Visual Servoing Platform  version 3.5.0 under development (2022-02-15)
Tutorial: Installing ViSP for Java

Introduction

At this point we suppose that you succeed to build ViSP from source following one Installation from source code tutorials.

This tutorial will help you to build ViSP from source for Java on your desktop. It shows how to proceed if your desktop is running Linux, OSX or Windows.

Create a workspace

First create a workspace in $HOME/visp-ws that will contain ViSP sources, build and dataset.

$ export VISP_WS=$HOME/visp-ws
$ mkdir -p $VISP_WS

Install Java Development Kit (JDK)

Note
At the time this tutorial was updated, the lastest Java SE Development Kit (JDK) is version 17. There is also JDK 15 LTS that could be used. Here we recall How to uninstall JDK if you need to upgrade or downgrade JDK version.

On Ubuntu or Debian platform

From the Oracle website, download jdk-17_linux-x64_bin.tar.gz. After JDK download and extraction of the files from the archive, you may set JAVA_HOME environment var to help cmake to detect JDK.

$ cd Downloads
$ tar xvzf jdk-17_linux-x64_bin.tar.gz -C $VISP_WS
$ echo 'export JAVA_HOME=$VISP_VS/jdk-17.0.2' >> ~/.bashrc
$ echo 'export PATH=${JAVA_HOME}/bin:${PATH}' >> ~/.bashrc
$ source ~/.bashrc

After installation check JDK version:

$ java --version
java 17.0.2 2022-01-18 LTS

On Mac OSX platform

Warning
On macOS Catalina 10.15.7 with Xcode 12.4, the installation of JDK 11 or 15 from the Oracle website by downloading and installing jdk-11.0.10_osx-x64_bin.dmg or jdk-15.0.2_osx-x64_bin.dmg doesn't allow the detection of JNI necessary to build visp_java.jar. That's why we recommend to install JDK using brew.
$ more ViSP-third-party.txt
  ...
  Java:
    ant:                         /usr/local/bin/ant (ver 1.10.9)
    JNI:                         no
Note
If you already have an old JDK version you may remove it before installing OpenJDK:
$ ls /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/
jdk-11.0.10.jdk
Here it shows that jdk-11.0.10 is installed. To remove this version, see How to uninstall JDK.

To install OpenJDK with brew:

  • run:
    $ brew install openjdk
    
  • To know which version is installed:
    $ brew info openjdk
    openjdk: stable 17.0.1 (bottled) [keg-only]
    
  • Now for the system Java wrappers to find this JDK, symlink it with:
    $ sudo ln -sfn /usr/local/opt/openjdk/libexec/openjdk.jdk /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/openjdk.jdk
    
  • Set JAVA_HOME env var to help JNI headers and libraries detection
    $ echo 'export JAVA_HOME=$(/usr/libexec/java_home)' >> ~/.bashrc
    $ source ~/.bashrc
    
  • After installation check JDK version:
    $ java --version
    openjdk 17.0.1 2021-10-19
    

On Windows platform

From the Oracle website, download jdk-17_windows-x64_bin.exe and run the binary. In order to make java.exe available, we had also to add its location C:\Program Files\Java\jdk-17.0.2\bin to the %PATH% environment variable.

After installation check JDK version:

C:\> java -version
java version 17.0.2 2022-01-18

Install the latest Eclipse version

Download the latest Eclipse version at the Eclipse Download page choosing the Eclipse IDE for Java Developers version. You don’t need to install anything. Extract the downloaded compressed file and put the resulting folder wherever you want to, for example in $VISP_WS/eclipse.

Install Prerequisites

To build ViSP for java you have also to install CMake, Apache Ant, and Python 3. If you don’t have any of these do the following:

  • On Ubuntu/Debian you may run:
    $ sudo apt-get install cmake-curses-gui ant python3
    
