/Yatta/Launcher
- Hover the mouse over any edge of the window until the pointer changes to a ⇿ symbol, then left click and drag the mouse either inwards or outwards.
- Alternatively, hold the CTRL key and press either + or - to incrementally increase or reduce the window size.
Congratulations
If you have read this guide from beginning to end, you now know everything Profiles has to offer. And there is more to come: We are continously working on improving Profiles and the Eclipse IDE.
Should you come across anything we have not covered, if you have a feature request or any other wishes, don't hesitate to get in touch with us. We are looking forward to your feedback. And we are happy to work with anyone who helps making Eclipse the best development platform imaginable!