Dashcode keeps source files in a ".dcproj" project file, which is really a package to OS X, which in turn is actually nothing more than a directory structure. I'd like to continue to use Dashcode but without the "convenience" of the ".dcproj" structure. Why? I want to...
check the source code into Mercurial
use TextMate when developing the non-GUI parts of the code
eventually build and deploy platform-specific customizations of common core code (i.e., have multiple projects share some common source
I can deploy the Dashcode project into a directory and then do all of the above. But once I do, I likely cannot return to Dashcode, which is quite handy for visual stuff. A more flexible solution would enable me to tell Dashcode where the code is and to read/write it there, not in a ".dcproj" package.
I haven't heard of anyone doing this - but it would cool because checking a dashcode project into source control is a total pain in the neck (I'm Versions for SVN and it totally chokes on dashcode - I don't think its Versions' fault - but who knows..)
I'm finding dashcode quite good for GUI stuff, but its just a neglected product, so there are lots of things that are sort of developer hostile in it.
So here is how I'm using dashcode now:
I use dashcode for GUI layout.
I publish to www_cache_dashcode
I have my custom javascript files in www_client
I then have a little make file that copies everything from www_cache_dashcode to www_client
www_client is under version control, but I exclude/ignore the files that are copied in from www_cache_dashcode
www_cache_dashcode is not under version control
my dashcode project is under version control, but I only rarely update it because there is ALWAYS a conflict. (I'm sure its somehow my fault - but whatever).
Hope this helps,
JJ
One thing to remember, but i am still looking at this to gauge the effect, is that Dashcode will generate code. This can be switched of and on. menu > View/Stat Code Generator or View/Stop Code Generator.
Apple do not say a lot other than "Because the canvas generates HTML and CSS automatically for you, you may want to turn its code generation off if you’re tweaking elements by hand. To turn off the automatic code generator, choose View > Stop Code Generator. When you’re finished tweaking values by hand, you can turn the code generator back on by choosing View > Start Code Generator."
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IntelliJ IDEA is pretty amazing for Grails development work. It is rather demanding on resources (particularly memory), though, and takes a long while to start up, so occasionally I like to use Visual Studio Code instead for light editing. I'm trying to tune it most effectively for Grails development. Any tips would be most welcome. One thing I'd particularly like to know is if there is some way of setting up a beautifier/formatter for .gsp files.
First of all, you'll have to setup VS Code for java. You can follow this page https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/languages/java
Then, you'll have to install of the groovy language extension. Currently there are three such extensions in the library. code-groovy has more active users than the others and it provides good gsp support. I do use VS code for quick editing or just viewing source code occasionally but its still not the replacement of Intellij. I can't use VS Code for hardcore java/grails development yet.
JavaScript newbie here. I'm new to Angular2 and am currently learning about things like module-loaders (there's so many!), etc, so bear with me since my space of "unknown unknowns" is probably quite large.
I'm interested in creating a JavaScript based "Packaged Web App" for windows ("Packaged" in the sense that the JS is included in the Universal Windows Platform app).
One constraint to keep in mind is that I have severe limitations on the size of my packaged app. The smaller, the better.
With that in mind, I have a few specific questions that will hopefully expose the extent of my ignorance:
Without resorting to Electron or Ionic2, is it possible (also, is it a good idea) to create the offline experience in Angular2 and then only manually include the resulting transpiled .js files in my Visual Studio project?
How hard is it to manage the dependencies for these transpiled files? Are they entirely self contained?
Roughly how large would the minimum set of manually imported files end up being? When I use NPM to install angular2, it winds up being ~80mb - a large portion of this (most?) looks like dev tools, test infrastructure, etc. What's the minimal set of angular dependencies needed for the client app to work?
Thanks!
Without resorting to Electron or Ionic2, is it possible (also, is it a good idea) to create the offline experience in Angular2 and then only manually include the resulting transpiled .js files in my Visual Studio project?
Yes, it is possible. TypeScript will be compiled to javascript codes, which will be consumed by your project. So eventually, it is compiled js codes that will be necessary for your project.
But, if you are so worried about your project's size, then I suggest you using Angular 1, which is only JS codes. And for the minimum size of Angular 1 and its dependency jquery. There is a compressed version of Angular 1 (angular.min.js: 164kb) and jquery(jquery-3.1.1.min.js: 85kb).
Answering my own question here:
Yes, it's possible. You can copy over the transpiled .js files and then simply point the webview control at the generated index.html. With that being said, it's a pretty kludgy dev experience since you're constantly working around VS.
The dependencies are handled for you - it's all in the minified/uglified js files.
I haven't investigated tree-shaking yet, but it looks like I can get away with ~0.5Mb with a skeleton project.
background
I have designed many tools in the past year or so that is designed to help me program for XPages. These tools include primarily helper java classes, extended logging (making use of OpenLogger and my own stuff), and a few other things that I personally feel I cannot work without. It has been discussed with my employer, and we feel that it might be a good idea to start publishing these items to openNTF. Since these tools are made up of about 3 .nsfs, all designed to use the same java code, key javascript classes, css, and even a custom control or two, I would like to consolidate key items into a plug-in that can be installed at the server and client level. I want to do this consolidation before I even think about publishing any of the work I've done so far. It would just be far too much work to maintain, not just for me, but for potential users. I have not really found any information on how to do such a thing in google searches. I also have to make sure that I am able to make use of the ExtLib libraries, openNTF Domino API, and the Notes API.
my questions
How does one best go about designing such plug-ins? Must a designer
use eclipse, or is this it possible to do this directly in the Notes
Designer?
