UIMA Quick Start SDK install &

Plugins
BY ROSS JULY 16, 2011

Previously I wrote on my first impressions of UIMA and how great

it is, for a quick look at that go to this post.
To help people get things running quickly I thought Id throw
down a quick tutorial to get the UIMA SDK up and running and
working with Eclipse on your machine.
First things first, this tutorial was written based on using the
following software so it may or may not work for you. I am also
assuming you have eclipse installed, know a little bit about Java,
working in eclipse, can read English (or the poor translation of
this page into whatever language you are using), and have
rudimentary use of your hands as this tutorial will require you to
type and use a mouse.
Eclipse IDE for Java developers
Version: Helios Service Release 2Build id: 20110218-0911

Apache UIMA SDK

Version 2.3.1 Release Date: UIMA Java SDK: 10-Dec-2010
UIMA AS: 22-Mar-2011

Eclipse EMF plugin

Version 2.05
Downloading the UIMA SDK
1. Go to http://uima.apache.org/downloads.cgi#Latest Official
Releases
2. Grab the following zipped binary files. Id also suggest
getting the source code so that you can pair it with the
libraries you are using. Looking at how a class works
internally can help you better understand how that class
worksUIMA Java framework & SDK

UIMA AS Asynchronous Scaleout

UIMA C++ Framework
UIMA Annotator Addons & Simple Server & Pear packaging
tools
Installing the UIMA SDK
some parts courtesy of the README file
After you have unpacked the Apache UIMA distribution from the
package of your choice (e.g. .zip or .gz), perform the steps below
to set up UIMA so that it will function properly.
1.

Set JAVA_HOME to the directory of your JRE installation you

would like to use for UIMA.
2. Set UIMA_HOME to the apache-uima directory of your
unpacked Apache UIMA distribution
3. Append UIMA_HOME/bin to your PATH
4. Run the script UIMA_HOME/bin/adjustExamplePaths.bat
(or .sh), to update paths in the examples based on the actual
UIMA_HOME directory path. This script runs a Java
program; you must either have java in your PATH or set the
environment variable JAVA_HOME to a suitable JRE.
Note: The Mac OS X operating system procedures for setting up
global environment variables are described here:
see http://developer.apple.com/qa/qa2001/qa1067.html.
Getting Eclipse Ready to go
Install EMF
1. You need to install the EMF eclipse packages first
2. With eclipse open go to the Help -> Install new software
section
*remember to start eclipse with administrator privelages if
you are using Windows 7.
3. Add a new site entitled EMF Plugin with the
address http://download.eclipse.org/modeling/emf/updates/re
leases/

4.

Install EMF SDK 2.06 (EMF + SDO + XSD) -> Eclipse

Modeling Framework (EMF) runtime + end user tools
*You may find that you already have EMF or parts of it
installed depending on what install / version of Eclipse you
are running
5. Restart Eclipse, seriously restart it
6. Do a little dance, almost there
*if you ran into install problems look at this
wiki http://wiki.eclipse.org/EMF/Installation
Install UIMA Eclipse Plugin Update site
1. With eclipse open go to the Help -> Install new software
section
*remember to start eclipse with administrator privelages if
you are using Windows 7.
2. Add a new site titled UIMA with the
address http://www.apache.org/dist/uima/eclipse-update-site/
3. Install both the Apache UIMA Eclipse tooling and runtime
support package and the Apache UIMA-AS Eclipse tooling
package.
4. Restart Eclipse
* You may run into errors trying to install this plugin as
Eclipses plugin installation process seems to be causing
people problems (like if you have your anti-virus on it wont
let you install plugins) I was unable to get things to install
quickly using this method with my eclipse installation, I will
update if I am successful in the future.
* I managed to install using the plugins at a later date. Id
updated eclipse before I tried again and the plugin install
went well. The error Id run into had to do with some security
issue with the packages.
Now that youve installed UIMA I encourage you to either try one
of the below.
Setting up Eclipse to view Example Code

eclipse_setup.example_code
Getting Started: Writing your First UIMA annontator.
http://uima.apache.org/doc-uima-annotator.html
I will also be writing more about creating annotators once I have
more experience.
Good luck,
Ross