Perspectives, Views & Editors
Peter Komisar © Conestoga College  version 1.0  Fall / 2007

Reference:  Third Draft Document for Review, Sept. 17,2007,
SG24-7501-00 'Rational Application Developer V7 Programming
Guide'.
This is a synopsis of information found in the fourth chapter,
'Perspectives Views & Editors' found in the third draft Document
for Review, dated September 17, SG24-7501-00 Rational
Application Developer V7 Programming Guide. It has been
prepared for private academic purposes and is not an effort
to publish the contained material.

Any anonymous quotes are from the above noted reference.        

Both the J2EE and IBM's RAD, (for Rational Application
Developer) environment make use of the concept of roles
to define divisions of duty. Different tools are provided
to the user filling different roles.

First common structures are introduced.


The Integrated Development Environment

IDE  = 'Workbench' = a set of software development
tools accessible from a single user interface.

Several default perspectives are supplied. The user
can switch between several opened perspectives.

Perspectives = View(s) + Editor(s)

Example

The J2EE perspective contains views and editors
applicable for EJB development.


Views - supply different ways of looking at resources.
Views are stackable, in tabbed panes.

Ctrl-F7 - Use Ctrl-F7 to flip through views. Press F7
until the desired view is found.

Examples
Editors - permit the creation and modification of resources.


Editors with Specific File Type Associations Auto Open

Given Editors associated with specific file types are
automatically opened. If no association is found the
default editor is opened which is the text editor.
RAD synchronizes views with changes in editors.

Examples

Page Designer for HTML
Java Editor for .java and .jpage files

Ctrl-F6 - Use Ctrl-F6 to flip through editors. Press
F6 until the desired view is found.

'Next' and 'Previous' cursor location move focus
around recent cursor positions.

The 'Last Edit Location Icon', a 'Previous' icon with
an asterisk associated, returns the focus to the last
change location.

'Next and Previous Annotation', up down arrows over
page icons list through items. For instance, these
buttons may be used to move through error positions.


Perspective Layout

See the PDF for a good picture.

Selecting Perspectives

Select Window → Open Perspective


ShortCut Bar

In the upper right-hand corner of a perspective a
shortcut bar is supplied. The left-most button opens
another perspective. The right-most button shows
all opened perspectives.


// skipped tips which were obvious

The Default Perspective

The J2EE Perspective is the default perspective.

To specify a perspective as the default do the following.

Specifying the Default Perspective

Window → Preferences→ expand General →
Select Perspectives→Select the perspective that
will become the Default →click Make Default→
Click OK.


Organizing and Customizing Perspectives

Eclipse allows the following actions on perspectives:
 // actions are found in the Window menu


Actions on Perspectives

Window → Customize Perspective

// the 'Customize Perspective' dialog opens

Customizing Menus

From with the Customize Perspective View use
the following.

The Shortcuts Tab allows specifying which options
are shown on the 'New', 'Open Perspective', and
'Show View' menus within the current perspective.

Select a menu to customize ( from the Sub menus drop
down window) → check the boxes for which options
you want to appear. 

// unselected items are accessible in 'Other menu options'

The Commands Tab allows selecting command
groups for the menu bar or tool bar.

It is also possible to reposition any of the views and
editors and to add or remove other editors as desired.


Adding and Removing Views

Select Window→ Show View →select the view to add to
currently open perspective.

To remove a view, simply close it from its title menu.

Move a view to another pane using drag and drop.

Moving Views

Select its title bar →drag the view to another place on
the workspace.

// cursor changes to a drop cursor
// area to be filled is highlighted with a rectangular outline

The drop cursor points to where the view will dock.
Other icons indicate the view will dock, in a tabbed
pane, a status bar, or the view becomes a separate
window.

Other View Controls

Fast View

A Fast View appears as a button in the status bar of
Eclipse in the bottom left corner of the workspace. Clicking
toggles whether or not the view displays on top of other
views in the perspective.


Maximize and Minimize a View 

Maximize
 To Restore
 Minimize

Save 

To save a configuration of a perspective do the
following.

