Getting started with the CFEclipse code
November 7, 2006 ·
I just got an email from Robert Munn, he managed to check out the branch code for CFEclipse (you can have a look at it
here ) and he asked where does one start? There is a lot of code and a few folders etc... so I thought I would start doing some posts describing how the code is organised and what goes where.
When you first download the source if you have followed the
documentation you should get a bunch of folders and files at the root of your application.
| dictionary |
This is where all the language dictionaries go. They are XML definition files for each language version such as CF5-> CFMX7 as well as HTML, JavaScript and SQL (more on this on a later post |
| doc |
Help Documentation |
| icons |
Image files used for icons and buttons |
| intro |
(Product Version) When we do a Product Version (standalone) this is the folder where all the help docs will go |
| lib |
Where any other Java JAR libraries that are required are stored (such as Log4J etc) |
| readme |
Any readme files to go here. might be an idea for people to put descriptions of changes here! |
| schema |
Extension schemas so that other plugins can use CFEclipse, underused and will be used more in the future |
| snippets |
Additional snippet code base, we used to have a build for you to install pre-made snippets, and here they are, all pre-made for you |
| src |
This is where the actual Java code goes! The real stuff. |
| .classpath |
This file actually contains the paths to extra libraries that are used by CFEclipse |
| .project |
This is an Eclipse generated file, defines the project by name etc... you would probably overwrite this at any rate if you get errors about external builders |
| build.properties |
Used by Eclipse to define what to package up when its building the plugin, dont need to edit directly (see plugin.xml) |
| cfeclipse.product |
(Product Version) Central file to define a standalone build of CFEclipse (like the standalone version of FlexBuilder) |
| License.txt |
Does what it says on the tin. What did you expect? Shakespeare? |
| plugin.properties |
These are the externalisation of text strings from the plugin.xml file so we can be multi-lingual in the future |
| plugin.xml |
This is the core file of any plugin, open this in the Plug-in Manifest Editor, and you get a very good breakdown of what it does and how you can add features. This deserves its own post which I shall put up later |
| plugin_customization.ini |
(Product Version) This file puts some default settings like which perspective you want the product to start with |
| splash.bmp |
(Product Version) The startup splash screen for the product version |
I hope this helps people get a bearing on what the whole plugin is about. I shall post more info later on the plugin.xml file as that is a very important file and the basis of your plugin.
Tags: cfeclipse · reference
2 responses
1 Dipak // Sep 22, 2008 at 4:12 PM
I think this is a great idea, explaining the starting point of CFEclipse, I have downloaded source code couple of times and then could not do much, as I am new to Plug-in development. Now, it seems I can follow this blog entries and can really understand and hopefully can start modifying the code.
I am looking forward for more such blog entries to learn further.
Now, I have downloaded the source code as a new java project.
Thank you again for your all hard work.
-Dipak
2 Mark Drew // Sep 22, 2008 at 4:12 PM
MD