How to set up STS for Groovy and Grails development

In this tutorial I will demonstrate how to set up the Spring source ToolSuite to support Groovy and Grails development. Do as follows:

1. Install the latest JDK, the latest Groovy SDK, and Grails.
2. Install Springsource Tool Suite (STS) from  http://www.springsource.com/developer/sts
3. Find the STS.exe from wherever you unzipped the download ,I would recommend putting it straight under C:\ for quick navigation from the command prompt.
4. Once STS is open, Click on “Help/Dashboard” menu item.
   
5. Click on the “Extensions” tab at the bottom.
   
6. Check the the Groovy Eclipse extension, click the “Install” button and follow the installation wizard. Restart STS after it’s done.
7. Go back into the “Extensions” tab and check the Grails Support extension, click the “Install” button and follow the installation wizard. Restart STS after it’s done.
8. You should be able to create grails projects now either from the “New Project” icon on the top left or from the “Dashboard” screen
   

Note #1: Keep going to the “Extensions” tab every once in a while to see if the Sprinsource team has added new features to these plugins.

Note #2: If your company is buying into the Groovy & Grails movement try to make them pay for an IntelliJ IDEA license, it’s $250 but it’s definitely worth it as it has native development environment support for Groovy, Grails, and Griffon applications.