One of the appreciated features of Cayenne Modeler is evidently that it does not require a particular IDE.
It is possible to use Eclipse platform to create a standalone application that does not require Eclipse. Such an application generated by Eclipse, but which does not require Eclipse, is called an Eclipse RCP application. http://www.eclipse.org/rcp I think it might be a good idea to develop the Cayenne Modeler as an RCP application: Some pros: - Eclipse RCP applications use SWT instead of Swing. SWT gives a better user experience than Swing. IMO this is objectively true(oxymoron :-) - The same code that goes into the Eclipse plugin can go into the standalone Cayenne Modeler. - The Cayenne modeler can draw on other Eclipse infrastructure as relevant(e.g. throw in something from http://www.eclipse.org/datatools , XML editors, etc.) Cons: - Eclipse RCP applications require SWT. Swing is part of all JRE's. - There may exist platforms that have a JRE which support Swing, but that does not have SWT support that the Cayenne crowd cares about. I don't know of any such platforms. - Cayenne would have to distribute the necessary SWT pieces for, say, Mac, Linux & Windows and leave the compilation of the Cayenne Modeler for other platforms as an exercise for the user. -- Øyvind Harboe http://www.zylin.com
