[ANN] Eclipse Erlang IDE 0.3.0

[Vlad Dumitrescu]

Hi all,

After a long pause without any releases, we have exciting news. The plugin 
has matured quite a lot, I can use it in my everyday work even if there is 
atill a lot to do.

I am attaching the README file and hope that there will be plenty of bug 
reports! :-) Feature requests too, as well as any other related thoughts or 
ideas.

best regards,
Vlad


Important
=========
* As from version 0.2.0, this plugin is targeted at Eclipse 3.1.
* It is tested with R10B-6, mostly on Windows but also Linux FC4
* For bug reports and feature requests, please use the SouceForge trackers 
at
http://sourceforge.net/projects/erlide/. Mailing to erlide-devel@REDACTED 
would
be the second option.

Installation notes:
===================
- Install either from remote site http://erlide.sf.net/update, or download
the archived update site from the file releases.
- After installing the plugin, the Erlang environment has to be set
* go to window->Preferences->Erlang->Runtime
and enter the Erlang root directory ($ERL_TOP)
- *Incompatibility* If you have any Erlang project used with 0.2.4 or 
earlier, you will
have to recreate it. This is due to a new preference storage mechanism.

News for 0.3.0
==============
- A Module Wizard has been added (thanks to Lukas Larsson). It can generate 
most of the
module skeletons we all love from the Emacs environment.
- Various bug fixes and small improvements: builder, syntax highlighting and 
more.

News for 0.2.5
==============
- LiveExpressions update themselves after rebuilding. A cool way to check if 
that bug
you were hunting has disappeared! ;-)
- The builder is still shaky, if you suspect it didn't compile and load your 
files,
try a clean build first.
- There's been a lot of refactoring under the hood, the result being a more 
robust backend.
There is only one Erlang node as backend, hosting all projects. Less 
confusing UI, but
with potential problems if several open projects have modules named 
identically.
Later one will be able to launch an Erlang node with only selected projects.
Developer news:
- Added a new plugin erlide-basic-ui, to handle runtime preferences. The 
"regular" ui
plugin was depending on a backend to be running, but when first installing 
the backend
couldn't start because it wasn't properly configured.
- So now Erlide is self-hosting! The projects have an Erlang nature, so 
developers have to
install a binary version of 0.2.5 or later to get things working.
- The erlang-builder project has been deprecated and retired, as it's not 
needed anymore.

News for 0.2.3
==============
- Fixed builder, now it also loads the compiled modules into the project's 
node.
- There's a new view, LiveExpressions, where one can enter expressions to be 
evaluated and
can see the results. It should refresh itself after a build, so one can have 
some testing
calls there and need not type them in the shell over and over again. 
However, it's only
alpha status: expressions aren't saved, can't be removed either (except by 
restarting Eclipse)
- Syntax highlighting now uses an Erlang based scanner. I hacked erl_scan so 
that it returns
char offset in file instead of line number, and also recognizes comments, 
macros, records
different types of numbers, bifs. In some ways, it's better than Emacs' but 
in others is
still lacking (because syntax isn't enough, we need to do some parsing too).
Developer news:
- There is a new project in the CVS, module erlide/erlang-builder, that 
implements
simple nature and builder for projects that aren't completely Erlang based 
(like for
example erlide-core). See below for building notes.
- erlide-launching project has been moved inside erlide-core, and isn't used 
anymore.

News for 0.2.0
==============
- Eclipse 3.1 compatible. Older versions are no longer supported (3.1 has 
new APIs that
aren't backwards compatible).
- erlide-jinterface uses OtpErlang.jar from R10B-5
- Erlang no longer must be on the path, the value entered in the preferences 
is always used.
(thanks to Mickael Remond)
- Console input works now, just try it! The cursor may be placed wrong, but 
input goes
where it should.
- Several minor enhancements.

Building notes:
===============
A word of advice to the brave that might try to build the plugin (not 
applicable if you
only want to run it):
* install and configure a binary 0.2.5 or later. Configuration is mainly 
pointing it to'
$ERL_TOP; the output directory should remain "ebin", and any compiler args 
you like (you must
enter something and then delete it, otherwise the "OK" button remains 
grayed). Only then
you can fiddle with the Erlang files and get them compiled.
* I haven't investigated this thoroughly, but on my Linux box I need to 
start
manually a distributed node in order to get epmd running.

Enjoy!
/Vlad