12 Replies Latest reply on Apr 13, 2007 5:58 AM by koen.aers

    Designer alpha version - eclipse updates required?

    wjm

      Hello. I'm trying to follow the latest changes to the designer. The 3.1.0.alpha3 version is being built now out of CVS head, but there appear to be incompatibilities with the EMF/GEF versions which are distributed as default with the 3.1.13 designer which is shipped with GA.

      Can someone enlighten me regarding where and how the core eclipse version (core+plugins) will be handled when implementing the new designer plugin? Since it's being developed on jbpm.3 HEAD it would seem a bit unusual to target later versions of either EMF or GEF, but I'm getting a large number of exceptions when attempting to run the alpha plugin against stock 3.2 with default GEF/GMF. Naturally, the problem could very well be with the fact that this is an alpha version, or it could be something stupid that I'm doing, but it seems like there are incompatibilities.

      Finally, it seems a bit, uh, unusual to instigate an alpha version of the designer in cvs jbpm.3 HEAD just when the package is at GA-level. Would not a branch be less disruptive?




        • 1. Re: Designer alpha version - eclipse updates required?
          wjm

          Just to clarify, the 3.0.13.1 version is shipping with jBPM 3.2GA, while the 3.1.0.alpha3 version of the designer is building on cvs HEAD. (But the 3.2GA target still contains 3.0.13.1, so there's no confusion for end users, only us wannabees)

          • 2. Re: Designer alpha version - eclipse updates required?

            I have a very related question.
            I assumed that the "jpdl 3.2" tag of jbpm.3 was the full GA tree.
            When I checked it out, I found that the designer was in an intermediate, unbuildable state (missing files, etc.).
            It looks like there's no single branch or tag for 3.2.
            So... what should be checked out to work on the various pieces of 3.2? My best GUESS at this point is to use one full jbpm.3 tree at tag "jbpm_jpdl_gpd_3_1_0_alpha3", and an independent tree at tag "jpdl3.2" for work on anything else.

            I'm not sure, but I think there are build-time (not run-time) conflicts between designer alpha3 and jpdl3.2, such that they require entirely separate trees.

            Subversion, anyone? ;-)

            -Ed Staub

            • 3. Re: Designer alpha version - eclipse updates required?
              koen.aers

              To work on the head of the designer you should checkout the org.jbpm.gd.jpdl project in the module jbpm.3/designer/jpdl. The build script of jpdl 3.2 fetches the already built designer (3.0.13.1)from the repository.

              Regards,
              Koen

              • 4. Re: Designer alpha version - eclipse updates required?
                wjm

                 

                "koen.aers@jboss.com" wrote:
                To work on the head of the designer you should checkout the org.jbpm.gd.jpdl project in the module jbpm.3/designer/jpdl. The build script of jpdl 3.2 fetches the already built designer (3.0.13.1)from the repository.

                Regards,
                Koen


                Thanks alot for taking the time to try to bring us up to speed Koen, but I'm afraid I'm still not on the same page. I do have a full checkout of jbpm.3, including jbpm.3/designer/jpdl/org.jbpm.gd.jpdl. This includes your changes from yesterday on HEAD to ControllerConfigurationComposite.java (and friends).

                This is the correct and only branch, or?

                The problems are that, when I startup up a clean 3.2 including the alpha3 plugin and feature, and along with all of the default GEF/EMF plugins included in jbpm-jpdl-designer.zip (which includes alpha3), I get errors in the eclipse log for null pointers in

