Version 0.2 of the JProjexx framework for project management is now available. Detailed javadocs can be obtained from the Downloads area, and source code is now available for the first time through the jEdit CVS repository. While still in an early development stage, the framework has been expanded and now includes XML serialization and initial versions of leaf classes that can be used in the jEdit environment.

I hope you all have a happy new year's! Lets hope that 2002 is another great year for jEdit. I'm implementing soft wrap right now, and hope to release 4.0pre4, along with an updated XML plugin, in two weeks time or so.

To upgrade an operating version of jEditLauncher, simply unpack the contents of the archive in your jEdit installation directory. The file jeshlstb.dl_ may be deleted. If your current version of jEditLauncher is not working for any reason, copy the contents of the archive in your jEdit installation directory, run jedit.exe /i from a command line, and reboot your machine if requested to do so.

In connection with the development of jEdit 4.0, jEditLauncher will be enhanced further to provide additional logging options and to wrap more of jEdit's own command line option for greater flexibility and ease of use.

I have created a PayPal account for accepting monetary donations to jEdit development. Note that this is entirely optional; jEdit is not, and will never become, shareware. You can use it as much as you want, guilt-free, without donating a single cent. Details here.

• ContextHelp 1.7: miscellaneous changes; requires jEdit 3.2pre9, Console 3.0, and JDK 1.1


• HartMathPlugin 0.7.19: calls now an Init.bsh beanshell script at startup; every new created user-defined symbol starting with an upper-case letter calls now an Init.bsh beanshell script; every function starting with an upper-case letter can call a .bsh beanshell script; all beanshell scripts are now placed in the /.jedit/hartmath/bshscripts directory; bugfixes; requires jEdit 3.2pre1, Console 3.0, EditBus 1.1, and JDK 1.3


• WheelMouse 2.1: adds ability to for different wheel behaviour with modifier keys pressed; requires jEdit 3.1final and JDK 1.4

The jEdit home page needs some screenshots of jEdit 4.0; there aren't any there yet. Please e-mail me some jEdit 4.0 screenshots (PNG format only, please).

jEdit 4.0pre3 is now available. This release features improved folding, context-sensitive commenting commands, ActionScript syntax highlighting, and some miscellaneous enhancements and bug fixes. Full changelog can be found here.

In an effort to fashion a useful project management framework for jEdit plugins, an initial draft of documentation of the JProjexx framework is being made available in the Downloads section. The documentation currently covers 17 classes and interfaces that lay out the basic building blocks of the framework and provide a few illustrative applications. At present only javadocs are being released as a discussion draft, but source code, executables and definitive documentation will eventually be released under an Open Source license.

• AStylePlugin 0.4: updated for jEdit 4.0; requires jEdit 4.0pre1 and JDK 1.1
• SpeedJava 0.1.3: fixes focus bug under JDK 1.4; requires jEdit 3.2final and JDK 1.2
• TomcatSwitch 0.3: added support for Tomcat 3.3.x and 4.x; 'javaw' is called only if appropriate (thanks to John Gellene and Ingo Herschmann); the "status" command shows the current invocation command text; changing preferences is not allowed when Tomcat is running; the open folder button icon in the option pane is visible; removed explicit dependence from the EditBus plugin; requires jEdit 3.2.2, Console 3.0, Jakarta Tomcat 3.2, 3.3, or 4, and JDK 1.1

The specs of the computer are:

• Pentium 4 1800 CPU
  
• 512 Mb SDRAM
  
• 40 Gb HD
  
• GeForce II MX 400 video card
  
• 19" monitor
  
• SB live sound card, with a nice set of speakers + subwoofer
  
• Microsoft optical mouse (only good product MS has ever made )
  
• No Windows XP! This saves 200 dollars.
  

As soon as the broadband link is in place, I will resume development of jEdit. Expect a 4.0pre3 very soon.

• JythonInterpreter 0.6.1: removed JDK 1.4 dependencies; requires jEdit 3.2.2, EditBus 1.0, and JDK 1.3



• Tags 1.0.4: the "1.0.4" release contains the changes that should have been released as "1.0.3" (the "1.0.3" released recently was actually still "1.0.1"); [ from previous announcement ] fixed bug where if you removed tag index files from the search the code would remember the later entries; fixed bug where searching for tag search string in file was using the search file set; fixed bug in option panel where changes to the list of tag index files

jEdit 3.2

• JythonInterpreter 0.6: completely redesigned GUI, with a toolbar and a text area, directly editable; new implementation mostly in Jython; new run current buffer button; new run current buffer to another buffer button; new import current buffer button; new JythonPath editor; new PathBrowser; improved error handling, including an Error button which allows to jump to the error source; check jython version, which verifies if the right version is in use; history moved to CTRL+UP and CTRL+DOWN keys; documentation moved to DocBook; requires jEdit 3.2.2, EditBus 1.0, and JDK 1.4 (will probably revert to 1.3 in next release)

The plugin currently provides a useful but limited set of features. Please take a look at it and let us know what suggestions you might have for improvements or additional features. What follows are some technical comments on the plugin that have also been posted on the jedit-devel mailing list.

