WebDSL

Main repository for the WebDSL domain-specific language for web applications.

Installation

Either follow the installation instructions, or build from source. See also how to get WebDSL in Eclipse.

Building

Install Dependencies (macOS + brew)

brew install wget autoconf automake maven ant nailgun

ECJ (reduce heap usage)

The build script looks for an ecj script on the path to replace javac.

You can download the ECJ jar from

https://mvnrepository.com/artifact/org.eclipse.jdt.core.compiler/ecj/4.6.1

Then create an ecj file and put it on your path:

#!/bin/sh -e
ECJJAR=ecj-4.6.1.jar
java -Xmx1g -Xms100m -server -XX:+UseParallelGC -cp $ECJJAR org.eclipse.jdt.internal.compiler.batch.Main "$@"

Verify it:

which ecj

Note: If you get a GC overhead limit exceeded error when running ecj or make, increase the amount of heap memory -Xmx in the ecj script.

Build WebDSL compiler

Invoke the following commands from the root of the repository:

./bootstrap
./configure --prefix=/usr/local
make
make install

You can check the current version of your WebDSL installation:

webdsl version

It will report the hash of the commit from which WebDSL was built.

Note: If you get this error when invoking make:

Making all in src
make[1]: *** No rule to make target `libwebdsl-front.rtree',
  needed by `src-gen/org/webdsl/webdsl_generator/Main.java'.  Stop.
make: *** [all-recursive] Error 1

Clean the temporary files from the repository, e.g.:

git clean -fXd

Then reissue the commands for building WebDSL.

Note: When you change the JAR libraries, remove the existing WebDSL install directory or you might end up with duplicate JARs. The install directory is at $PREFIX/share/webdsl/, for example /usr/local/share/webdsl/ depending on how you invoked .configure.

Build and run a WebDSL application

Example application: https://github.com/webdsl/elib-example

Command-line build

• Download latest WebDSL compiler jar: https://buildfarm.metaborg.org/job/webdsl-compiler/lastSuccessfulBuild/artifact/webdsl.zip
• Extract the zip file.
• Add the webdsl/bin directory to your path, or use the full path, and run in the project directory: webdsl run elib-example

IDE build

• Get an Eclipse with latest WebDSL pluging pre-installed at http://buildfarm.metaborg.org/view/WebDSL/job/webdsl-eclipsegen/lastSuccessfulBuild/artifact/dist/eclipse/ or use updatesite http://update.webdsl.org/update to install plugin.
• Import the project into your Eclipse workspace.
• Right-click the project and select 'Convert to a WebDSL Project', click 'Finish' to use default settings.
• Build the project with ctrl+alt+b or cmd+alt+b, this will also deploy and run the application on Tomcat.
• Open the 'Servers' view to manage the Tomcat instance.

Dark Mode IDE

There is a separate Eclipse updatesite for getting the webdsl editor with dark mode friendly colors:

https://update.webdsl.org/update-dark

Additionally, install the DarkestDark theme plugin from eclipse marketplace.

Due to a restriction in the current editor framework this cannot be switched dynamically.