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Re: [eclipse-dev] Visual Composition for Java / AWT / Swing

Demez,

Can you tell me if Eclipse has a Visual Composition environment like in Visual Age ?

We actually use Visual Age, but without GUI Visual Composition we cannot use Eclipse : (((

I have use it a little bit and sounds very very very good, easy to use ...congratulation for this cool IDE

Eclipse does not have one yet, but IBM is working on a VCE tool for Eclipse (or WSAD?) that should come out next year.

In the mean time, if you need access to a VCE within Eclipse now, you should take a look at the "VCE Bridge" feature that is part of CodePro Studio...

        http://www.instantiations.com/codepro/ws/docs/

The VCE Bridge feature allows you to access the VA Java VCE from within WSAD or Eclipse by simply clicking on a class or compilation unit and selecting the "Edit GUI" command. Technically, this involves quite a bit of cooperative magic between Eclipse and VA Java.

1) If VA Java isn't running, Eclipse will start it up in "slave mode"
- any version of VA Java will do, so you could install VA Java Entry for this purpose alone - VA Assist needs to be installed in VA Java for all of the VA Java pieces to work. VA Assist should be configured to point to your Eclipse/WSAD root directory

2) Once started, a bi-directional socket connection is established between VA Java and Eclipse - if VAJ was already running, it will establish communications with that VA Java instance

3) Eclipse sends the code for the class to VA Java

4) The VA Java VCE opens up on the code
- the layout info is retrieved from the class's getBuilderData() method

5) You edit the class using the normal VCE tools
- you are limited to widgets known to VA Java 3.x/4.x (and JDK 1.2.2 features)
- the tool is presented "standalone" and doesn't provide access to any other VA Java facilities/browsers

6) When you are done editing, the new code is generated and sent back over to Eclipse

7) If you click on the VCE run or debug buttons, the code will be generated, sent to Eclipse and then run in that context

8) When Eclipse shuts down, it will automatically shutdown VA Java as well

The obvious limitation here is that you are limited to JDK 1.2.2 features. Since this facility is meant to "bridge" folks from VA Java into Eclipse/WSAD until the corresponding Eclipse facility is released, it should be viewed as short term and tactical in nature. Once an Eclipse/WSAD native VCE is released, you would no longer need to use this VCE Bridge feature.

Regards,

-Eric Clayberg
 Sr. Vice President of Product Development
 Instantiations, Inc.
 503-612-9337 Sales
 503-612-9499 Fax
 http://www.instantiations.com

 Support:   mailto:cpsws-support@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
 CPS/WS: http://www.instantiations.com/codepro/ws/
 VA Assist: http://www.instantiations.com/assist/
 jFactor:     http://www.instantiations.com/jFactor/



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