[Qt-creator] projectexplorer foldernavigationwidget extraction

[André Pönitz]

On Fri, Jan 02, 2015 at 09:30:24AM +0100, Petr Vanek wrote:
> hi all,
> 
> I'm working on some customizations of QtCreator to implement an IDE for 
> Qore language [1] and potentially Qorus Integration Server [2] too.
> 
> The idea is to take QtCreator, disable most of C++ related plugins and 
> redistribute it as a new binary/bundle. The goal is achievable due 
> QtCreator's API etc.
> 
> For now I'd like to have a FolderNavigationWidget stuff 
> (plugins/projectexplorer) moved into standalone plugin because 
> projectexplorer is one of "too bound to c++" plugins.
> Also I created some improvements for "file system browser" like 
> bookmarks etc. in my own version of the widget.
> 
> So here comes my proposal:
>      - to take FolderNavigationWidget stuff from the project explorere
>      - to create new plugin for this functionality (loaded by default) 
> without projectexplorer dependency
>      - potentially apply functionality addons
> 
> I also offer to do it myself, I just don't know how the QtCreator 
> community works and what's the correct approach to raise a change like this.
> 
> Thanks,
> Petr Vanek
> 
> [1]: http://www.qore.org
> [2]: http://www.qoretechnologies.com

Starting discussion here on the list is a good first step. The next one
would be to put separate patches addressing the individual points on
codereview.qt-project.org. You can postpone this after you see some rough
consensus on the direction in the discussion here, but often it's easier to
discuss actual code directly.

My personal take on the issues you raise:

In general, acceptance of your ideas will depend on how much enthusiasm
you show to make your modifications useful for others, or at the very 
least on how much everyone else is (not) impacted by them.

Adding support for a new language in a plugin is fine, and that's the
preferred method to do it. A possible way to get started with that
is to copy from the GLSL plugin which has not-so-complicated 
implementations of the usual goodies (syntax highlighter, indenter,
hover handler, completion, ...).

On the other hand, splitting out individual widgets from the project
explorer has impact on everyone else. "It will be useful for my product".
is unlikely to be enough justification. If there's functionality in 
projectexplorer that belongs to cppeditor (or elsewhere), moving those
piece to where they belongs should be fine. But if all you need
is FolderNavigationWidget without the rest of projectexplorer, then
you could simply copy to that to your language support plugin.

Best regards,
Andre'