I want to develop a WYSIWYG editor for developing Mobile Apps (Hybrid). Looked into the following link. Develop a WYSIWYG editor in eclipse plugin
I have read about GEF. But some of my friends told me that GEF is outdated and there are some alternative frameworks coming up. I couldn't find any such framework.
Kindly let me know whether GEF is the best bet or is there any other framework which I can use to develop screens for Mobile Apps
Thanks
I did some searching about a year+ ago (see here), and GEF came out as the best choice. If there are other frameworks out there that I don't know of, please ask your friends to tell, but from my knowledge there aren't many. GEF is VERY complex, but at the same time provides the best abstraction to develop editors, with a lot of built-in capabilities. There is also a plan for GEF4, but that is long range.
In short, ask your friends for concrete examples, and if they can't provide you good ones, go with GEF. The future is always more promising than the present because it is not yet here :-)
Related
Is there at least anything other than Vogella's tutorials and his book, which is completely based on those tuts? Examples from his repo are often either incomplete/unfinished/won't run and those examples even don't match the book actually..
I'd like to find at least some javadoc for this, because any step to a side and I'm completely lost on how to accomplish different tasks and what functionality is available.
Lars Vogel's Tutorials are the most complete and up-to-date documentation on Eclipse 4 development. Second to this is asking questions in Eclipse 4 Community Forum. Last option is to google for specific technical problems, which will in most cases lead you to blog posts from the same people that are active on the forums. (Mainly single supporters like Lars, some Eclipse devs and the guys from www.eclipsesource.com)
I discourage using the wiki, since much of the information may be outdated and may be more confusing than an actual help. Documentation for JFace and SWT can be reused from Eclipse 3.x since there are few to none changes in Eclipse E4.
E4 is alive and many of its components are now encapsulated in the standard Eclipse Platform. So most of Eclipse 3 docs and books are still relevant, as well as the Eclipse 4 ones.
If you want to understand the theory, you should start searching Eclipse conference slides explaining the Eclipse Platform and plug-ins. Trust me, it might sound old-style, but most of the times I find an EclipseCon Powerpoint or PDF, it is a great presentation, concentrating in 30 minutes the great work of some of the best Eclipse developers. If I had to re-start learning Eclipse, I would start again from some EclipseCon slides talking about Eclipse Plugins and Eclipse E4 Model.
For Eclipse4 or E4, we mean the Eclipse4 Model, which is now part of the Eclipse Platform. The Eclipse IDE itself supports both 3.x and Eclipse4 programming.
If you want to start Eclipse4, you should take a good book or a tutorial and follow it step by step. As an example you have these books:
Eclipse RCP (Rich Client Platform) 2nd edition
Contributing to the Eclipse IDE Project (free ebook)
Eclipse 4 Plug-in Development by Example: Beginner's Guide
Instant Eclipse 4 RCP Development How-to
However, there are a lot of sources of information, as many books, web tutorials and blogs. You can find most of them here:
https://wiki.eclipse.org/Eclipse_Articles,_Tutorials,_Demos,_Books,_and_More
https://wiki.eclipse.org/Eclipse4/Tutorials
http://planeteclipse.org/planet/
In my personal list of who to follow, I could include: Vogella RCP, EclipseSource, Tom Schindl, OpCoach, RCPVision, Kai Toedter, AllBlue, Wim Yongman, and all the E4 Contributors who are writing articles. But it is unfair not to mention all of them.
If you're not satisfied by docs and tutorials, please file a bug to the Eclipse Platform; mention "missing documents to use E4" and specify what you need. The Platform UI team will take care of this, either by linking the existing documentation to the above wiki page or by creating the missing docs.
Note: Several of the developers of the Eclipse E4 and Platform team contributed to the success of the technology by fixing bugs, writing code, documents, tutorials, and opening businesses based on this.
Eclipse committers are writing most of the existing documents, and they usually go to conferences. So, usually, you get their very best at the Eclipse Conferences. If you get their slides, you can get the best of some Eclipse and Java Champions, condensed in 30 slides, or in a video of 30 minutes.