Saving a Perspective Configuration

selecting Window →Save Perspective As
→type a new name.

// The new perspective now appears as an option
// on the Open Perspective window.

Restore

To restore the currently open perspective reset
as follows.

Select Window → Reset Perspective


Help

The RAD 7 Help system provides documentation
that may be browsed, printed and searched.


Displaying Help Contents

Selecting Help →Help Contents  // from menu bar

Available books are listed in the left pane while
contents are listed in the right pane. Navigate with
'Go Back' & 'Go Forward' Icons.

Help Functions

Show in Table of Contents  -synchronizes the navigation
frame with the current topic Shows where the current topic
fits into the navigation path.

Bookmark Document  -adds a bookmark to the
'Bookmarks' view,

Print Page - allows printing the currently displayed page

Maximize - maximizes the right hand pane to fill

// the icon changes to 'Restore' to reverse action


F1 → Help View

Pressing F1 at anytime will bring the Help View up.
Help can also be found by the following steps.


Windowing to Help

Window → Show View → Other → Help → Help.


Search Scope

"Clicking the Search Scope link opens a dialog
box where you can select a scope for your search."


Survey of Perspectives

We have elected to leave out the perspectives
not supported in Enterprise Eclpse.

Following is a description of each of the perspectives
supplied in RAD 7.0. First a list is provided of the
perspectives in alphabetical order as they appear
in the 'Select Perspective Dialog'.

  Eclipse Supported Perspectives

CVS Repository Exploring Perspective // also in Eclipse

"The Concurrent Versions System (CVS), also known
as the Concurrent Versioning System, is an open-source
version control system that keeps track of all work and all
changes in a set of files, typically the implementation of
a software project, and allows several (potentially widely-
separated) developers to collaborate. It was invented and
developed by Dick Grune in the 1980s"
                                                          -quote from wikipedia

This perspective lets you connect to Concurrent Versions
System (CVS) repositories so that the revision history of
resources can be inspected.

The perspective holds the following views:


// The context menu allows specifying new repository locations.
// the contents of the editor are read-only.

The Database Development Perspective
in Eclipse

RAD had quite an extensive API for Database Connectivity.
The Eclipse support here is spartan but could be complimented
with Plug-ins.

Eclipse does supply a Database Debug Perspective.


Debug Perspective  // basic to Eclipse

Debug is a standard part of Eclipse. The default Debug
perspective has five view panes.


Debug View Panes


Debug View

"The Debug View displays the stack frame for the
suspended threads for each target you are debugging.
Each thread in your program appears as a node in the
tree. If the thread is suspended, its stack frames are
shown as child elements.

If the resource containing a selected thread is not open
and/or active, the file opens in the editor and becomes
active, focusing on the point in the source where the
thread is currently positioned. The Debug view contains
a number of command buttons which enable users to
perform actions such as start, terminate, and step-by-
step debug actions."             
                                                     - IBM RAD 7. 0 Redbook


Variables View

The Variables view displays information about the
variables in the currently selected stack frame.

Breakpoints View

// "A breakpoint suspends the execution of a program
// at the location where the breakpoint is set." -eclipse help

The Breakpoints view lists all the breakpoints set in
the Workbench projects. Double-click a breakpoint
to display its location in the editor.  Breakpoints can
be enabled or disabled, deleted, have their properties
changed and new ones made be added.

"This view also lists Java exception breakpoints,
which suspend execution at the point where the
exception is thrown."

Servers View  

"The Servers view lists all the defined servers and
their status. Right-clicking a server displays the
server context menu, which allows the server to
be started, stopped and to republish the current
applications."


Outline View   // a skeleton view of the resource

"The Outline view shows the elements (imports,
class, fields, and methods) that exist in the source
file in the front editor. Clicking an item in the outline
will position you in the editor view at the line where
that structure element is defined."


Problems View

This view shows all errors, warnings, and information
messages relating to resources in the workspace.
Items listed can be used to navigate to the pertinent
line of code.

