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Add the ability to write plugins using jruby or groovy.

This project is part of Google Summer of Code 2007, project link is here.

Student: Anton Arhipov

Blog: http://arhipov.blogspot.com

test

SVN repo at SF.net: at eclipse-incub

About

Scripting language like Groovy (or JRuby) is an ideal choice for Java developer to do quick prototyping. The biggest benefit of Eclipse support for Groovy plug-in development is that while changing the plug-in on-the-fly there's no need to start a separate Eclipse instance or restart the IDE when something was changed in the code. This would rapidly improve the speed of lightweight plug-in development.

This project aims to add ability to write plugins in JVM-based scripting language, like Groovy and JRuby. But it could be a starting point for any other JVM scripting language, like BeanShell or Jython.

Legend

Glass.gif Needs some investigation
Progress.gif Patch in progress
Ok green.gif Bug fixed / Feature added


Repository

SVN repo at SF.net at eclipse-incub contains two plug-ins:

I will also provide a set of unit tests as a separate plug-in and feature/site projects for the installation.

Status/Timeline

Ok green.gif Implementation of runtime engine to run the scripts. javax.scripting API is in use for this purpose: ScriptExecutor does the job.


Ok green.gif Proxy class. A proxy solution is implemented for delegating the method calls to the scripting world: ScriptExtensionProxy


Progress.gif Implementing extensions using scripts

  • Ok green.gif org.eclipse.ui.actionSets: script
  • Progress.gif org.eclipse.ui.views: script


Ok green.gif Plug-in activation Ok green.gif ScriptBundleActivator can be used for any activation procedures. It will look for an activator.groovy and call the start() method to from the script.


Ok green.gif Referencing to the script item in plugin.xml.

A reference to a script file is done using a syntax hack that is provided by the org.eclipse.core.runtime.IExecutableExtension interface. Script file name is referenced in the same text value where the class name is specified:

 org.eclipse.soc.yummy.core.ScriptExtensionProxy:org.eclipse.ui.IWorkbenchWindowActionDelegate/action.groovy

See the demostration plug-in for more: plugin.xml


Progress.gifGlass.gif Exposing the workbench to the script. This should be very much like in Eclipse Monkey. For smooth scripting there should be a set of predefined variables that a script contributor could use out of the box: e.g a reference to workbench, windows, views, etc.


Ok green.gif The dependencies for any specific language PDE implementation are:

  • <language>.jar, e.g. groovy-all.jar
  • <language>-engine.jar, e.g. groovy-engine.jar
  • yummy-plugin.jar, i.e. the plug-in for any specific language will use the engine to run the scripts executed by <language>-engine.jar at the end. The brand new scripted plug-in will have to use yummy to enable scripting support.
  • Glass.gif Licencing issues for 3rd-party libraries, e.g. groovy-all.jar, groovy-engine.jar


Progress.gif Demo plug-in

  • Progress.gif JUnit runner
  • Progress.gif Modelling framework example
  • Progress.gif Simple search


Progress.gif Usability enhancements

  • Progress.gif Find the deployed script bundle by its ID
  • Progress.gif Browse the scripts in the bundle
  • Progress.gif Open any script in an editor and allow to modify it
  • Progress.gif Save the modified script in the bundle
  • Progress.gif Redeploy the bundle


Glass.gif Executing the new script plug-in in the same workbench.

  • Create a a bundle programmaticaly and register it via Equinox?

Deliverables

The goal to be reached is an Eclipse extension/plug-in that could be used to write the new plug-ins in a scripting language, e.g. Groovy.

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