  • On Fedora/CentOS you may run:
    $ sudo dnf install gcc-c++ cmake ant python3
    
  • On MacOS/OSX you may run:
    $ brew install cmake ant python3
    
  • On Windows,
    • Download the latest CMake release for Windows win64-x64 platform from http://www.cmake.org. At the time this tutorial was written it was the file cmake-3.22.1-windows-x86_64.msi. To install just double click on the msi file.
    • Download the latest Python 3 release for Windows from https://www.python.org/downloads/. At the time this tutorial was written, it was Python 3.10.2.
    • There is also Apache Ant that is needed. It comes with Eclipse installation, thus here we need to set ANT_DIR environment variable to help ant.bat file detection by ViSP. You can determine the location easely entering Eclipse installation folder:
        C:\> cd %VISP_WS%\eclipse
        C:\> dir /s /b | findstr /i ant.bat
        C:\visp-ws\eclipse\plugins\org.apache.ant_1.10.12.v20211102-1452\bin\ant.bat
      and then set ANT_DIR accordingly like:
        C:\> setx ANT_DIR "%VISP_WS%\eclipse\plugins\org.apache.ant_1.10.12.v20211102-1452\bin"

Build ViSP from source code

Getting ViSP source code

There are different ways to get ViSP source code:

  • You can download the latest release as a zip or a tarball. Once downloaded, uncompress the file using either
    $ tar xvzf visp-x.y.z.tar.gz -C $VISP_WS
    
    or
    $ unzip visp-x.y.z.zip -d $VISP_WS
    
  • You can also download a daily snapshot. Once downloaded, uncompress the file using
    $ tar xvzf visp-snapshot-yyyy-mm-dd.tar.gz -C $VISP_WS
    
  • Or you get the cutting-edge ViSP from GitHub repository using the following command
    $ cd $VISP_WS
    $ git clone https://github.com/lagadic/visp.git
    

We suppose now that ViSP source is in the directory $VISP_WS/visp. The following should be adapted if you downloaded ViSP from a zip or tarball. In that case, the source is rather in something like $VISP_WS/visp-x.y.z.

Configuring ViSP from source

  • In the workspace, create first a directory named visp-build that will contain all the build material; generated Makefiles or Visual Studio Solution files, object files, output libraries and binaries once build is done, and in a second stage configure ViSP using CMake.
    • On Ubuntu/Debian like and on macOS
      $ mkdir $VISP_WS/visp-build
      $ cd $VISP_WS/visp-build
      $ cmake ../visp
      
    • On Windows
      C:\> mkdir %VISP_WS%\visp-build
      C:\> cd %VISP_WS%\visp-build
      C:\> cmake -G "Visual Studio 17 2022" -A "x64" %VISP_WS%\visp
      
  • At this point, in $VISP_WS/visp-build/ViSP-third-party.txt you should find something similar to the following snapshot that shows that python, ant and JNI are found:

    • On Ubuntu/Debian like
      $ more ViSP-third-party.txt
      ==========================================================
      General configuration information for ViSP 3.4.1
      
        Version control:               v3.4.0-327-g4f1a80bfa-dirty
      
        Platform:
          Timestamp:                   2022-01-27T17:32:54Z
          Host:                        Linux 5.4.0-96-generic x86_64
          CMake:                       3.16.3
          CMake generator:             Unix Makefiles
          CMake build tool:            /usr/bin/make
          Configuration:               Release
      
        C/C++:
          Built as dynamic libs?:      yes
          C++ Compiler:                /usr/bin/c++  (ver 9.3.0)
          C++ flags (Release):         -Wall -Wextra -fopenmp -std=c++14 -fvisibility=hidden -msse2 -msse3 -mssse3 -fPIC -O3 -DNDEBUG
          C++ flags (Debug):           -Wall -Wextra -fopenmp -std=c++14 -fvisibility=hidden -msse2 -msse3 -mssse3 -fPIC -g
          C Compiler:                  /usr/bin/cc
          C flags (Release):           -Wall -Wextra -fopenmp -std=c++14 -fvisibility=hidden -msse2 -msse3 -mssse3 -fPIC -O3 -DNDEBUG
          C flags (Debug):             -Wall -Wextra -fopenmp -std=c++14 -fvisibility=hidden -msse2 -msse3 -mssse3 -fPIC -g
          Linker flags (Release):
          Linker flags (Debug):
      
        ViSP modules:
          To be built:                 core gui imgproc io java_bindings_generator klt me sensor ar blob robot visual_features vs vision detection mbt tt tt_mi java
          Disabled:                    -
          Disabled by dependency:      -
          Unavailable:                 -
      
        Python (for build):            /usr/bin/python3.8
      
        Java:
          ant:                         /usr/bin/ant (ver 1.10.7)
          JNI:                         $VISP_WS/jdk-17.0.2/include /home/rainbow/soft/java/jdk-17.0.2/include/linux /home/rainbow/soft/java/jdk-17.0.2/include
      
