Hi JDEE Users, This is to alert you to the fact that I am planning to make a major change to the JDEE's interface to CheckStyle in the upcoming JDEE 2.3.3 release and to give you the opportunity to give me some feedback before the plans are finalized.
The change is intended to support the major change introduced in CheckStyle 3.0 to the way CheckStyle supports custom coding styles. Previously, a user customized CheckStyle by specifying Java system properties on the command line. The current JDEE interface uses customization variables prefaced by jde-checkstyle-option- to specify these Java system variables, i.e., the current interface translates the settings of the customization variables into property arguments and inserts them on the command line that invokes CheckStyle. Release 3.0 of CheckStyle replaces the properties method of customization with the use of XML configuration files. A user specifies a style by specifying a configuration file on the command line. The next release will support this new method by providing a customization variable named jde-checkstyle-style that allows you to specify either Sun's coding style or a custom style. If you specify Sun's style, the JDEE will point CheckStyle (via a command-line argument) to a configuration file that comes with the JDEE and defines the Sun standard. If you specify a custom style, you must enter the path of the configuration file that defines the custom standard. The JDEE will point CheckStyle to the custom configuration file that you specify. CheckStyle optionally allows a configuration file to get coding rules from system properties passed on the CheckStyle command line, a feature called property expansion. In theory, the JDEE could use property expansion to allow a JDEE user to use customization variables to specify a custom coding style. Unfortunately, this would require using a huge command line to start CheckStyle as property expansion requires that every property referenced in a configuration file be set on the command line, i.e., property expansion does not support the concept of default values. Consequently, I plan to remove the JDEE's current set of jde-checkstyle-option- variables and replace them with a single customization variable that would allow you to specify a list of properties to be defined on the command line. This in turn would allow you to use property expansion in a custom configuration file. I welcome your comments and suggestions on this planned change. Paul
