[atf-dev] New Milestone 0.2.3M3-v200708101100 available

[Robert Goodman <goodmanr@xxxxxxxxxx>]

ATF milestone 0.2.3M3-v200708101100
is available. The highlights of the changes in this milestone is below.


An early look at _javascript_ Development
Tools tentatively planned for WTP 3.0. This is a new component of WST.


The _javascript_ Development Tools (JSDT)
provide very rich _javascript_ editing features. The JSDT maintains an internal
model of the _javascript_ being edited, so it can provide many intelligent
editing capabilities.

Some of the editing capabilities provided
are:
          o
Code completion
          o
Syntax highlighting
          o
Code folding
          o
Configurable formatting
          o
Quick fix
          o
configurable syntax checking/code validation
          o
Hover help/tips (uses JSDoc if available)
          o
Occurrences marking
          o
open selected item
          o
highlight/goto matching parenthesis/brace/bracket
          o
add/remove/generate comment
          o
Typing helpers such as automatically closing strings, parentheses, brackets;
         
              automatically
insert semicolons and braces; and automatic formatting 

Language level search capabilities are
provided for searching for references and or declarations of functions
and variables.

There are configurable preferences for:
    * Code Appearance
    * Templates
    * Code Formatting
    * Validation options
    * Error/Warning levels
    * Editor options 

Using the existing WTP _javascript_ editor
instead of JSDT

Two Methods can be used to enable the
existing WTP _javascript_ editor. 

* When installing ATF do not deselect
Optional Features "ATF support for JSDT" and  "_javascript_
Development Tools JSP Support". 

* After installing ATF, you can disable
JSDT by selecting the Help->Software Updates->Manage Configuration
menu, then select "ATF support for JSDT" (under "AJAX Toolkit
Framework") and click on Disable. Do the same for the "_javascript_
Development Tools JSP Support" feature under the "AJAX Toolkit
Framework for JST" heading. 

Highlight of ATF changes. 

ATF support for WST and JST. - ATF has
been restructured into a WST feature and JST feature. A developer using
WST no longer need to have JST installed to use ATF. 

"Generic AJAX Runtime" support
-  The Generic Runtime support allows almost any Ajax Runtime to be
defined to ATF and added to a project.. For historical reason Ajax Runtime
Types for Dojo, Rico, and Scriptaculous have been predefined. The Ajax
Runtimes still need to be manually downloaded.

Browser popup window support - Support
for Browser Popups

New "AJAX Toolkit Project"
wizard - New Wizard for creating an Ajax Project. Using ATF in Static and
Dynamic Web project is still supported. 

Web Development and Web Browser Tools
perspectives - The Mozilla perspective has been broken out into two different
perspectives. Write your web application in the Web Development perspective,
and then switch to the Web Browser Tools perspective in order to run and
inspect your web application. 

Request Monitor - The XHR Monitor view
has been renamed to the Request Monitor and now displays all HTTP requests
(i.e. HTML/CSS/JS files, image requests, etc) in addition to XMLHttpRequest
calls

Removal of the personality support -
The personality support in ATF has been dropped. This means that "Create
Application wizards" and snippets for AJAX runtimes will not longer
be provided

Removal of support for Zimbra. - Support
for the Zimbra runtime has been dropped. 

Support for validation using JSLint
has been dropped. - Long term this functionality will be provided by JSDT.


Extension point org.eclipse.atf.core.runtime
is used to define a new AJAX Toolkit with bindings to a custom installer,
a validator, etc. Using this extension point will cause ATF to show the
Toolkit in the list of supported AJAX Toolkits and allow the end-user to
configure the location of a copy of this Toolkit.

Extension point org.eclipse.atf.core.runtimeInstance
is used to provide an embedded copy of a Toolkit. For example, a vendor
might want to ship its tool already with a copy of Toolkit X. The supported
way of doing this is to embed Toolkit X in a plugin and use this extension
point to declare its existence.

Project Incompatibility

Due to changes in ATF 0.2.3M3, a project
created with an older version of ATF will not have full functionality of
the features in JSDT and ATF.  You will need to create a new project
under ATF 0.2.3M3, install the appropriate toolkit(s), and then migrate
your code to the new project.


Robert Goodman
goodmanr@xxxxxxxxxx