Hi,
having struggled for some years with various version of make,
I really appriciate the concepts of ant.
However, I personally have a different vision for an ant user interface.
It's not really conflicting with antidote, it seems to adress a different
user group.
I have written down some ideas and requirements for the user interface
which I call anttool. I appriciate any comments.
I will try to use some days of my christmas vacation to implement
the ideas. (if my wifes allows it :-) ) I will resuse the basic
architecture of antidote (Command pattern, EventBus).
* Stefan Vaillant
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Anttool Overview:
-----------------
With Anttool a user can manage the build process for existing ant build
files.
By using the grafical user interface, the user can
adjust certain properties to his environment,
start and cancel builds,
monitor their progress
and call appropiate programs to fix problems.
It is not possible
to modify the build file. Instead, an external XML editor or
antidote should be used.
For inexperienced users, the tool provides an easy and efficient way
to install open source software: load software to the local system,
build it and install it.
The tool can be used without any knowledge of XML or the ant DTD.
Instead, the user just adjusts the relevant properties to his
environment and starts the build.
For programmers, the tool supports the basic build/test/edit cycle.
Given an existing ant build file, the programmer can use the
grafical user interface to execute individual targets,
browse the effects of the build and start editors
to fix problems that occured during the build.
I general, anttool is ment for users who see the build file
as a black-box: They are not primarily interested in the internal
structure
of the build file nor in modifiying it.
Instead, they want to call ant with the appropiate
arguments and want to see, what is the result of the build.
Therefore, anttool only shows targets and properties that
are relevant for these users. Tasks are not shown at all.
Anttool User Interface:
-----------------------
The user interface of anttool is devided into two panels:
The "Control Panel" shows all loaded build files and their targets.
The "Project Panel" shows details for one project, including
the logging information from the last build(s), the editable properties
of an build and relevant files of that build.
By default, the user interface does not show targets or properties
that have no description or a descriuption starting with a ".".
These targets or properties are called "hidden" in the following text.
The Control Panel:
------------------
The Control Panel shows a tree with all loaded projects.
For each project the non-hidden targets are shown.
(Anttool can be configured to show also hidden targets,
see Configuration below).
If you move the cursor over a project or target,
a description for it will be shown as a tooltip.
Two icons are prefixing the name of the project or target:
one is visualizing the state of the project or target,
the other is a button to start or cancel the project or target.
The state icon can have the following different colors:
- green if the execution was successfull.
- yellow if an execution is needed because the output files are
out-of-date
[not possible with current ant version?]
- red if the execution resulted in errors.
- white (i.e. nothing) if the state is unknown
[Alternative: what about buttons labeled with the target name?
The button is used for start/stopping the build.
No tree required then. ]
If you select a node in the tree, the Project Panel (see below) will show
details for the relevant project.
If you right-click on a node in the tree,
a pop-up menu will show the following commands:
edit: open XML editor at selected element
open: in new window [? is that needed]
The Project Panel:
------------------
The Project Panel consists of three tabs:
The "Build Log" tab shows information about the last build(s),
the "Properties" tab shows non-hidden properties
and the "Files" tab shows files relevant for the project.
The Build Log Tab:
In this tab you can monitor the build on detail.
A tree shows
the executed targets of a build, their tasks and
log messages for each task.
The start time is noted after the build name.
In the pop-up menu, you can choose from the following commands:
edit: open editor for shown file at shown location.
show log level->Error/Warning/Info/Verbose/Debug
(only the items possible are shown,
see configuration.)
The Properties Tab:
The properties tab shows all non-hidden properties of the project.
(optionally, also hidden properties can be shown, see Configuratin below.)
Each Property is shown as follows:
<Name>: <entry field> <reset checkbox>
where
<Name> is name of the property, with "." and "-" replaced by " "
and first letters capatilized.
<entry field> is a text field to enter a value for the properts.
In some cases, special benas are shown:
Name ends with ".dir" => provide a file chooser to select a
directory
Name ends with ".lib" => provide a file chooser to select
.jar file
Name is "build.compiler" => provide combo box with possible
compilers.
[selecting JDK's seems not well support in ant?
If you have e.g. JDK 1.2.1 and 1.2.2 installed,
how to easily select the compiler version?]
Name ends with ".jdk" => let the user select one of the
configures
JDK's
[more general then build.compiler, but supported by
ant?]
Name ends with ".file" => provide a file chooser
<reset checkbox> resets the value to the (default) value that is
contained in the .xml file
All values entered are save in a file
$HOME/.ant/<full-path-build-file>.property.
(See also Configuration.)
If property values are changed, then ant is called with
main("-Dproperty1=value1 ..").
