[platform-core-dev] Re: IResource outside the workspace

[John Arthorne <John_Arthorne@xxxxxxxxxx>]

(I have retitled the thread because
pulling resources out of the workspace is really quite unrelated to the
original discussion of putting logical things *into* the workspace.)

My belief is that this is a thread that
quickly unravels.  Would an IFile outside the workspace appear in
the resource navigator? If not, how would one browse and find one? Would
a resource visitor find it?  Would resource change events be broadcast
for it?  Presumably if it's a *.java file I will want to compile it.
 Would I be able to put the IFile under version control with CVS or
another repository?  All of this functionality requires assembling
and maintaining lots of metadata, which requires a life-cycle that allows
us to know when to start collecting that data and when it can be thrown
away. Maintaining this meta-data for your entire hard disk would not be
practical.  I understand that having a strict notion of what's in
the workspace seems cumbersome, but I think it's a critical prerequisite
to all the IDE bells and whistles that come along with IResource. If one
doesn't want all the bells and whistles, it becomes a difficult slicing
game to determine what functionality makes sense on "reduced"
external resources.

The alternative you suggest, on the
other hand, is more tenable.  It's been possible since 2.1 to link
arbitrary files and folders into some project.  With this approach
the association of the resource with the workspace, and the lifecycle of
the accompanying metadata, is well defined.  As you say, this gives
you most of the IResource-based functionality "for free".

John

Bob Foster <bob@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent by: platform-core-dev-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxx

27/07/2005 03:01 PM

Please respond to
"Eclipse Platform Core component developers list."

To	"Eclipse Platform Core component developers list." <platform-core-dev@xxxxxxxxxxx>
cc
Subject	Re: [platform-core-dev] Re: IFile that corresponds to a logical view.

That would certainly be one way out of the current
split that divides 
editor support in half, makes annotations unavailable to RCP, etc. Pull
resources out of the workspace (and out of the IDE).

An alternative is to pull the file system into the workspace. I did a 
very simple stab at that for my product, automatically creating a 
project that holds (if possible) the folders containing open "external"
files, (Ed, I know you'll remember this approach), adding Browse buttons
to the wizards and Save dialog, etc. It makes search and markers work 
and allows virtually every file to be opened as an IFile, but it's a bit
of a hack.

Bob

Ed Burnette wrote:
> I've long thought that IResource should be able to represent things
other than "files and directories in the local file system that happen
to be in projects in the workspace". Even local file system files
outside the workspace can't currently participate as first class citizens
in the IDE (with markers and search and the other benefits that come with
being an IResource).
>  
> For related bugzilla entries see:
> https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=37935#c7
> https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=54900
> https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=37723
> https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=58179
> https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=29389
> _______________________________________________
> platform-core-dev mailing list
> platform-core-dev@xxxxxxxxxxx
> https://dev.eclipse.org/mailman/listinfo/platform-core-dev
> 
> 


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