Eclipse Update is able to search for updates to the installed features on a periodic basis 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.

Scheduling 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:

• No automatic search
• On each startup (default)
• Every day at a specific time (i.e. 3:00PM) *
• On a scheduled day of the week at a specific time (i.e. Monday 8:00AM) *

* 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

Downloading options

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:

• Search for updates and notify when they are available (default)
• Download new updates automatically and notify when ready to install them

In both cases, Update scheduler will create and initiate a search job 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.

Search and notify

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]

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>Find and Install.

If 'No' is pressed, dialog will close and the updates ignored.

Download new updates

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]

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).

If you choose not to install the downloaded features, but later launch the Find and Install wizard for updating, the downloaded files will be reused (they're cached), unless there are newer versions on the server or you have restarted eclipse.

Updating features with the update manager