    • On macOS
      $ more ViSP-third-party.txt
      ==========================================================
      General configuration information for ViSP 3.4.1
      
        Version control:               v3.4.0-328-g011e5bc43-dirty
      
        Platform:
          Timestamp:                   2022-01-28T07:18:34Z
          Host:                        Darwin 20.6.0 x86_64
          CMake:                       3.22.2
          CMake generator:             Unix Makefiles
          CMake build tool:            /usr/bin/make
          Configuration:               Release
      
        C/C++:
          Built as dynamic libs?:      yes
          C++ Compiler:                /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Toolchains/XcodeDefault.xctoolchain/usr/bin/c++  (ver 13.0.0.13000029)
          C++ flags (Release):         -Wall -Wextra -Xclang -fopenmp -std=c++14 -fvisibility=hidden -msse2 -msse3 -mssse3 -fPIC -O3 -DNDEBUG
          C++ flags (Debug):           -Wall -Wextra -Xclang -fopenmp -std=c++14 -fvisibility=hidden -msse2 -msse3 -mssse3 -fPIC -g
          C Compiler:                  /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Toolchains/XcodeDefault.xctoolchain/usr/bin/cc
          C flags (Release):           -Wall -Wextra -Xclang -fopenmp -std=c++14 -fvisibility=hidden -msse2 -msse3 -mssse3 -fPIC -O3 -DNDEBUG
          C flags (Debug):             -Wall -Wextra -Xclang -fopenmp -std=c++14 -fvisibility=hidden -msse2 -msse3 -mssse3 -fPIC -g
          Linker flags (Release):
          Linker flags (Debug):
      
        ViSP modules:
          To be built:                 core gui imgproc io java_bindings_generator klt me sensor ar blob robot visual_features vs vision detection mbt tt tt_mi java
          Disabled:                    -
          Disabled by dependency:      -
          Unavailable:                 -
      
        Python (for build):            /usr/bin/python
      
        Java:
          ant:                         /usr/local/bin/ant (ver 1.10.12)
          JNI:                         /usr/local/Cellar/openjdk/17.0.1_1/libexec/openjdk.jdk/Contents/Home/include /usr/local/Cellar/openjdk/17.0.1_1/libexec/openjdk.jdk/Contents/Home/include/darwin /usr/local/Cellar/openjdk/17.0.1_1/libexec/openjdk.jdk/Contents/Home/include
      
    • On Windows
      C:\> type ViSP-third-party.txt
      ==========================================================
      General configuration information for ViSP 3.4.1
      
        Version control:               v3.4.0-334-g43ca93e97
      
        Platform:
          Timestamp:                   2022-01-29T16:07:10Z
          Host:                        Windows 10.0.17763 AMD64
          CMake:                       3.22.1
          CMake generator:             Visual Studio 17 2022
          CMake build tool:            C:/Program Files/Microsoft Visual Studio/2022/Community/MSBuild/Current/Bin/amd64/MSBuild.exe
          MSVC:                        1930
      
        C/C++:
          Built as dynamic libs?:      yes
          C++ Compiler:                C:/Program Files/Microsoft Visual Studio/2022/Community/VC/Tools/MSVC/14.30.30705/bin/Hostx64/x64/cl.exe  (ver 19.30.30706.0)
          C++ flags (Release):         /DWIN32 /D_WINDOWS /W3 /GR /EHsc /MP3   /EHa -openmp /Gy /bigobj /MD /O2 /Ob2 /DNDEBUG
          C++ flags (Debug):           /DWIN32 /D_WINDOWS /W3 /GR /EHsc /MP3   /EHa -openmp /Gy /bigobj /MDd /Zi /Ob0 /Od /RTC1
          C Compiler:                  C:/Program Files/Microsoft Visual Studio/2022/Community/VC/Tools/MSVC/14.30.30705/bin/Hostx64/x64/cl.exe
          C flags (Release):           /DWIN32 /D_WINDOWS /W3   /MP3   /EHa -openmp /MD /O2 /Ob2 /DNDEBUG
          C flags (Debug):             /DWIN32 /D_WINDOWS /W3   /MP3   /EHa -openmp /MDd /Zi /Ob0 /Od /RTC1
          Linker flags (Release):      /machine:x64 /INCREMENTAL:NO
          Linker flags (Debug):        /machine:x64 /debug /INCREMENTAL /ignore:4099
      
