This document describes the new Eclipse 3.0 capability to automatically detect and install feature updates. The capability is part of the plan item Improve Update Manager search.
Eclipse Update will be able to search for updates to the installed features on a periodic bases without user assistance. The way this search is performed will be configurable by the user via the preference page. Users will be able to configure scheduling and downloading options.
Each time an Eclipse-based product starts, update scheduler plug-in will activate based on the chosen scheduling. Users will be able to choose between:
* assuming the application is active. If the application is not active at a scheduled time and the search is past due, it will immediately start on the next startup
Scheduling options define occurrence of the automated search but do not define what is actually happening when the search is due. Downloading options control this behavior (this set of options is disabled if automatic search is turned off). Users can choose between:
In both cases, Update scheduler will create and initiate a search job (using the new scheduling API from Platform Core) that will execute in the background when it is due based on the scheduling options. There will be no messages if no updates were found. If there are updates, the behavior will depend on the selected downloading option.
If search only is selected, a message box will open, notifying user that new updates have been found:
New updates have been found for this product. Do you want to download them?
[Yes] [No] [Later]
If 'Yes' is pressed, a Update wizard will open, listing detected updates. The same wizard is used when search for updates has been manually initiated using Help>Software Updates>New Updates.
If 'No' is pressed, dialog will close. If 'Later' is pressed, another dialog will pop up allowing you to define when exactly to remind you: in 5 minutes, in an hour, tomorrow etc. If you select something and press [OK], that will close both the 'Later' dialog and the original message box. If 'Cancel' is pressed, the 'Later' dialog will close while the message box will stay opened.
If the second option has been selected (download updates automatically), the search job will be scheduled as before, but when new updates are found, the download will commence immediately. When all the features have been successfully downloaded into the temp. space, a different message box will show up:
New updates have been found and downloaded. Do you want to install them?
[Yes] [No] [Later]
If 'No' is pressed, dialog will close and all the data in the temporary space will be deleted. If 'Yes' is pressed, installation will commence (only a progress monitor will be shown - no wizards). 'Later' acts as described above.
When 'Later' option is chosen (in both cases) and the chosen interval expires, a dialog will pop up to remind you about the pending updates. The message will be the same for both options:
There are pending updates waiting to be installed. Do you want to install them now?
[Yes] [No] [Later]
Install can be accepted (Yes), definitely declined (No) or postponed again (Later).