The SCA Tools project has seen an enormous amount of new development since the 2008 Ganymede release. We’ve added an XML editor to make editing and updating SCA-standard assembly files really easy.
For Java developers, it’s now possibly to create an SCA assembly definition and then generate Java code from it. And, if you want to start with some Java you already have, we’ve added a special introspector that will investigate your code and automatically produce an SCA assembly.
Once you’ve created your Java SCA project, you can then run and debug it using the great facilities that Eclipse provides.
We also have made sure that the SCA artifacts you might create are properly validated, helping you spot mistakes early in the process.
We even took the time to update the graphics, giving us a prettier SCA Composite Designer.
For me, the most exciting feature is how we’ve developed the core SCA model to be extensible by people who want to write in extra capabilities into the tools. The heart of the model contains the SCA standard specifications, and different extensions have been created to support the key Open Source SCA runtimes - Apache Tuscany 1.4 and Frascati 0.5. Using the extension mechanisms, it is much more straightforward to add new concepts to SCA and extend the tools to include them.
SCA Tools has been improved a lot. Download SCA Tools 2.0.0 now!
The EclipseCon 2009 conference has an excellent program with so many interesting sessions. For those that are interested in SCA, there will be a tutorial and a short talk:
Like the BPMN modeler, the SCA Tools project has now a weekly build (every Sunday at midnight GMT). Thank you very much Oisin!
You can check the status of the build on the Eclipse Hudson server. You will need to log in with your build.eclipse.org credentials to see the results. On that page you will find zip files which are archived update sites of the builds.
Rumors are circulating that the Eclipse foundation closes SOA projects because SOA tools are not popular with Eclipse contributors (in french). I really don’t think so!
Two components of the STP (SOA Tools Platform) project are closed (STP-SC and STP-SOAS). But, it’s not a negative sign. On the contrary! It’s a sign of maturity.
These two components are closed because for a while now they were no longer maintained. But STP is not dead. Last year, the STP project grew with the arrival of many new tools for SOA: STP-IM, STP-Policy, STP-EID, SCA Tools. These components/projets are still alive and they are very active. More over, the ‘historical” components of STP have never been so active. Since two weeks, the BPMN modeler is a sub-project of STP.
So, it was the time for STP to be restructured to keep a clear line.
Following the nice icons proposed by Etienne, it became crucial 
to propose new colors.
Thanks to Laurent, from the EMF Compare project, I added a gradient of color on each element of the modeler.
Before:
Now:
I think it’s better, what do you think?
Currently, the SCA designer with these new colors is only available on the svn. However, we plan to provide quickly a new build.
This build will provide another new feature: extension points to add easily new/specific SCA elements in the designer (Thanks Norihiro!).
As usual, if you want to know more about the SCA Tools project, please have a look at our wiki.
The SCA Tools team is pleased to announce that the SCA Tools project has successfully passed the Eclipse creation review! Champagne!
Next steps?
Many new features are planned or already available in the svn:
- An XML editor for assembly files and component types (svn)
- Some tools to test SCA applications (planned)
- An editor for composite files based on Eclipse forms (planned)
- Meta model extensibility, SCA Composite designer extensibility also (in progress)
- New icons (svn)
- SCA nature and SCA perspective (svn)
- New colors for the SCA Composite Designer (less aggressive
- … have a look on the SCA Tools wiki
Any contribution/suggestion/help is welcome…
