What is Spring Project Nature?

Question

I have a project that was created in Eclipse, but I'd like to use SpringSource's STS IDE now. I have the Java project in STS now and I converted the project to a Maven project to get Maven's support.

Question

What exactly does the "Add Spring Project Nature" feature do? What is its purpose?

Edit Maybe the better question is what does "nature" mean relative to Spring STS?

Answer 1

The "nature" has nothing to do with your code or spring. In eclipse, a "project nature" creates an association between the a project and a tool, plug-in, or feature set. By adding a nature to an eclipse project, you tell an eclipse plug-in that it is configured to use that project. By adding the "Spring Project Nature" to your project, you are enabling eclipse's spring plugin to work with your project.

Answer 2

I found out myself; sharing it as may be useful to others.. Steps involved:

1. Go to "Help", click on "Install new Software"
2. enter this link : http://springide.org/updatesite in the link section.
3. select "Spring IDE core" from the list populated below. You can select other also depending upon your use, then follow on screen instructions.