April 2013
2 posts
4 tags
Everything you need to understand to start with...
2012 was the year of the rise of the Javascript MVC frameworks and librairies with countless of those frameworks that were released or that went under the spotlight. Among others, you must have heard about Backbone.js, Ember.js but my personal favorite is AngularJS. AngularJS is a Javascript MVC framework created by Google to build properly architectured and maintenable web applications.
Why...
4 tags
UML to Java Generator 2.0
The version 2.0 of the UML to Java Generator is finally here! This new release of the generator comes at the same time as the new release of UML Designer.
In this new version of the generator, we are now compatible with the latest release of the UML project. The 1.x version of the generator is still being maintained and improved for those who cannot migrate to the new version of UML and the...
February 2013
1 post
2 tags
Debugging a Java application
My posts on the Eclipse Java Development Tools are coming to an end. After having a look at the configuration of a Java project, the development of a basic Java application, the configuration of Eclipse and the various refactoring options available. Today, it’s time to see the features provided by the JDT to help us debug our Java applications.
5.1 - Breakpoints
In order to debug an...
January 2013
2 posts
4 tags
Third milestone of the Mylyn connector for Tuleap
Today the third milestone of the Mylyn connector for Tuleap has been released. In this new version, we have mainly worked on Mylyn Context integration, support for attachments and queries.
As we’ve seen before, you start by configuring your Mylyn repository with the URL of your Tuleap trackers. Starting with this release, you can retrieve the reports saved on the Tuleap server and execute...
2 tags
Refactoring and running a Java application
Yet another post on the Eclipse Java Development Tools!
In the first post, we have seen how to create and configure a Java project, then how to create a basic Java application and, finally, we have seen advanced tips for Java development. Now it’s time to see how we can continue to improve our application with refactoring and how we can run our Java application in Eclipse.
4.1 - Generate getter,...
December 2012
10 posts
4 tags
3 tags
2 tags
Advanced coding with the JDT
With the last messages, you know how to create and configure properly your Java projects and how to use Eclipse to code faster than ever. Today, it is time to review advanced features of Eclipse to go even faster! We have seen how Eclipse help us when we ask for help with the proper shortcut, today we will mainly see how we can configure Eclipse to help us even more and sometime even...
3 tags
3 tags
2 tags
Coding a basic Java application
Most of the time, when you are working on a Java application you are not starting from scratch. You have to integrate your code in an existing project or you wish to use an existing framework and as such, your main problem is working with an existing piece of code. We will see how we can use Eclipse to help us write, fix and navigate in our code with, among other features, code completion, quick...
2 tags
Create and manage a Java project
For this first post, I will start slowly with the creation and configuration of a brand new Java project. Then we will have a look at the various option to set up our project from the configuration of the JVM to the different source folders that we want to use. We will see how we can organize our Java projects and after that we will move on to the creation of our first packages and classes....
2 tags
Eclipse Java Development Tools
As an Eclipse committer on Acceleo, I am using Eclipse all the time and I have now learned various tips and tricks for Eclipse. During the last couple of weeks, I had the opportunity to go back to my old university to teach the future generation of software developers and by being surrounded with newcomers in both Java and the Eclipse ecosystem, I came to realize that I could share some...
1 tag
“I get paid for code that works, not for tests, so my philosophy is to test as...”
– Kent Beck
4 tags
February 2012
1 post
2 tags
A few hours with Orion
Since I am currently working on the Javascript/HTML/CSS prototype for the EclipseCon Modeling tutorial during which we will see how to use a model driven approach to build web applications, I have decided to try Orion.
For those who don’t know Orion, it is one of the latest projects of the Eclipse foundation and it can be sum up as a web based development environment. Right know, the Orion...
January 2012
3 posts
3 tags
Having fun with Chrome's APIs
While working on the future Acceleo tutorial that will occurred during EclipseCon 2012, I have to work with several javascript frameworks and with the API of the Chrome browser. Of course, as usual, it’s a nice opportunity to see what can be done with those.
I believe that I can use that opportunity to build a small extension for those who want to find Acceleo related content on internet...