                
                !ENTRY org.eclipse.ui.workbench 4 0 2007-03-26 23:38:30.108
                !MESSAGE An unexpected exception was thrown.
                !STACK 0
                java.lang.NullPointerException
                 at org.eclipse.ui.internal.views.properties.tabbed.view.TabDescriptor.<init>(TabDescriptor.java:87)
                 at org.eclipse.ui.internal.views.properties.tabbed.view.TabbedPropertyRegistry.readTabDescriptors(TabbedPropertyRegistry.java:316)
                 at org.eclipse.ui.internal.views.properties.tabbed.view.TabbedPropertyRegistry.getAllTabDescriptors(TabbedPropertyRegistry.java:294)
                 at org.eclipse.ui.internal.views.properties.tabbed.view.TabbedPropertyRegistry.getTabDescriptors(TabbedPropertyRegistry.java:242)
                 at org.eclipse.ui.views.properties.tabbed.TabbedPropertySheetPage.setInput(TabbedPropertySheetPage.java:673)
                 at org.eclipse.ui.views.properties.tabbed.TabbedPropertySheetPage.selectionChanged(TabbedPropertySheetPage.java:542)
                 at org.eclipse.ui.views.properties.PropertySheet.selectionChanged(PropertySheet.java:218)
                 at org.eclipse.ui.internal.AbstractSelectionService.fireSelection(AbstractSelectionService.java:156)
                 at org.eclipse.ui.internal.AbstractSelectionService$1.selectionChanged(AbstractSelectionService.java:62)
                 at org.eclipse.ui.part.MultiPageSelectionProvider$1.run(MultiPageSelectionProvider.java:108)
                 at org.eclipse.core.runtime.SafeRunner.run(SafeRunner.java:37)
                 at org.eclipse.ui.part.MultiPageSelectionProvider.fireEventChange(MultiPageSelectionProvider.java:106)
                 at org.eclipse.ui.part.MultiPageSelectionProvider.fireSelectionChanged(MultiPageSelectionProvider.java:88)
                 at org.eclipse.ui.part.MultiPageEditorPart.pageChange(MultiPageEditorPart.java:610)
                 at org.eclipse.wst.xml.ui.internal.tabletree.XMLMultiPageEditorPart.pageChange(XMLMultiPageEditorPart.java:748)
                 at org.jbpm.gd.jpdl.ui.editor.JpdlEditor.pageChange(Unknown Source
                


                these started after your big change on 3.20. Additionally, I'm seeing other errors like the following:
                !ENTRY org.eclipse.ui 4 0 2007-03-27 13:38:28.828
                !MESSAGE Unable to create editor ID org.jbpm.gd.jpdl.ui.editor: No editor descriptor for id org.jbpm.gd.jpdl.ui.editor
                !STACK 1
                org.eclipse.ui.PartInitException: No editor descriptor for id org.jbpm.gd.jpdl.ui.editor


                !ENTRY org.eclipse.ui.workbench 4 2 2007-03-27 13:38:29.015
                !MESSAGE Problems occurred when invoking code from plug-in: "org.eclipse.ui.workbench".
                !STACK 0
                



                These were what led me to believe that you're working with a different version of eclipse, or perhaps just GEF/EMF. Additionally, even after the plugin starts, I open the editor on a given processdescription.xml to find that all of the icons are missing and the editor wont allow me even to bring up a properties page for node/state/whatever.

                Anyhow, maybe I oughta just wait 'til your rewrite goes beta. But thanks for any insight you care to share.

                ----
                Bill




                • 5. Re: Designer alpha version - eclipse updates required?

                  Thanks, Koen.

                  Two more quick (I think!) questions:

                  Does org.jbpm.gd.jpdl have dependencies on other portions of the jbpm.3 tree? If so, can the head be used, or is some other tag required?

                  -Ed Staub

                  • 6. Re: Designer alpha version - eclipse updates required?
                    koen.aers

                    Hi guys,

                    @Bill:
                    I did not yet try to do a build of the designer after I merged the two plugins. How did you build it exactly?
                    I still have to adapt the org.jbpm.gd.build project AFAIR. A quick patch would be to import the org.jbpm.gd.jpdl project in your workspace and do an export. Of course you need to have installed the right Eclipse drivers (WTP/GEF/EMF).

                    @Ed:
                    In fact there are no build time dependencies on jbpm in the designer. With the new developments (merging the Exadel plugins and ours into RHDS) it is in fact quite possible that the jbpm plugin codebase will have another home soon. What would you think of such a move? (Just trying to get some ideas)

                    Regards,
                    Koen

                    • 7. Re: Designer alpha version - eclipse updates required?

