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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
Needs some investigation Patch in progress Bug fixed / Feature added
Repository
SVN repo at SF.net at eclipse-incub contains two plug-ins:
- org.eclipse.soc.scripting.plugin - this is the plug-in that should provide the ability to write the new plug-ins in a scripting language, e.g. Groovy.
- org.eclipse.soc.scripting.contributor - a demonstration plug-in that contributes the components written in a scripting language.
I will also provide a set of unit tests as a separate plug-in and feature/site projects for the installation.
Status/Timeline
Implementation of runtime engine to run the scripts. javax.scripting API is in use for this purpose: ScriptExecutor does the job.
Proxy class. A proxy solution is implemented for delegating the method calls to the scripting world: ScriptExtensionProxy
Implementing extensions using scripts
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
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.
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.
- Licencing issues for 3rd-party libraries, e.g. groovy-all.jar, groovy-engine.jar
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.