4 tags
Quick and dirty maven repository for Acceleo
You want to use Acceleo jars in a stand alone project with maven? You don’t know how to host Acceleo jars in a maven repository? Well, it’s simple:
1- create a local maven repository
2- put Acceleo jars inside
3- push it on github :)
So while I’m waiting for the Eclipse Foundation to put the content of the release train online, I think that I’ll put everything needed...
4 tags
UML to Java Generator for Acceleo
With the transition to the latest release of Acceleo, new generators built with Acceleo 3 are coming on the Obeo Marketplace. Among those generators, you will be able to find the first release of the UML to Java generator. This generator will feature several improvements to the basic UI plugin traditionally generated by Acceleo.
Builder
As an answer to a popular request, this generator will...
July 2011
3 posts
4 tags
Scala based Acceleo launcher
Scala is a great functional and object oriented programming language. It can be very easily integrated in a Java based application. When you create an Acceleo generator, Acceleo generates a Java class to launch your generation easily. You can use this class from any Scala based application without any difficulties but if you really want to have a pure Scala based application, why would you want to...
3 tags
Scala generation with Acceleo 3.1
I started Scala few months ago and since then I’m loving it. At the beginning, I’ve started by creating basic Scala applications in order to learn the language and after that I moved to small prototypes that I will present and improve in the months to come.
Quickly I was impressed by the structure of the Scala language and I started to look for a Scala metamodel in order to study the...
Experimenting with Scala and Acceleo
During the last few days, I have been prototyping some new stuff but contrary to some of my previous experiments, this time I will not try to create something new, I’ll try to improve an existing component of Acceleo, the Acceleo parser.
The current situation
For this experiment, I choose to concentrate my effort on the analysis of the text. For those who are not familiar with parsing and...
June 2011
1 post
3 tags
Acceleo Unit 0.1
It’s been a long time since I’ve worked on the unit testing framework for Acceleo. At that time, I had all the basis for the framework but I was missing some key elements and few hours of work to have a working prototype. Now that Acceleo 3.1 has been released, I had a bit more time to try and experiment and now I do have my working prototype.
First of all, it is still a prototype,...
April 2011
1 post
3 tags
Using the Acceleo runtime in a Java project
Right now if you want to use the Acceleo runtime in a Java project you have to add the jars of the Acceleo runtime as external jars or even worst, you have to copy them in your Java project. In order to do that, you first have to find all the jars of the Acceleo runtime and their dependencies in your Eclipse installation folder. It is definitely not user friendly.
Looking for the Acceleo runtime...
March 2011
7 posts
desbravo-deactivated20120914 asked: Hi, i m brazilian guy. so sorry my english!
i m student and work with MDA. i want know if acceleo can create package with acceleo? like app.entity and app.entityDAO...
i m student and work with MDA. i want know if acceleo can create package with acceleo? like app.entity and app.entityDAO...
3 tags
Small details always count.
I was fixing a small bug in the new Acceleo project wizard when I had to create a new Java class. I am creating classes all the time and I am using the new class wizard from the JDT everyday, yet once again an invisible feature of the JDT struck me.
Creating a Java class lasts less than a second, yet the new class wizard of the JDT features a small progress monitor at the bottom. It’s one...
3 tags
From an Acceleo code generator to an Eclipse...
Acceleo helps you to create, improve, deploy and maintain easily a code generator. While most of users know Acceleo as an Eclipse plugin used to create a code generators, they tend to forget that the Acceleo runtime can also be embedded in other tools. You can use the Java launcher created by Acceleo to launch the generation of your main templates from any kind of Java application and you can also...
3 tags
Improved properties files processing in Acceleo...
I’ve just finished working on the new system to handle properties files that will be available in the next milestone, so let’s see what’s coming. In Acceleo, you can create a “.properties” file to store some properties that will be used during your generation. You can see in the following screenshot how to use a properties file in the current version of Acceleo.
...
3 tags
Syntax highlighting in folded code for Acceleo
If there is one thing that I’ve learned while using Eclipse and creating Eclipse plugins it is that the devil is in the details. The development team of the JDT is one perfect example of this expression and I’ve seen countless of time in the code of the JDT dozens of lines of code written in order to handle a barely visible feature that seems just natural. You know, those small details...
2 tags
New serialization option and performance...