How does a designer best go about keeping a server and client up to date while designing and updating the plug-in code? Is this why GitHub is often used?
Where is the best place to get material to get started in this direction? I sort of feel lost in the woods, knowing I need to head north, but not having a compass for that first step.
Thank you very much for your input.
In my experience, I found that diving into plug-in development is a huge PITA until you get used to it, but it's definitely worth it overall.
As for whether you can use Designer for plugin development: yes, but you will likely eventually want to not do so. I started out by using Designer for this sort of thing for a while, presumably with the same sentiment as you: why bother installing another instance of Eclipse when I'm already sitting in one all day? However, between Designer's age (it's roughly equivalent to, I think, Eclipse 3.4), oddities when it comes to working sets between the "Applications" and "Project Explorer" views, and, in my case, my desire to use a Mac app, I ended up switching.
There are two major starting points: the XSP Starter Kit (http://www.openntf.org/internal/home.nsf/project.xsp?name=XSP%20Starter%20Kit) and Niklas Heidloff's video on setting up Eclipse for XPages development (http://www.openntf.org/main.nsf/blog.xsp?permaLink=NHEF-8RVB5H). The latter mentions the XPages SDK (http://www.openntf.org/internal/home.nsf/project.xsp?name=XPages%20SDK%20for%20Eclipse%20RCP), which is also useful. In my setup, I found the video largely useful, but some aspects either difficult to find (IBM's downloads are shifting sands) or optional (debugging, which will depend on whether or not you're using Eclipse on Windows).
Those resources should generally get you set up. The main thing to worry about when setting up your Eclipse environment will be making sure your Plug-In Execution Environment is properly done. If you're following the SDK setup instructions, that SHOULD get you where you need to be.
The next thing to know about is the way plugins are structured. Each plugin you want to install in Designer or Domino will also be paired with a feature project (a feature can house several plugins), and potentially an update site - the last one is optional if you just want to import the features into an Update Site NSF. That's how I often do my normal plugin development: export the paired feature to a directory and then import the feature into the server's Update Site NSF and then install in Designer from there using Application -> Install. You can also set things up so that you deploy into the server's plugin/feature directories instead of taking the step of installing into an update site if you'd prefer. GitHub doesn't really come into play for this aspect - it's more about sharing/collaborating with your code and also having a remote storage location for your git repositories (which I highly advise).
And as for the "lost in the woods" feeling: yep, you'll have that for a good while. There are lots of moving parts and esoteric concepts to get a hold of all at once. If you mostly follow the above links and then start with some basics from the XSP Starter Kit (which is itself a plugin project that you can pair with a feature) - say, printing text in the Activator class and making an implicit global variable just to make sure it works - that should help get your feet wet.
It's best done in Eclipse. You can debug your code running on the server from there, as well as run it directly from there. The editors are also more up-to-date. You want:
Eclipse for RCP and RAP developers
XPages SDK for Eclipse RCP (from OpenNTF)
XPages Debug Plugin (from OpenNTF - basically allows you to load the plugins to the Domino server dynamically, rather than exporting to an Update Site all the time)
XSP Starter Kit on OpenNTF is a good starting point for a plugin. There are various references to the library id, which has to be unique for your plugin. Basically, references to org.openntf.xsp.starter need changing to whatever you want to call your plugin. You're also best advised to remove what you don't need. I tend to work in a copy of the Starter, remove stuff, build and if there are errors with required classes (Activator.java obviously will be required and some others), then paste them back in from the Starter.
XPages OpenLog Logger is a good cross-reference, that was built from XPages Starter Kit. It's pretty much stripped down and you'll be able to see what had to be changed. A lot of the elements of the XSP Starter Kit correspond to Java classes you'll probably be familiar with from your XPages Java development.
GitHub etc tend to be used as source control, which is useful for working out what's changed from time to time.
What I should do except writing owner Site.css? It is possible to give writing Site.css to designer without any worry about merger functionallity and design?
I wrote an intro blog post on theming Orchard.
On my latest project the designer in our team read it so he could turn his designs into an Orchard Template.
The key thing we found was that the designer needed to have his own local version of Orchard running that he could make changes to and see the affects. We had him running it through Visual Studio, but Web Matrix or IIS running locally with him using his own editor of choice would have been just as good.
A combination of the Developer module and visual studio helped him work out what was what.
My article is not pitched at designers though, so I did pair him with a developer at first to get him started. This worked really well and the designer now feels confident and can make new templates from scratch by himself.
It depends on what you are trying to do. In some cases, CSS is enough. In some cases, not, and you also need to change layout and a number of other templates. CSS should be no problem for your designer. For templates, they just have to understand what the #{}, #() and # are doing and learn not to touch these parts and work around them. Good web designers should be used to that sort of thing.
Is there any GUI based debugger for Ruby? Just a debugger. I do not want a full IDE like NetBeans because they tend to get your project dirty with extra files.
thanks!
Check out Mr. Guid, which uses GTK+ and is cross-platform.
In netbeans you can tell it to put the netbeans project files in a separate directory or you can easily ignore the nbproject directory with your project's vcs. Netbeans has by far the best integrated debugging I have seen and there are many other great reasons to give it a try. Don't worry about netbeans using a project folder. I highly doubt you'll be able to find a better free GUI debugger.
If the code completion stuff gets in your way with netbeans it is easy to turn off and only request code completion when you want it (ctrl+space). That was my biggest gripe with netbeans.
I haven't used it in about a year, but I liked Arachno Ruby