// The Console and Tasks views were already discussed


Generic Log Adapter Perspective
// can get from Eclipse site, a standardized logging system

This is a RAD 7 view however there is a standardized
logging system that can be obtained for Eclipse from
the home site.

This view supplies a different logging  system. It allows
the creation of applications to converts logs into the
Common Base Event or CBE format.

"This is a defined format for logging system events in
a standardized format, so that problems from different
applications can be caught and managed centrally. "

Because most applications do not log CBE format,
tools are provided to create and debug adapters
from non-standard application log formats to perspective supports creating, editing, and
compiling Java code.

A main editor area displayed by default is complimented
with the following views:


Package Explorer View

This view provides a Java-specific view of resources.
It shows the source folders and libraries that are
referenced in tree format Contents of internal and
external JAR files can be browsed.


Hierarchy View

This view provides three ways to look at class
hierarchy.

Three Hierarchy Views   // click one of three icons
Javadoc View

This view shows the Javadoc comments associated
an element selected in the editor or outline view.
 

Declarations View

Shows the source code declaration of the element
selected in the editor or in outline view.


// The Outline and Problems views that are in the Java
// perspective are the same as those discussed earlier
// in the Debug view

// Chapter 7


J2EE Perspective   // Eclipse has a J2EE version

This perspective is used for working with Enterprise
Application projects and EJB projects. It contains the
following views typically used when developing J2EE
applications:

Project Explorer View

Project Explorer in the J2EE perspective is similar to the
Navigator view but includes extra icons specific for J2EE
such as deployment descriptors and the Security Editor

For Web projects the Project Explorer view includes icons
for the web deployment descriptor, the Web Navigation
view, the Web Diagram view and the Security Editor.


Snippets View  // store bits of code

The Snippets view lets you catalog and organize reusable
programming objects. Examples are HTML tagging,
JavaScript, JSP code and custom JSP tags. Snippets are
arranged in drawers. Drawers can be customized by right-
clicking a drawer and selecting Customize.

Properties View

"Provides a tabular view of the properties and associated
values of objects in files you have open in an editor, the
format of this view differs depending on what is selected in
the editor. " The default is to show  file properties (last
modification date, file path and so on).

// The Outline, Servers, Problems, Tasks, and Database
// Explorer views, relevant to the Web perspective, have
// already been discussed.


Java Browsing Perspective

The Java Browsing perspective provides additional support
for the Java perspective. The Browsing perspective has
a larger editor area and several views to select a
programming element to edit.

Java Browsing Perspective Views
Java Browsing Perspective Buttons

Java Type Hierarchy Perspective

This perspective users to explore the type hierarchy.
It can be opened on types, compilation units, packages,
projects, or source folders. It consists of the Hierarchy
view and an editor.

The Hierarchy view shows only an information message
until you select a type, in the outline view , in the editor
or by drag and dropping an element onto this view.

"To open a type in the Hierarchy view, open the context
menu for a Java class in any view or editor (for example
the main source code editor and select Open Type
Hierarchy. "

The Hierarchy view is present in the Java and the Java
Type perspective, it is useful as it provides a an uncluttered
view of complex object hierarchies for exploration and
understanding.


Plug-in Development Perspective

"The ability to write extra features and plug-ins is
an important part of the philosophy of the Eclipse
framework."

This perspective allows for the creation of custom
Application Developer or Eclipse tools.

The Plug-in Model provides a flexible design that
provides a base on which other parties can build
plug-ins, for Eclipse whether open source or
proprietary.


The Plug-in Development perspective Views


// The perspective also includes Package Explorer,
// Outline, Tasks, and Problems views already described

// how to develop plug-ins for RAD  or Eclipse is not covered in this
// redbook. For more info see the IBM Redbooks document. 'Eclipse
// Development using the Graphical Editing Framework and the Eclipse
// Modeling Framework', SG24-6302 or 'The Java Developer’s Guide
// to Eclipse-Second Edition', D’Anjou et al


RAD 7 has a Profiling and Logging Perspective which
Eclipse does not so we take a pass here.

