Project Nox Browser Component

02/20/2001

This plugin implements browser-like navigation functionality within the 
Eclipse IDE. It provides single-click navigation, automatic and persistent
editor pins and browser-like history.

WHAT'S NEW
This is a bug-fix release. Method selection in classfiles bug meant that
single-click behavior and browsing history while using the Java Browsing 
perspective available in Eclipse 2.0 stable release 20020214 didn't work,
this is now fixed.

Here are a few tips on how to set Eclipse preferences to use the browser
effectively:

- In Workbench and Java Browsing preference pages, set "# of editors before
reusing" to a large number (I use 99) so the workbench won't interfere 
with history. The background mechanism at work to implement reusable 
editors is the same, but currently browser needs to be in control of 
this to implement history.

- In Java > WIP > Browsing, de-select "open editor on single click",
browser handles selection changes itself. Selecting "link views selection 
to active editor" is not necessary but very useful.

BUILD NOTES
This release is tested under Eclipse 20020214 stable build.
The adapters needed for Resources and JDT integration are included
in the plugin, there is no need for additional adapter plugins.

Building the plugin using CVS repository sources should be easier,
there are no external dependencies or classpath variables needed
with the exception of the nox.logger plugin. The Ant script dist.xml 
can be used to drive the generated build.xml for the plugin, it makes 
creating a distribution archive much easier.

This relase will not run in Eclipse 1.0.

CURRENT BUGS
- Editors opened by the workbench should show up in history (integrated history)
- List of reusable editors should be configurable/automatically determined
- "Always open in new editor" action missing
- Selection changes resulting from context menus should be ignored 
- Plugin adapters should be lazily initialized
- BrowserPlugin should listen to page close events instead of browser
- Should respect workbench preferences for linking
- No action available for clearing history
- No preference page for settings
- Cursor position not saved in history

CLOSED BUGS
- Editor pin state may be out of synch with the workbench
- No tooltips available for browser view actions
- Method selection in classfiles is ignored
- Browser and editor area should synchronize hide/enable events
- History entries for resources should be fully qualified
- Browser should ignore multiple selections
- Keyboard shortcuts not defined for browser actions
- Show/hide view does not affect browsing state
- Editor pins lost after save

Project Nox Logger Component

03/11/2001

This plugin provides logging functionality based on Apache Log4j. 
It can be used standalone or within supported runtime environments. 
Eclipse runtime environment support provides extension points to 
configure logging categories and appenders.

WHAT'S NEW
This is a major overhaul of Nox Logger. It is now possible to use Logger
in different runtime environments. Support for the following is provided:

- Simple standalone environment that uses default log4j 
  configuration mechanisms
- Eclipse runtime environment that provides extension points for
  configuration and transparent mapping of plug-ins and classes to
  logging categories.

The implementation in this release is preliminary. It hasn't been tested
very much and probably contains more than a few bugs. Any help in getting
rid of them is appreciated;-).

BUILD NOTES
Support for Eclipse runtime is tested under Eclipse 20020214 stable build, 
though things should work under all Eclipse releases back to R1.0. Apache 
Log4j is required, which is packaged as a seperate plug-in.

For standalone use, logger.jar file and Apache Log4j libraries should be
in classpath.

OPEN BUGS
- missing preferences for runtime logging parameter change
- it should be possible to route eclipse log to log4j appenders
- missing appender for Eclipse log

CLOSED BUGS
- log4j 1.1.3 libraries should be in their own plugin
- there should be extension points for appender and category configuration
- logger instantiation should be factory-configurable.