[dsdp-tm-dev] FW: Advanced Remote Launching (was: Is TM/RSE right for us

["Oberhuber, Martin" <Martin.Oberhuber@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Robert,

I apologize for taking so long before I get back to you - been on
business trip lately.

I've been pondering this idea more and I really like it! Storing the
launch action's properties together with meta-information reminds me of
component models like JavaBeans or .NET and should allow for lots of
cool things without being too complex. The great thing about this is
that there can be multiple means for acquiring the needed data (UI
editor, script, plugin.xml...). Following such a component model, there
could be some Properties which "read" data (input) while others could
"write" data (output) by writing into a reference like a variable.

With respect to the types you listed, I think I'd still like to keep the
"plain data type" like String/Integer/Boolean/List separate from the
meta-information that associates a meaning or UI restriction on the
plain data (Enumeration; localFile; remoteFile; otherLaunchAction;
otherLaunchConfiguration etc). Some layers like the persistency
mechanism don't need to know about the meaning of some data, they just
need the data type (String). The PDE extension point editor (.exsd)
stores its meta-info also separate from the data type.

I like your idea of separating property name from property label.

With respect to existing code, I'm sure that something must exist
already since PDE is in quite a similar situation with the plugin.xml /
extension editor forms (driven by the .exsd files). Unfortunately I've
not had time to search for concrete code. EMF Editors also do generic
forms, though I'm not sure we'd want an EMF dependency for this.

Did you have any chance to further develop that idea?
What do you think should be the next steps?

Thanks again for this fruitful discussion.

Cheers,
--
Martin Oberhuber
Wind River Systems, Inc.
Target Management Project Lead, DSDP PMC Member 
http://www.eclipse.org/dsdp/tm