                      Koen,

                      >>What would you think of such a move?

                      I don't really know enough to have anything useful to say. I fear a lot of merge-induced churn without much forward progress, and I fear a lot of refocus toward pageflow support to the detriment of BPM - but this is based on nothing but guesswork.

                      What connection, beyond your involvement in both, is there between GPD and Eclipse-JWT?

                      Thanks, -Ed Staub

                      • 8. Re: Designer alpha version - eclipse updates required?
                        koen.aers

                        Hi Ed,

                        I am not very active at the moment in Eclipse JWT mainly because of time constraints as I have to work on the GPD ;-) But I definitely am following the evolution quite closely as JWT is somewhat the graphical couterpart of what jBPM is trying to do on the runtime side.
                        On the other hand, I have the feeling that the GPD is moving in the right direction, also with respect to multi language support. So it remains to be seen on what front we can have a fruitful collaboration. One thing that I seriously doubt will happen is a contribution of the GPD to JWT, mainly because of licensing issues. We want to avoid another Hibernate/MyEclipse story in the future. The only sound solution for this appears to be the use of the GPL license for the tools, which is of course totally incompatible with the Eclipse EPL.

                        Thoughts?

                        Regards,
                        Koen

                        • 9. Re: Designer alpha version - eclipse updates required?
                          wjm

                           

                          "koen.aers@jboss.com" wrote:

                          I did not yet try to do a build of the designer after I merged the two plugins. How did you build it exactly?

                          I've tried both ant and the direct method using eclipse. The same anomalies show up in either case.

                          Of course you need to have installed the right Eclipse drivers (WTP/GEF/EMF)

                          I suspect this will make everything work nicely for me. Is it possible that you you might check and inform about your own current WTP/GEF/EMF plugins? Have they not changed from the set which is shipping with 3.0.13? Also, are you still using the default (aging) 3.2 eclipse, or have you gone to 3.2.1/3.3?

                          Thanks again.

                          ----
                          Bill

                          • 10. Re: Designer alpha version - eclipse updates required?
                            koen.aers

                            Bill,

                            You can find the current dependencies on Eclipse in the dependencies.properties file which is in the org.jbpm.gd.jpdl.build project (right next to the org.jbpm.gd.jpdl plugin project).

                            For your convenience, the relevant excerpt from this file:

                            # Eclipse filename and version info
                            lib.eclipse.emf.version=2.2.1
                            lib.eclipse.emf.filename=emf-sdo-xsd-SDK-2.2.1.zip
                            lib.eclipse.gef.version=3.2.1
                            lib.eclipse.gef.filename=GEF-SDK-3.2.1.zip
                            lib.eclipse.jem.version=1.2.1
                            lib.eclipse.jem.filename=JEM-SDK-1.2.1.zip
                            lib.eclipse.sdk.version=3.2.1
                            lib.eclipse.sdk.filename=eclipse-SDK-3.2.1-win32.zip
                            lib.eclipse.wtp.version=1.5.1
                            lib.eclipse.wtp.filename=wtp-sdk-R-1.5.1-200609230508.zip


                            Cheers,
                            Koen

                            • 11. Re: Designer alpha version - eclipse updates required?
                              wjm

                               

                              "koen.aers@jboss.com" wrote:

                              You can find the current dependencies on Eclipse in the dependencies.properties file which is in the org.jbpm.gd.jpdl.build project

                              Thanks Koen. I'll try upgrading to eclipse 3.2.1 along with the rest of the dependencies you mentioned. I suspect that this (eclipse 3.2.1) is the default now for the jboss eclipse package too, yes? Just fyi the alpha plugin wont work with 3.2.0. Perhaps a mention in the release notes?



                              • 12. Re: Designer alpha version - eclipse updates required?
                                koen.aers

                                I did not test it yet on Eclipse 3.2.0. First trying to get the features implemented ;-)
                                The list of correct Eclipse drivers is included in the manifest file of the plugin. It is indeed a good suggestion to mention them in the release notes. Only problem is that this is again a thing that could possible get out of date...

                                Regards,
                                Koen