What API?

[paulvi]

Actually not so many developers do Eclipse plugins (comparing to Eclipse IDE users)
Coming up with newer API for them could be very hard.
On the other hand there are .js APIs for doing desktop development, like newer Atom https://github.com/atom/atom (would need to search more)

If enabling (subset) APIs on Eclipse platform, than we could migrate a bunch of goods things,
and convert those who created JS extensions into Eclipse developers as well.

[jeeeyul]

At first, eclipse.js is very early stage. This project is intended to power-up my co-workers who don't know about eclipse.

eclipse.js provides java script APIs and runtime that uses Rhino. And it provides a mechanism for extending eclipse without building, installing, restarting. All extensions can be simply installed by checking out from svn, git or just pasting it onto workspace. It makes easy to manage version of plugins of co-workers. Just updating eclipse.js project by svn or any SCM will update all extensions. So, any member of a project can improve their working environment easily.

API are provided with full content assistant that uses jsdt and customized type inference engine. Currently there are not so much APIs:

• Modifying workspace.
• SWT
• Provides way to contribute views, actions, editors and incremental builder.
• Embedding HTML5 Application.

It also provides a "Scripting View" that allows to user to access workbench and workspace by java script. (Or testing it's capabilities)
And it provides some modular system that is similar with Node.js(require). Any pure javascript module of node.js can be integrated.

I can't sure whether can I keep this project going at this point.
In current stage, I'v tested some scenarios:

• Generating source codes from JSON file while it's edited that uses handlebars.
• Creates HTML5 View that interact with eclipse workbench.
• Creates a SWT View.
• Creates a Editor.
• Creates a context action.

[paulvi]

Please copy description to wiki, and continue with separate issues.

I created this ticket as I think new ways to create Eclipse plugins, should use existing, not quite new, APIs