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Comparing the current JSF visual editor side by side with the competitors and I begin to understand why many myeclipse users are “dissatisfied” when working on JSF projects in general. Because IT’S NOT MAKING THINGS EASIER! Let me give you examples of why working with a JSF Visual Editor in eclipse is awkward compared to working in another IDE such as JBoss Dev Studio or Netbeans With Web Tools.
1. Strive for Elegance or Make the many things complete by one action.
When using the visual editor trying to drap and drop components purely on the visual side was like trying grab a moving eel glazed in melted butter.
– You need the option of visual grids for pixel by pixel positioning of elements
– You also need grid-locking or component by component locking (relative positioning)
– Give the option of visual aids to show that a component can nested in another component purely by visual aids (e.g. the parent component blinks or goes GREEN to show your about to nest a component inside of it). Hint Hint your competitors are doing this already.
2. Guide the user in how the Backend is connected to the Frontend
or Guide by the mirroring and windowing principle.– e.g. I make a change to the backing bean method name, immediately the front end should show the change in the method name automatically (mirroring principle)
– e.g. On the front end I need to bind a component to a backing bean, I should be able purely from the frontend visual jsf/jsp editor to BROWSE ALL THE MANAGED BEANS AND BUNDLED RESOURCES via a browsing context window and select the bean method OR properties file (windowing principle). Hint Hint you have clear WINDOW to the backend. If it’s even possible to detect beans declared in a sessionMap from backend intelligently that would be a plus. Hint Hint again your competitors have this feature by default.
3. Build on what existed before.
– e.g. ok so I know the Visual editor is suppose to be visual. but what about basic editing features on the editor side? I can’t even do a simple find or find/replace in it?
All of these things I’ve just stated are not new. They been around for a while now in competing IDE’s. Which is why I state again that I understand why some users on here state that working with JSF tooling on myeclipse in general is anything but enjoyable.
My impression when working with other IDE’s is that they’ve really figured out how to streamline the whole process when working with JSF and JSF tooling so as to not have to worry about every little change in the front end not being in synch with the back end or the backend not being in synch with the front end.
The things that I’ve just stated could literally shave off hours in man hours when working with JSF tooling in MyEclipse. Not to mention help retain a developers sanity when working on a complex project of many parts.
I appreciate the work done on Myeclipse 7.0 and of course more improvements are on the way. But I have to tell you I don’t feel compelled to upgrade due to the fact that most of the changes seem very superficial to me. And offer no real help to me as a developer to help streamline and ease the level of complexity when working on projects, yet.I hope this post makes sense. If not I will clarify it for you.
nmatrix9,
Thank you for taking the time to provide us with this information. I’m going to file this as an enhancement request and let the management know about this right away.@support-nipun wrote:
nmatrix9,
Thank you for taking the time to provide us with this information. I’m going to file this as an enhancement request and let the management know about this right away.-You can also add this as an enhancement for JSF, tag stubs on the visual side so that you can easily the name/id of parent elements containing other elements
– additional tabs to the design preview, so you have not just a design and preview tab. But also a pure text editor or a pure visual tab.