You can start contributing to open source, by following tutorials, like those written by Eclipse Committers, and then you can give back by writing documents to capture your achievements ;)
But, keep in mind that a tutorial is not a book. There is a different process behind. Thankfully those great developers found the time to write code and documentation at the same time.
i was in the same position for my sparetime RCP-Project and was about to give up
since Neon the situation has been improved a lot
my approach
take the tycho-Example from vogella for headless-build
add your custom parts with 'hello world' and play around to learn
for database-access use a declarative Service using jpa
an example will be
http://relations-rcp.sourceforge.net/
for logging and error-view
https://github.com/buchen/portfolio
this project eye-opening!
in general:
search Application.e4xmi in Github by date descending and you will find excelent examples and full working products
Forget about e3 and stick to plain e4. Take Advantage of the latest api's
make a i18n plugin and use
#Inject
#Translation
Messages messages;
use ISideEffect as Binding
for me it becomes fun to code with e4
After almost 2 years there has been no decent response to this question. So i'm considering the Eclipse E4 platform efectively dead, as there are still people voting for this question and can't find an answer.
The only answer I have is - move to the NetBeans Platform. There are similar problems there, but at least people do answer in the mailing list and there are books which are quite more recent and are actually providing working source code! Enve the NetBeans website provides free tutorial on a lot of stuff for free!
I mean it's really hard to believe, but you should try NetBeans platform - it's the only choice.
For anyone who stumbles here looking for an e4 example, here's a simple basic example on using eclipse 4 rcpeclipse 4: rcp getting started
Standard Eclipse documentation for version 4.3 (Kepler) contains javadoc for the most part of e4 project:
http://help.eclipse.org/kepler/topic/org.eclipse.platform.doc.isv/reference/api/overview-summary.html?cp=2_1_0
I'm trying to develop a desktop program, unifying java and javafx.
For now, I want to know recommendations about how to create a rich menu interface for my program, something like the menu of Office 2007 or Modellus.
So, what you recommend to start developing that?
I don't know what level of experience you have with JavaFX, but if it's limited, then start with the tutorials at javafx.com, and similar on the web (see Jim Weaver's site).
From there I think your best bet would be to find similar open source applications and learn from those. Frankly I think it won't be easy because there's not a great deal of similar applications out there to learn from.
However you could take a look at Project MaiTai, MusicExplorer for starters.
I am looking to speed up time to develop website layouts. So I am wondering if using DreamWeaver for layouts is useful - efficient. I am looking at purchasing this software, so, I had a few questions.
I am very comfortable coding HTML, CSS and JavaScript(jQuery) by hand in either PHPDesigner or Notepad++. Most of the time for layouts I use FireFox and Firebug to see results in real time, and then check if it works across different browsers.
I want to know the opinion of people who have worked on the front-end:
I feel code validation is important but not the end of the world(as my priorities) - I do however like to change my code often by hand. Does the output from this software let you do this?(compare to the html/css that micorsoft word vomits - Does this software do a similar thing?)
Is this software used as a primary design tool by people who can code by hand and does it actually improve efficiency? or is it just for newbies?
I understand the Adobe family of products work really well with each other but I am trying to understand is if DreamWeaver really deserves to be in the front-end workflow(if you are proficient coding by hand).
Once you work with HTML/CSS/Javascript enough, it isn't difficult to "code by hand" but it is important to remember that front-end developers also code with their eyes, as well. There is a lot going on up front that depends entirely on the code that runs on the client and you want to use an editor that helps you organize your code and, more importantly, gives you visibility into the challenges presented by complicated CSS and adhering to web standards.
If front-end coding was nothing more than pushing around angle brackets then notepad and repeatedly pressing F5 would be enough. A great web editor will present the structure of your code in a meaningful way and all of your HTML, CSS, and Javascript takes on a complete feel.
You want a professional editor that will allow you to:
Understand CSS inheritance
Run visual diagnostics
Debug across different browsers
Create modern layouts/designs that are faithfully represented
I haven't used Dreamweaver in a few years but, these days, I'm really enjoying Microsoft Expression Web. It is not the FrontPage mess of yesteryears - it is a serious tool for web design and I urge you to take a close look. The code is clean and smart and it certainly gives you the option of using its tools to build a site or you can code everything 100% by hand. Don't forget, the key is not deciding which editor is best for coding by hand. The thing you should be looking for is which editor makes you a better developer.
Regardless of whether or not you're a Microsoft, LAMP, or other platform person, Expression Web is a great tool for front-end developers.
I've been using Dreamweaver for a few years now. While I initially used some of it's code generators, these days I pretty much spend my time in the code widow coding by hand and viewing the output in the browser. The design window is nice for simple coding as it will build the html for you. However, I did have problems getting the right insertion point to edit it. For example, it might place my update before and end tag when I wanted it to be after it. That led my to switch to the coding window to be sure.
