Hovden Data Laboratory

It worked like a charm for me: 1) Surf to the Maven site and expand the zip onto your computer. 2) Open a windows command shell with "cmd" and set JAVA_HOME and M2_HOME 3) Read Maven in 5 minutes for exact commands for the following tests: a) Create a project. Note you need to run mvn.bat and the project folders will be created in your current directory. Check out the pom.xml file that Maven created for you as well. The SpringSource Tools Suite (STS) comes with a Maven plugin installed. In other cases, you will need to extend eclipse with m2eclipse plugin, from m2eclipse update site STS  also comes with the book "Maven: The Definitive Guide" accessible through Help / Contents.

Recently returned from a Spring Core course, I should be able to set up such an environment in a breeze, wouldn't you think? Not so. The course did not cover this part, so I am left to an individual trial and error method. The STS tool is easily downloaded and installed. Being a veteran Eclipse user, I have no problem with this part. Importing a lab exercise from course proved much more of a challenge. I am sure there are a more elegant way than adding every dependent jar to the build path.  I cannot get the "Fix project setup" shortcut to work. Hm....  Work in progress!