Before you can customize Alfresco, you need to get your development environment in order. In this chapter, you'll learn how to get the Software Development Kit (SDK) set up in Eclipse, how to build and deploy customizations, helpful debugging tips, and the cleanest and quickest way to "reset" your Alfresco sandbox. The chapter includes an example that shows how to package and deploy some extremely basic customizations just to get your feet wet. Specifically, you are going to learn:
Where to get the Alfresco SDK, how to build it, and how to set it up in Eclipse
How to extend Alfresco without modifying the Alfresco source code or configuration
How to package and deploy your customizations
How to use the Eclipse debugger and log4j to troubleshoot problems
How to start clean for testing or debugging purposes
This book assumes you already have Alfresco installed and running on Tomcat, and are also using MySQL as the backend database; but that's up to you. If...