Re: [TFUI] TDD of (ultimately) GUI app built atop a framework via plug-ins?

Cool!  Any tips/tricks/gotchas a beginner on this path should be aware of?

Al


--- Kevin Lawrence <[email protected]> wrote:
> I am doing exactly that now.
> 
> I have four layers :
> 
> My application.
> The Humble Dialog-style controller for the UI.
> The UI in SWT.
> The eclipse plugin.
> 
> The SWT layer is thin. The eclipse plugin layer is positively anaemic.
> 
> Kevin
> 
> Al Chou wrote:
> > Thanks for that detailed post, Hugo.
> > 
> > A follow-on question for all:  have any of you TDD'ed with Eclipse (or any
> > other plugin-based platform, e.g., FreeRIDE or maybe even jEdit) where you
> > treated the GUI as a thin layer over a more command-line-oriented UI/API
> and
> > your TDD tests were written at that layer (Michael Feathers' "humble dialog
> > box" technique?)?
> > 
> > 
> > Al
> > 
> > 
> > --- Hugo Garcia <[email protected]> wrote:
> > 
> >>On Fri, 4 Mar 2005 14:49:26 -0800 (PST), Al Chou <hotfusionman-/[email protected]>
> >>wrote:
> >>
> >>>I want to build an application that should have a GUI.  I want to build it
> >>
> >>atop
> >>
> >>>a framework like Eclipse or FreeRIDE that will allow me to essentially
> >>
> >>provide
> >>
> >>>the custom functionality I need by creating plug-ins for the framework. 
> >>
> >>The
> >>
> >>>app isn't an IDE or text editor, so I think I'm going to be stripping down
> >>
> >>the
> >>
> >>>framework to its core that supports plug-ins (e.g., start with Eclipse
> >>
> >>Platform
> >>
> >>>rather than Eclipse SDK) and building up from there.
> >>>
> >>
> >>Seems like what you want is to develop a Rich Client Platform
> >>application. If you use the latest milestone build (3.1M5) then you
> >>get the basic wizards that create the starting points for you. The
> >>lastest tutorials at EclipseCon 2005 has the latest startup pointers
> >>that are relevant to 3.1. Also the RCP homepage tutorials are a great
> >>starting place.
> >>
> >>You can get all those links at my blog at
> >>
> >>http://fitsterandeclipse.blogspot.com/
> >>
> >>
> >>>I want to do TDD for this project, and I think the app should be usable
> via
> >>
> >>the
> >>
> >>>command line or some similar scripting interface in addition to its GUI.
> >>
> >>Here it depends what kind of TDD you want to do. If you are planning
> >>on the black box type (aka junit) then you are in luck since the PDE
> >>comes with a juinit plugin. To use it, read chapter 12 of Contributing
> >>to Eclipse and onwards. Also Chapter 2 of Building Commercial-Quality
> >>Plugins.
> >>
> >>On the other hand if you want to do functional testing then you are
> >>kind of in and out of luck.  There is basically only one tool for now,
> >>Abbot at http://abbot.sourceforge.net/ BUT there are certain caveats
> >>in using it: 1) You have to limit your development testing to windows
> >>version since it doesn't quite work with GTK yet and 2) in order to
> >>use it you have to use a hacked version of the SWT distribution. But
> >>apart from that it is usable. Browse the email list for abbot since
> >>there is a very good recent email explaining the whole mess.
> >>
> >>If this is your first time approaching Eclipse GUI development then I
> >>strongly suggest you build it as a standalone SWT/JFace application.
> >>This will familiarize you with the basic widget architecture which is
> >>very different from Swing (read true MVC). Once you have your spkie
> >>going then it is a matter of refactoring the app into a plugin but you
> >>gain the opportunity that maybe this is all you need and also you can
> >>concentrate on just the learning factor of the plugin development
> >>cycle per.
> >>
> >>
> >>>Anyone out there have any experience or advice on how to approach such a
> >>>project?
> >>
> >>Good Luck.
> >>
> >>
> >>>Al
> >>>
> >>>=====
> >>>Albert Davidson Chou
> >>>
> >>>    Get answers to Mac questions at http://www.Mac-Mgrs.org/ .


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