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How to Install Java Decompiler as a RAD Plugin

It can be a time consuming, multi-step process to manually locate jar files and decompile Java classes one by one using Java decompiler (jd-gui).

When we engineers decompile java class files, we generally go through many interconnected class files. So, without a decompiler plugin, you must locate each of the class files and then open them one by one using your java decompiler program.  By using a RAD plugin, you can save valuable time and manual steps that can be better spent coming up with great solutions for your clients!

With the Jadeclipse plugin, you only need to highlight the filename, hit F3 and it will decompile directly in RAD.  No more need to perform many steps to decompile all your files!

After some searching and testing, I figured out how to install Jadeclipse as a plugin for RAD. I am using RAD version 7.5.5.5 but it should work for other versions as well.

Here are the steps to follow:

  1. Download Jad.exe and extract the content to the desired folder.  For example: C:\Jad
  2. Download the Jadclipse plugin (search for the latest versions of the download) and keep that under C:\Program Files\IBM\SDP\plugins
  3. Create the shortcut for RAD; Right click on the RAD shortcut and select “properties”; On the “Target” add the -clean at the end as you see below:
    “C:\Program Files\IBM\SDP\eclipse.exe” -product com.ibm.rational.rad.product.v75.ide -clean
    The clean command refreshes the recently added plugins to the RAD
  4. Now go to “Windows->Preferences->Java->Jadclipse” and configure “Path to decompiler” to C:\Jad\jad.exe
  5. Then go to “Windows->Preferences->General->Editors->File Associations, highlight “.class” and set the default option with jadclipse.

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