Eclipse has an equivalent perspective to the 'Report Design
Perspective' that can be picked up at the Eclipse site.


Report Design Perspective // Eclipse but needs to be added

This perspective supports the design and development
of report templates using the Business Intelligence and
Reporting Tools (BIRT) framework. This is an Eclipse-
based open source reporting system for Web applications,
specifically for those based on Java and J2EE.

"The BIRT system also includes a runtime component to
process these reports which can be added to an Application
Server. The Reports Designer editor provides the facility
to layout the fields on the report template and to map these design and development
of report templates using the Business Intelligence and
Reporting Tools (BIRT) framework. This is an Eclipse-
based open source reporting system for Web applications,
specifically for those based on Java and J2EE.

"The BIRT system also includes a runtime component to
process these reports which can be added to an Application
Server. The Reports Designer editor provides the facility
to layout the fields on the report template and to map these
fields with data from XML schemas or database definitions
and to test them within Application Developer."


Link  to Add Report Design Functionality

http://eclipse.org/birt/phoenix/project


Resource Perspective  // Included with Eclipse

Resource is a simple perspective containing only Navigator,
Outline, and Tasks views and an editor area. It is useful to
abstract the view of underlying files and folders present for
a project without extra information added.

// All these views have been previously described


Rule Builder Perspective  // import from the IBM site

The Rule Builder perspective supports 'Active Correlation
Technology'. This is a system "that processes logs and other
application outputs according to a set of rules to help
diagnose when certain high level system events occur,
. . .  in particular . . . when an error or some other condition
worth raising an alert has occurred."

"The rules are expressed in a defined XML language and
can be configured to run within a running application server.
Application Developer provides a Rules Editing wizard in
this perspective to aid the rule development process."


Active Correlation Technology Link

http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/autonomic/library/ac-acact/index.html
 

Team Synchronizing Perspective  // part of Eclipse

The Team Synchronizing perspective syn you in
completing the synchronization."

This editor shows a line by line comparison of two
revisions of the same source code.

// Also present is the History view to show the revision history
// and the Tasks and Problems view.

// more details in Chapter 26!

Test Perspective

In Eclipse there is there is a  JUnit perspective
described for testing. Though not listed in the
perspectives, the basic classes are supported
in Eclipse.

Other Frameworks supported in Eclipse

Check Window -> Preferences

The Test perspective provides a framework for defining
and executing test cases and test suites. The focus is
on testing not building the code that is used in in JUnit
tests. This is best done in the Java perspective.


Key Test Perspective Views

// The Tasks, Properties, and Outline views are present and have
already been covered  There is more info in Chapter 21 of the RAD pdf


Web Perspective

There is a web perspective in both RAD 7 and Eclipse.
However it appears that  the support 'out of the box' for
WYSIWYG is not there in Eclipse. However there seems
to be stuff available from the Eclipse site in this regard.

"Web developers can use the Web perspective to
build and edit Web resources, such as servlets,
JSPs, HTML pages, style sheets and images as
well as the deployment descriptor web.xml."

The RAD 7 support for Web elements is extensive
and >
There is a web perspective in both RAD 7 and Eclipse.
However it appears that  the support 'out of the box' for
WYSIWYG is not there in Eclipse. However there seems
to be stuff available from the Eclipse site in this regard.

"Web developers can use the Web perspective to
build and edit Web resources, such as servlets,
JSPs, HTML pages, style sheets and images as
well as the deployment descriptor web.xml."

The RAD 7 support for Web elements is extensive
and so we will not torture ourselves with RAD 7's
capability in these respects.

If you need this support, consider investigating RAD 7
or checking the Eclipse site for an add-on.


Assignment

Use the Welcome Tutorial to build 'HelloWorld'. Keep
this program active as you gather the following screen
shots.

Screen shot each of the following perspectives main pages
from either Eclipse, WebSphere Studio or RAD 7. Title each
screen shot and include a single sentence that summarizes
what service each perspective provides.


Perspectives