The plugin is designed to present task comments for more than one buffer at a time, but the feature is not available because the code is not completely realized. Are there any thoughts on how this should be done? Here are mine: the sets could be tied to file set classes used by jEdit's Search and Replace routines, so you could have all open buffers, all files in a directory or directory tree satisfying a file mask, or a single buffer.

A few users have asked about the mechanics of submitting a macro script to our Downloads area. The easiest way to do this is to go to the Add download page of the Downloads area and fill out the form. If you want to upload your macro to the jEdit Community server instead of supplying your own link, leave the URL empty and send your source file as an email attachment to John Gellene. Now you have no excuse, so let's see your macros!

The changes are as follows:

• The EditBus plugin has been dissolved, and all classes have been moved to the ErrorList plugin. So you must remove any dependencies on "EditBusPlugin" from your plugin's property file.
  
• All ErrorSource API classes have been moved to the "errorlist" package; so you will need to add "import errorlist.*;" where necessary.
  
• To register an error source, you must now call:
  ErrorSource.registerErrorSource(errorSource);
  Instead of
  EditBus.addToBus(errorSource);
EditBus.addToNamedList(ErrorSource.ERROR_SOURCES_LIST,errorSource);

New Features

• MacOS plugin bundled (Kris Kopicki)
  
  
  
  • jEdit exits cleanly when Command+Q is pressed
    
  • Files created or associated with jEdit can now be opened from the Finder by double-clicking on them, or dragging them to the jEdit icon
    
  • jEdit is assigned as the creator of new files
    
  
  
• A few Alt-key shortcuts added for commonly-used commands so that you don't have to move your fingers all over the keyboard:
  
  
  
  • A+i, A+k: prev, next line
    
  • A+j, A+l: prev, next character

• Run_Script.bsh - Runs script using interpreter based upon buffer's editing mode (by default, determined using file extension). This macro was recently revised to handle paths containing spaces correctly under Windows.


• Add_Import.bsh - Adds an import statement to the beginning of a Java source file and returns the editing caret to the starting location.


• Clip_Get_and_Set.bsh - Creates get() and set() methods from variables contained in selected text. This macro works by grabbing text on the lines of the selected text and parsing it to get the first two tokens that are not contained in the macro's global string variable 'modifiers'. It then copies simple get() and set() methods to the clipboard.

First, I decided that I would do without the help documentation and the "Tip of the day" feature. Opening jedit.jar with a zip file utility, I removed all of the files in the /doc directory and all of the HTML tip files. The resulting jedit.jar shrunk to 986KB. Not bad for a start.

Next, I looked at the edit modes in the /modes directory. What would I really need on the road? I narrowed the selection down to the following: beanshell, c, cplusplus, html, java, javascript, perl, php, python, text, xml and xsl. The largest price paid was for the php mode: the file was 97KB, over four times the size of the next largest. Maybe someday we'll have a php-lite mode, but I decided to keep it in.

Some of the databases have been uploaded to the jEdit Community server, while others are available through download links posted by the person who compiled the database. Because the databases are not the conventional `type` of compiled binary, issues regarding licensing and distribution could be raised by the authors of the code base. We do not offer any view on whether those issues actually exist or how they might be resolved, but we have decided to take a conservative, practical approach to the uploading of CodeAid databases.

• We will accept for uploading CodeAid databases derived from software issued under an Open Source license.
• We will accept download links to other servers for CodeAid databases where the code base is subject a "community" `type` license or some other license that permits distribution of source code by parties other than the copyright holder.
• Ultimately It is the responsibility of the person mantaining the download link (and, of course, anyone downloading the database) to make sure that use of a database is permitted.

Please note that it's a bit difficult to describe the behaviour if you are not that used to it. Just install it into your system and try it out (see below).

The plugin is available in source form in jEdit's CVS repository.
A pre-compiled binary can be found at the IQ Computing web site or in the beta plugins download area on the jEdit Community web site.

To install the binary Jar file, just copy it into jEdit's "jars" directory, then restart jEdit.