IDE Modules

We are currently importing content from the old Overture wiki to this page. Please excuse the mess.

The IDE components form the Eclipse based Overture IDE. All of the components are prefixed by org.overture.ide.

Builders.Vdmj

The Builders.Vdmj component contains the builders for the three different types of VDM project (SL,PP and RT). a builder is a process that runs after a change occurs in a project resource. In Overture, a builder parses and type-checks a project after a change has been made. A builder is tied with a nature of a project via the extension point "org.overture.ide.core.buildParticipant".

Example of the builder definition for VDM-PP (plugin.xml)

  <extension
         point="org.overture.ide.core.buildParticipant">
      <builder
            class="org.overture.ide.builders.vdmj.BuilderPp"
            nature="org.overture.ide.vdmpp.core.nature">
      </builder>
  </extension>

The builder class must extend the AbstractVdmBuilder class present in the ide.core. For convenience, the builder class can extend the VdmjBuilder class; then it is only required to implement the buildModel and typeCheck methods.

Interesting sources in the builder component include:

• org.overture.ide.builders.vdmj.BuilderSl - the VDM-SL builder
• org.overture.ide.builders.vdmj.BuilderPp - the VDM-PP builder
• org.overture.ide.builders.vdmj.BuilderSl - the VDM-RT builder
• overture.ide.builders.vdmj.VdmjBuilder- the superclass of all the above builders
• ide/builders/vdmj/plugin.xml - Connects a builder with a nature

For more about builders in Eclipse, see http://www.eclipse.org/articles/Article-Builders/builders.html

IDE-Core

The Core of the IDE (do not confuse with Overture core modules) - contains IDE core classes such as VdmProject, VdmBuilder, VdmModel, VdmModelManager and ResourceManager. These are cornerstone definitions that are used throughout almost all the other IDE projects. Pervasive classes such as VdmProject, a more specialized version of Eclipse Project, is present here. There is also an abstract Parser and Builder class; these classes can be used to both parse and type-check projects. The rest of the IDE-Core deals with Resource and models in memory management.

Packages worth looking into are:

• java.org.overture.ide.core.ast- contains the class VdmModel, which represents a model in memory, after being parsed and possibly type-checked.
• org.overture.ide.core.builder - contains the generic VdmBuilder that uses the Builder extension points to find the specific dialect builders and calls the appropriate builder for the project nature. The finding of the specific builders is done at run-time.
• org.overture.ide.core.parser like the builder package, this package contains a generic VDM parser which can be used to parse VDM files. The generic parser discovers at run-time the available dialect specific parsers and calls the appropriate one, depending on the project's nature
• org.overture.ide.core.resources - defines the IVdmProject interface. This interface has methods that are interesting to perform on a VDM project, e.g. getDialect, typeCheck, etc. The VdmProjectAdapterFactory makes it possible to adapt a generic Eclipse IProject to a IVdmProject and vice-versa. The VdmSourceUnit class represents the source of a VDM model.
• org.overture.ide.internal.core - contains the ResourceManager and DeltaProcessor classes that are responsible for keeping the VdmSourceUnit objects in sync with the actual resources in the file system.

Misc

• Debug- contains the IDE parts related with launching a debug session (Launch Configurations) and the Debug Perspective. Also contains the client side of the Debug protocol (http://xdebug.org/docs-dbgp.php) used to communicate with the interpreter.
• Help - contains the Overture Help Pages
• Parsers.Vdmj - contains the parsers for specific dialects of VDM;
• Platform - countains the branding parts (Overture splash screen, icons, about box, etc.) and features to be included in Overture
• UI - a great deal of the UI parts of Overture are defined here e.g. VDM Perspective, VDM Navigator, VDM Editor, etc.
• VdmSL.Core - contains VDM-SL project Nature
• VdmSL.Debug - contains dialect specific classes related with launching and Debug Configurations
• VdmSL.UI - contains dialect specific editor features like: keywords, templates and content assist. Also includes the dialect specific wizards.
• VdmPP.Core - contains VDM-PP project Nature and constants
• VdmPP.Debug - contains dialect specific classes related with launching and Debug Configurations
• VdmPP.UI - contains dialect specific editor features like: keywords, templates and content assist. Also includes the dialect specific wizards.
• VdmRT.Core - contains VDM-RT project Nature
• VdmRT.Debug - contains dialect specific classes related with launching and Debug Configurations
• VdmRt.UI - contains dialect specific editor features like: keywords, templates and content assist. Also includes the dialect specific wizards.

TODO:

• talk about the eclipse influences (plug-ins and features)
• talk about the core module wrapping+exposure technique (OSGi manages deps)
• Present overall IDE architecture
• Present each IDE Module (what does it wrap/export? what are its UI contributions?)
• mention the adapter stuff
• mention the model utilities
• mention the UI utilities