Case Study: Adding "-> Logbook..." to CSS Data Browser

Deciding on the level of integration

I decided to use the "very low level" of integration, because that seems like the easiest way to work with CSS. http://css.desy.de/content/e760/e761/index_eng.html

Download Mercurial source code from http://mercurial.selenic.com/release/mercurial-1.6.4.tar.gz
Type "make local" in the top directory
Install MercurialEclipse, too, but don't use it as such need clarification from Kay & Co.
Clone the CSS repository
http://sourceforge.net/apps/trac/cs-studio/wiki/SourceRepository
- Use 'read-only' => http://cs-studio.hg.sourceforge.net:8000/hgroot/cs-studio/cs-studio (no account/password)
  Increase memory for Eclipse
Edit eclipse.ini in $ECLIPSE_HOME (1024 MB is what I ended up with)
Import the necessary CSS plugins as Eclipse projects
The minimum list of plugins to develop with DataBrowser need clarification from Kay & Co.

Checkout HLA projects from CVS

Create the edu.stanford.slac.save2logbook plugin for HLA code
Copy the Save2Logbook source to this plugin and configure it for use by DataBrowser
Add the dependency to edu.stanford.slac.save2logbook to the DataBrowser plugin
Eclipse bug: If plugins panel is empty, start typing the plugin name
Modify DataBrowser and Save2Logbook plugins
Add JFace Button, called '-> Logbook...'
Add JFace ActionListener to generate an Eclipse (Graphics) image
Add a method in Save2Logbook that saves an Eclipse image as a JPEG file
Test by running DataBrowser as an Eclipse application

Create a SLAC DataBrowser product
Select CSS Data Browser as the application
Modify CSS splash
Export SLAC DataBrowser to some directory

When launching SLAC DataBrowser for the first time, configure EPICS and DataBrowser EPICS preferences

Major To-Dos

Level of integration http://css.desy.de/content/e760/e761/index_eng.html
Standards
- Test-driven (JUnit) http://sourceforge.net/apps/trac/cs-studio/wiki/UnitTests
Procedure http://css.desy.de/content/e760/e761/index_eng.html
- Select the level of integration for your plugin from the list above
- Use existing interfaces and extension points
- Add new extension points whenever useful
- Use Eclipse contributions to integrate your plugin seamlessly with other plugins
- Use common data types (IData) to exchange data (not only strings) with other plugins
- Localize strings in your code
- Decouple local requirements from CSS implementations. Use interfaces to decouple.
- Test CSS core versions and plugins on several platforms (at least Windows, Linux Mac-OS)
Code style
- http://css.desy.de/content/e428/e1446/e817/e818/index_eng.html

Links