AW: [rap-dev] Idea - RAP Spyglass

["Volanakis, Elias" <evolanakis@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Benny,

your suggestion of looking at the plug-in spy is a good idea.

In the meantime some own ideas:

On the workbench layer I don't see a big problem. Via the active part is should at be possible to determine the part. And if needed the "mapping" of extension contributions to classes is already in the extension registry.

On RWT layer it becomes a little more complicated. I believe one could process the stacktrace at construction time of the widget and remember who called the constructor. Of course this should only be done if a special tracing option is enabled. The "spyglass" tool would allow you to click on any widget and then use the "who created me" information to show you choices where you could go. Using the containment hierarchy (i.e. getParent()) it could even show you several choices.
 
I think the best to go forward would be a proof-of-concept prototype, however I'm not sure when I'll have time for this.

Elias.


-----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
Von: rap-dev-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:rap-dev-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxx] Im Auftrag von Benjamin Muskalla
Gesendet: Wednesday, July 23, 2008 06:06
An: RAP project development-related communication
Betreff: Re: [rap-dev] Idea - RAP Spyglass

Hi Elias,

interesting idea. I think the hardest part is to see at which "layer" to 
implement this feature.
For example the DOM of the browser is really uninteresting for a regular 
RAP developer (and already covered by tools like FireBug).
The next step would be to implement something like that as an addtion to 
the RWT layer. On the one side this could be interesting but I wonder 
how this should be implemented. For example "Show in Eclipse" for a Text 
widget - what should my Eclipse show? The source of the button? Not 
interesting! The code where this button is created? Maybe but how would 
you determinate the location of the button invocation in the code? Maybe 
I just have a little blackout but I'm not sure if this could be 
implemented easily without freaking hacks like AOP or something like that.
On the workbench layer this could be interesting too. But then the 
"spyglass" would get a realy complicated thing as you need to map all 
the widgets in the hierarchy to the "model" (eg. the source/extensions 
of your plugins). As we client doesn't know anything about the workbench 
this could get really tricky (views are maybe a little easier but think 
of toolbar buttons).

In my eyes the effort to implement this and the resulting value are not 
compatible.
You may take a look at tools like Picasso 
(http://wiki.eclipse.org/PDE/Incubator/Picasso) and Plugin Spy 
(http://www.eclipse.org/pde/incubator/spy/) if they provide enough 
informations. Not sure how much effort it is to port them to RAP but I 
think it's worth a look before reinventing the wheel.

Best regards!
  Benny

Volanakis, Elias wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I've been watching the talk below, about how the ebay pages are
> generated from Java using Eclipse Tooling. 
>
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVNF6COKQwE
>
> I was wondering what it would take to have a "RAP Spyglass" feature,
> similar to the one discussed in the segment from 21:25 to 23:05 (mm:ss).
> The "Spyglass" provides a "Show in Eclipse" command in the browser to
> show the corresponding Java code in Eclipse.
>
> I think that would be a very useful feature for RAP users too. What do
> you think it would take to implement something like that?
>
> My feeling is that it shouldn't be too hard for parts and perspectives.
> But do you think it would be doable for generic composites?
>
> Regards,
> Elias.
>
> _______________________________________________
> rap-dev mailing list
> rap-dev@xxxxxxxxxxx
> https://dev.eclipse.org/mailman/listinfo/rap-dev
>   


-- 
Benjamin Muskalla
Innoopract Informationssysteme GmbH
bmuskalla@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx 
http://www.innoopract.com
Tel:  0721 - 66 47 33 - 0
Fax: 0721 - 66 47 33 29 

========================= Legal Disclaimer =====================
According to Section 80 of the German Corporation Act 
Innoopract Informationssysteme GmbH must indicate the following
information:
Address: Stephanienstrasse 20, 76133 Karlsruhe Germany 
General Manager: Jochen Krause
Registered Office: Karlsruhe, Commercial Register Mannheim HRB 107883
============================================================

_______________________________________________
rap-dev mailing list
rap-dev@xxxxxxxxxxx
https://dev.eclipse.org/mailman/listinfo/rap-dev