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FRC Robot Programming

Eclipse and WPILib

Most FRC teams that use Java or C++ for their robot use WPILib, which allows you to develop software for your robot.

There are other people that use Python for their robots, but I will be teaching you C++ in this book, so we'll stick to the 'standard procedure'.

Step 1: Downloading

  • Java SE, to be able to run Eclipse and some of the WPILib utilities. Click here to download it, I would recommend you to download the 64-bit version.

  • Eclipse IDE, to develop, test and deploy software for your robot. Click here to download it. Note that we will be using a little older version (Luna) because the latest version does not play very well with the WPILib plugin.

  • The FRC Toolchain, which allows you to compile C/C++ programs for the roboRIO platform. Click here to download it.

Step 2: Installing

  1. We highly recommend you to install Java first. Eclipse requires it for running.

  2. Extract Eclipse were you want. We recommend you to extract it in "Program Files" (Windows) and create a short-cut in your start menu. Mac users should copy the extracted files in your "Applications" folder. If you are a Linux user, place the extracted contents in the /opt folder and create a *.desktop file in your /usr/share/applications folder.

  3. If you haven't done so, install the FRC Toolchain by opening the downloaded package.

Step 3: Configuring Eclipse

  1. Open Eclipse, it may ask you to specify were you want to place your workspace settings. Generally, the default settings should suffice most users.

  2. Now that you have the IDE window open, navigate to the menubar and look for Help → Install new Software...

  3. A new dialog should show up. Click on the "Add" button.

  4. Another smaller dialog should appear:

  5. Click on the "Ok" button and select the "WPILib Robot Development" checkbox.

  6. Follow the wizard to download and install the plugins. Eclipse may warn you that the packages contain unsigned content, if so, ignore the message and click on the "Ok" button.

Step 4: Configure WPILib for your team

Once you have installed the plugins and restarted Eclipse:

  1. Navigate to Window → Preferences
  2. A window will show up, navigate to the "WPILib Plugin" tab.
  3. Make sure to input your team number in the required fields. This step is important if you want to deploy your code to the robot.