[FR-devel] IntelliJ IDEA 3.0 beta

[Curt Hibbs]

As most of you know, I having been pushing IntelliJ IDEA (a Java IDE) as an
example of an extremely well-done IDE that can server as both an example and
inspiration for the design of FreeRIDE. Many of the desirable features that
it implements will be more difficult (and sometimes impossible) in a dynamic
language like Ruby. Nevertheless, it can still serve as an excellent model
for FreeRIDE.

While I have been using version 2.6 of IntelliJ IDEA, Rich just pointed out
to me that they have a beta version of 3.0 available which adds many
excellent additions to an already outstanding feature-set. I would highly
recommend that any of you who know Java or are able to run Java applications
(IDEA is written in Java), to install IDEA 3.0 and take a look.

To do so, you must register for their Early Access Program at:

        http://www.intellij.com/eap/

I've copied below the list of features added (or to be added) in version
3.0.

Curt

===========================================

What is Ariadna?

   Ariadna project is the nearest planned release of
   IntelliJ IDEA. The release dates are not fixed yet.



Features for Ariadna

    Legend:
      +  done
      -  planned
      *  in progress


J2EE Support
  * To be posted later

XML Support
  + Code completion in XML (according to DTD or schema)
  + Error highlighting in XML (according to DTD or schema)
  + Code formatting for XML
  + XML structure view
  + Code completion of XML tags according to existing file
      structure (without DTD being available)
  * Other code-aware features for XML

JSP Support
  + Code completion of jsp tags
  + Error highlighting in JSP
  + Taglib support (tag completion and error highlighting)
  + Ability to search usages/rename JSP variables & properties
  * Other code-aware features for JSP

Editor
  + Code folding
  + Editor splitting
  * Improved error highlighting (highlighting of more errors)
  + Highlighting of unused variables and methods (private only)
  + Differentiating of locals, static and instance fields and
      parameters by color
  - Stack of recent clipboards
  + Live templates: selection as variable
  + Customizable syntax highlighting for arbitrary file formats
  + Improved Ctrl-W functionality

Navigation
  + "Go to File" feature (analogous to "Go to Class")
  - Wildcards in "Go to Class" and "Go to File"
  + Buttons to jump to next/previous usage/compiler message
      (with shortcuts from editor)

Code Generation&Analysis
  + Code inspections (including finding of unreachable code
      and others)
  + Generation of methods and variables from "unknown usage"
  + Generation of "delegation" methods

Refactoring
  + Rename/move: ability to search&correct occurences in
      non-java files
  + Renaming of getters and setters on field renaming
  + "Pull Up" refactoring for methods and fields
  + "Introduce Parameter" refactoring
  + "Make static" refactoring for method
  - Internalization tool: converting string constants into
      i18n calls

Search/Replace
  - Ability to search usages outside project (in libraries)
  + Ability to group occurences by methods in the search
      result tree
  + Syntax highlighting in search result tree

Compiler
  + Dependency-based make
  - "JSP compilation"
  + Ability to have multiple output paths
  + Ability to automatically copy resource files from source
      to the output directory
  + Word wrapping for long error messages

Debugger
  - JSP debugging
  - Configurable set of types to show as "toString()" by default
  - Alternative view for Collection classes
  - "Copy" menu item to copy node text to the clipboard
  - "Suspend thread" feature
  - Code completion and other advanced editing features in
      the expression evaluator's text field

Ant Integration
  + Keyboard shortcuts for Ant targets
  + Ability to filter targets to be shown in the tree
  + Macros in build files
  * Ability to automatically perform particular target
      before/after compile, run, etc

UI
  + TODO list
  + "Floating mode" for tool windows
  + Method hierarchy browser
  + Structure view: option to auto-synchronize selected item
      with caret position
  + Structure view: option to group getter/setter methods
  - Ability to view all files in Project view

JavaDoc
  + Autogeneration of JavaDoc comment stubs
  + Code completion and highlighting in JavaDoc comments
  + Ability to specify internet URLs as JavaDoc paths to be
      used by 'View External JavaDoc'

Open API
  * IDE Open API
  - Support for all standard look&feels

Options
  + Multiple colors&fonts configurations
  - Multiple code style configurations
  - Ability to have code style options per-project

Other
  - Multiple new class/file templates
  + Local version control system
  + Libraries support
  + Message filters for external tools
  - Unicode support for files
  - Installer