I do like the fact that it opens all included files specified in the file you originally opened. I also use it's site views to synchronize my changes to the production server. I'm sure I could take advantage of other features if I bother to learn them. I haven't used any tools besides FrontPage so I can't compare.
Best thing that happened to me was learing about Eclipse and then after about Aptana. I was using notepad++ for everything, but now im doing everything with eclipse and aptana as plugin for eclipse. Just my 2 cents. Oh and its free.
Primarily I do use Adobe Dreamweaver when working on websites. It is a pretty nice tool to use along with Adobe Photoshop for any graphic designs that I create.
Also, I use Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 for Web Application Development (i.e Console apps, Web Apps, Silverlight, etc.). VS is a little different from DW but its still a nice tool for development projects.
Alison, I looked a preview of Expression Web and may check it out. It may aid as an impressive tool for my front-end dvelopment work. I also tried Microsoft Expression Blend when designing Silverlight applications. It does remind you of how Expression Web looks and feels
I have been look around for Free/Open Source ASP.NET CMS / Portal systems for a while now, and have seived it down to two different ones.
Umbraco - http://umbraco.org
mojoPortal - http://www.mojoportal.com
Both look excellent and have different appealing features, but I am looking for people who have used both and which one you went with and why??
I actually went for Umbraco in the end and would never look back, its incredibly easy to install and use
To install you can use the web platform installer to install it and the AMAZING amount of free projects you can EASILY install with a couple of clicks make it by far the best CMS out there
http://our.umbraco.org/projects
If you are unsure where to start have a read of this
http://www.blogfodder.co.uk/post/A-Complete-Newbies-Guide-To-Umbraco-CMS.aspx
I tried Umbraco and it is not for the timid. I feel I'm a fairly technical person, Sr. Web Developer... and after several hours I gave up.
MojoPortal just works.
It has its flaws, but the simple fact that it just works means it wins.
I used Kentico, DNN, Sitecore, Joomla, CMS Made Simple (Yes admittedly not mojoPortal). Umbraco is by far the most powerful if you are after a highly customised and highly specified solution. Linq2Umbraco just seals the deal.
However, if you are after idiot proof CMS with everything built in, and your biggest concern is to look for check boxes to enable forum/blogs/whatever other joke modules/bells and whistles/etc. Umbraco isn't for you. IMO Kentico/DNN are the ones.
Edit - And 3 years later, I've used SharePoint, epiServer, SiteFinity as well.
Umbraco still wins hands down.
mojoPortal seems easier to use to me and it works even with javascript disabled like using noscript browser plugin. Seems more care of accessibility has been taken using progressive enhancement javascript techniques whereas you can't manage your site at all with javascript disabled using Umbraco.
I haven't tried mojoPortal, but I love Umbraco.
Things I like:
Clean code
Uses XSLT, python, or .NET to extend
Awesome community support
Tutorial videos for easy learning
Admin area is extensible
Good plug-in projects
But really its because I can use it for both small and large projects easily.
I am looking into designing new features for Eclipse-based programming tools, from the requirements/ideas perspective. To really do this quickly, I would like to sketch UI elements without having to code things -- my concern is with the concepts and ideas right now, not the possible later realization. Are there any such graphical sketching tools for Eclipse?
(on a side note, I should also note that I find Eclipse a better idea every day, in the way that you can combine partial systems from very many different sources into a single environment. It really is the future of IDEs, especially for embedded systems. It used to pretty horrible pre-Eclipse-3.0, but now it does seem to work)
WireframeSketcher is a tool that helps quickly create wireframes, mockups and prototypes for desktop, web and mobile applications. It comes both as a standalone version and as a plug-in for Eclipse IDEs. It has some distinctive features like storyboards, components, linking and vector PDF export. Among supported IDEs are are Aptana, Flash Builder, Zend Studio and Rational Application Developer.
(source: wireframesketcher.com)
Incidentally, NetBeans is known for having a really good GUI editor (Matisse), but I realize that you weren't asking about NetBeans :)
I've tried the Visual Editor Project before, but in the past it crashed my instance of Eclipse, and I haven't visited it since.
Jigloo is a new one that I'd like to try out soon.
This is really specific to Eclipse: it is the platform of choice for general IDEs today, and I am looking to sketch out extensions to it. The target programming language is more likely to be raw assembler and C than anything else -- OS, driver, system-level debug.