Re: Looking for multi-window Java IDE

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Date: Wed, 7 Jul 2004 07:36:17 GMT-5

Hello, Julian!
You wrote:

> I'm want to experiment with Java and I'd like to find an IDE
that
> I'm comfortable with. I run Windows 2000.
>
> All the Java IDE's that I've looked at so far run in a single
"master"
> window and personally I just hate this because everything gets
so
> cluttered. What I'm really looking for is an environment where
the
> individual components of the IDE (editor, debugger, class
browser,
> compiler errors, etc) run as totally seperate windows within
the
> Microsoft Windows environment, i.e. each component has its own
> entry on the Win2k taskbar. (For anyone who this might make
> sense to, in Lisp terms I am looking for something that behaves
> like the Xanalys Lispworks IDE as opposed to the Franz Inc
> Allegro IDE).
>
> Is it just me that hates the <everything in one frame> style of
IDE?

I prefer it. Having 10 separate windows is a mess. You usually
have to hunt for the window you want and with that many windows
open you can't tell them apart in the task bar.

> To me it is far easier to display more info with multiple
overlapping
> windows because each one can be sized to be big enough to
> display its contents without needing both vertical and
horizontal
> scrolling, and bringing the window you want to the front is
only a
> single mouseclick.

In eclipse all it takes is a double click to toggle expanding any
view to take the entire window. I know at one time you could have
multiple windows but don't know if that is still possible.
Eclipse is also flexible in that you could put all your views
into one section of the screen an have tabs to choose among them
which is accomplishing about the same thing. You also have
perspectives you can switch between which are paticular
combinations of views.

> Any pointers to an IDE that meets my requirement would save me
> a lot of frustration.

Try Eclipse. It won't let you easily do it the way you want
because things like ovelapping windows is in general a bad idea
(I've used some debuggers that worked that way and it was a
nightmare). But it is fairly flexible and customizable. I can
move views around any way I want. Anytime I need a bigger view I
just double-click to expand it to the full view. It also has
"fast-views" which are ways to dock views to the side o the
screen and they automatically hide when not in use. For example I
keep my JUnit results view as a fast view and it will slide open
when I have a failure but otherwise will remain collapsed.

So keep an open mind and realize that perhaps you can find a way
to work effectively. Not all programs are as simplistic as you
imagine hem to be. A lot of thought has gone into Eclipse to make
its UI concepts very eay to use.

-- 
 Dale King
 My Blog: http://daleking.homedns.org/Blog

• Previous message: Inna Nill: "Eclipse 3.0 Resin Plugin?"
• In reply to: Julian: "Looking for multi-window Java IDE"
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