        ViSP modules:
          To be built:                 core gui imgproc io java_bindings_generator klt me sensor ar blob robot visual_features vs vision detection mbt tt tt_mi java
          Disabled:                    -
          Disabled by dependency:      -
          Unavailable:                 -
      
        Windows RT support:            no
      
        Python (for build):            C:/Users/chercheur/AppData/Local/Programs/Python/Python310/python.exe
      
        Java:
          ant:                         C:/visp-ws/eclipse/plugins/org.apache.ant_1.10.12.v20211102-1452/bin/ant.bat (ver 1.10.12)
          JNI:                         C:/Program Files/Java/jdk-17.0.2/include C:/Program Files/Java/jdk-17.0.2/include/win32 C:/Program Files/Java/jdk-17.0.2/include
      
    Note
    If JNI is not found (ie. the line starting with JNI: is empty), we recommend to do a fresh build removing all the files in the build folder and configuring again from scratch with CMake.

Building ViSP libraries

Depending on you platform, you can now build visp_java module:

  • On Ubuntu/Debian like, proceed with:
    $ cd $VISP_WS/visp-build
    $ make -j$(nproc) visp_java
    
  • On macOS, proceed with:
    $ cd $VISP_WS/visp-build
    $ make -j$(sysctl -n hw.ncpu) visp_java
    
  • On Windows, proceed with:
    C:\> cd %VISP_WS%\visp-build
    C:\> cmake --build . --config Release --target visp_java
    

Note that ViSP Java ARchive is now available in $VISP_WS/visp-build/bin/visp-340.jar.

Setting Up ViSP Java in Eclipse

Creating a user library

Open Eclipse and select a workspace location of your choice, for example in $VISP_WS/eclipse/eclipse-workspace and press Launch button.

img-tutorial-java-eclipse-workspace.jpg

Now we propose to create a ViSP user library ready to be used on all your next Java projects. To this end,

  • if you are on OS X enter "Eclipse > Preferences..." menu
  • otherwise enter "Window > Preferences" menu:
    img-tutorial-java-eclipse1.jpeg
    Open Preferences panel in Eclipse

In the Preferences panel navigate under "Java > Build Path > User Libraries" and choose New. Enter a name for the library (e.g visp) and press OK button.

img-tutorial-java-eclipse2.jpeg
Create a new User Library

Press "Add External JARs" button, browse to select $VISP_WS/visp-build/bin/visp-350.jar from your computer. After adding the jar, select "Native library location", press first "Edit", press "External Folder", browse to select the folder $VISP-WS/visp_build/lib containing ViSP libraries and finally press OK button. We recall that the libraries have the extension .so in linux, .dylib in MacOS and .dll in Windows.

img-tutorial-java-eclipse3.jpeg
Add jar and native libraries to User Library

Once done, press "Apply and Close" button.

Tips & Tricks

How to uninstall JDK

Here we give here some tips to uninstall JDK to be able to downgrade or upgrade JDK version.

  • On Ubuntu or Debian platform On Ubuntu or Debian platform remove first the folder containing JDK.
    $ rm -rf $VISP_VS/jdk-11.0.6
    
    Then in ~/.bashrc remove any reference to JAVA_HOME env var deleting the lines similar to:
    export JAVA_HOME=$VISP_VS/jdk-11.0.6
    export PATH=${JAVA_HOME}/bin:${PATH}
    
  • On macOS platform To uninstall JDK on Mac OSX, you must have administrator privileges and remove the directory whose name matches the following format: /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdkmajor.minor.macro[_update].jdk. You can proceed using:
    $ sudo mv /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk-13.jdk/ /tmp
    
    and/or:
    $ sudo mv /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk-12.0.2.jdk/ /tmp
    
  • On Windows platform To uninstall JDK on Windows, click Start menu, select "Settings > System > Apps & features". Select the program to unsinstall like Java(TM) SE Development Kit 13.0 (64-bit), then click its Uninstall button. Respond to the prompts to complete the uninstall.

How to delete an Eclipse workspace

To remove existing Eclipse workspaces, enter "Preferences > General > Startup & Shudown > Workspaces" menu, select the workspace to remove and press Remove button and then Apply and Close button.

img-tutorial-java-eclipse-remove-workspace.jpeg

Note that this does not actually delete the files from the system, it simply removes it from the list of suggested workspaces. You need to remove the workspace directory by hand.

Next tutorial

You are now ready to follow Tutorial: First java application with ViSP.