Acceleo 3.1 will feature a new option that will allow our user to chose their type of compilation. Right now, Acceleo modules are compiled as XMI resources and in the next release of Acceleo, you will have the ability to compile Acceleo modules as Binary resources.
For those who are not familiar with the serialization process of EMF models, let see how it will improve your live. With the XMI...
2 tags
Improved occurrences highlighting in Acceleo 3.1
A quick blog post to show the improved occurrences highlighting process that will be available in the next release of Acceleo.
And for those who don’t like this feature, you will now be able to deactivate it just like in the Java editor. You will be able to find these modifications in Acceleo 3.1.0 M6. By the way, for those who missed it, Acceleo 3.0.3 has been released. You can grab it...
February 2011
2 posts
2 tags
Wizards in Acceleo 3.1
A small blog post to show the work in progress on the new Acceleo wizards. You can see in the following picture the current wizard to create a new module in Acceleo 3.0.
For Acceleo 3.1, the wizards will be re-created almost from scratch with three goals in mind:
give access to the same features in the same amount of “clicks”
give access easily to small new features
make the...
4 tags
Few minutes with Obeo Designer...
They say a picture is worth a thousand words.
I’ll have to improve a few things here and there but overall I got what I’ve wanted in a couple of minutes. Now, it’s time to read the embedded documentation. I just took a brief look at it and I saw some tutorials and even flash videos… sweet!
Edit: improved screenshot with new features.
January 2011
1 post
4 tags
Quick look at Obeo Traceability
In several messages on this blog, I’ve talked about Traceability, so I think that it’s time for me to present this tool on which I’ve been working on with Laurent during the last few months. Obeo Traceability is an Eclipse based tool created in order to gather and visualize traceability informations coming for example from an Acceleo generation. By keeping an eye in real time on...
December 2010
8 posts
2 tags
The Acceleo compiler as an Eclipse library
Following a request from Cédric, I tried to make the Acceleo compiler accessible as a library within Eclipse. In order to do that, I looked at the way JUnit does this to quickly have a small working prototype.
I think that showing the different versions of Acceleo is quite useless (you can see in the 2nd screenshot a combo with the different versions of Acceleo), I would rather show several...
2 tags
Yet another update on Acceleo code coverage
Thanks to an idea coming from Laurent Delaigue, I’ve added more information from the profiler in the code coverage system in order to allow the users to detect more easily the dead code that they may have in their modules. Instead of creating a new view for that, I have chosen to decorate the outline view of the Acceleo editor since with Obeo Traceability we already have a lot of views. Here...
2 tags
Improving the help and the visibility of some...
Acceleo 3 is a code generator with a lot of features going from simple ones like an editor with syntax highlighting or autocompletion to advanced one like a debugger, refactoring processes and a stand alone mode for those who want to embed their generator in a Java application without any dependencies with Eclipse.
But one of the problem of Acceleo is that some of these awesome features are not...
3 tags
Traceability for EEF
Acceleo Traceability and Obeo Traceability are now working with EEF.
2 tags
Updated code coverage for Acceleo
With some new informations from Yvan, I plugged my code coverage system with the Acceleo profiler. It appeared that the profiler had all the informations that I was looking for and thus I have no need to create a new engine for Acceleo to handle my problem. Here is a small screenshot of the new version of the code coverage system with:
in blue, the elements that have generated something
in...
2 tags
Having fun with JUnit and Acceleo
After playing with JUnit 4 and its new features during the last few weeks, I wondered if a unit testing framework for Acceleo would be interesting. So I tried to create something to test a code generatr easily. I started it as a small prototype but after spending most of this rainy sunday on it, here are my conclusions.
I choose to build that testing framework on top of JUnit 4 because JUnit is...
2 tags
Acceleo code coverage
While talking with some colleagues, I quickly realize the need for a good and simple way to determine if an element has been involved in a generation with Acceleo.
Acceleo provides the users with a “result view” in which you can see all the elements from the input models and from the Acceleo modules that have been used during the generation but it quickly has too much information if...
2 tags
Prototypes of new features for Acceleo 3.1
In the upcoming weeks, we will have to start the roadmap for Acceleo 3.1 and we will have to determine the new features needed in the new release. I will try to create small prototypes of new features that may be interesting for Acceleo 3.1 in order to evaluate them.