[show also (class)pathes as property, use id instead of name?
But: is that required? Why not simply define individual properties
for the required libraries and combine them then to a path.
]
The File Set Tab:
This tab show files that are releated to the project.
For each non-hidden fileset of the project, the id of the fileset is
shown and all files included to that fileset.
If you right-click on a file, a pop-up menu is shown with which you can
start programs to deal with these files.
The relevant configuration information is extracted from the existing
operation system settings.
[or: one tab for each fileset?]
Repository:
-----------
[This needs some more work.]
Anttool also simplyfies the loading of source files form the web.
By using the repository mechanism of anttool,
you can perform the complete workflow from download to install
with just a few mouse clicks:
select one out of the Repositories from the main menu.
Anttool will query the server for a list of up-to-date
packages.
select one of the presented packages
Anttool will then download the selected package:
In case a .zip (or similar) package was selected,
the file is downloaded and
unpacked to "/Users/"<name>.
In case a CVS repository was selected,
the files are downloaded to "/Users/"<name>.
Afterwards
a file with the name "build.xml" is searched
and loaded to anttool.
Optionally, the file "$HOME/.ant/default.properties"
is copied to "$HOME/.ant/<full-path-build-file>.properties,
overwriting the defaults in the downloaded build file
with your preferences (e.g. installation directory, JDK, ...)
[copy only relevant properties?]
check if the properties in the selected project match your intention.
press "start" on the project
Anttool Configuration:
-----------------------
The menu "Tools" in the menu bar allows you to adjust Anttool
behavior to your preferences and environment.
The following menu entries are available:
Configure JDKs:
Can be used to configure the JDKs available
on your system. The configured values are offered
for properties that end with ".jdk".
The screen offers a table to edit a set of names
and pathes.
By pressing "rescan" the system is scanned for new JDKs
by consulting the installed software.
[Should there be one combo box
Anttool JDK: <internal|JDK list|....>
that indicates the JDK that should be used to run ant?
Should that be even project specific setting?
]
Configure Repository: [better name?]
Anttool is aware of certain places where Anttool supporting software
can be found on the internet.
These URLs can be configured here.
These repositories are offered to the user when he selects
the "Repository" menu in the menu bar.
The screen offers a table to edit a set of names
and URLs.
Configure Libraries:
Can be used to configure the libraries available
on your system. The configured values are offered
for properties that end with ".lib".
The screen offers a table to edit a set of names
and pathes.
By pressing "rescan" the system is scanned for new libraries
by searching below a directory.
Preferences:
show hidden targets: bool
[or: offer addition menu to start hidden targets?]
show hidden filesets: bool
show hidden properties: bool
log level used for build: ...
number of log files saved:
number of log files shown in UI:
Directory to save property values:
file name remembered in file menu:
checkig for new files in filesets: [seconds]
autoload new buildfile: [seconds, 0= never]
General features:
-----------------
The menubar menu's are
File
Open...
Close
-------
1 buildfile.xml
2 ....
3 ...
------
Exit
Repository
Apache... as configured
<name2>...
....
Options
Configure JDKs...
Configure Repository...
Configure Libraries...
Preferences...
Look&Feel...
Help
Antool Help...
Ant Web Home calls netscape
-----------
About...
Build files can be dragged and dropped into anttool.
The set off loaded build files should be saved on exit and
reloaded on restart automatically.
Technical questions on the internals of anttool
-----------------------------------------------
- How to detect if a target needs to be run (yellow color)?
Seems not be possible currently.
One solution [what will ant 2.0 contain?]:
Define new abstract class "MonitoredTask", inherited from Task.
Copy, Javac, javadoc, etc inherit from these.
MonitoredTask defines:
execute() { prepareTask(); if (executionNeeded) { perform() }; }
executionNeeded: boolean // signals that I need to run because
output is
older than input
perform()
performMap() // what will happen with each file, i.e.
Main.java -> Main.class
UI.java -> UI.class
...
or
Main.class -> lib.jar
UI.class -> lib.jar
size of Map should be equal to number of steps
reported in loggin.
Only "executionNeeded" is required to add a yellow flag for targets.
The performMap would be nice to have. It could be used later to show a
finegrained
graph (or matrix) about what is happening during a build.
Add configuration item on how often call the funtions (i.e. how often to
do the polling.)
- How to do the calling of the external tools?
XML editor? (how to generate the dtd? How to execute "antstructure"
withour changing
the build file.)
How to simulate the windows functionality for e.g. open java source with
JBuilder?
How to read the registry information?
How to do DDE calls?
- is there any free installation tool for java?
(to install anttool itself)
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