What is the current protocol for checking out VASSAL for Eclipse?
Selecting trunk and executing “Checkout” used to work as a one click approach, including downloading the library and the reference manual. Now Eclipse keeps trying to make a package out of the new source folder that sits above the source code. I suppose I could select source and checkout from that level and then download the library separately. Is there no longer a one click Subclipse checkout for VASSAL?
I’ve recently gone through this. It would seem that both the
subclipse and subversive plugins are either not flexible enough or not
stable enough to use with subversion. Subclipse will not let you
switch between the trunk and your branch, while subversive crashes
Eclipse on Linux (although it may be very well behaved under Windows).
However, there’s nothing that says that you can’t just use plain
subversion in your workspace directory. Check out this site: svnbook.red-bean.com/
It’s not that hard and the important bits are not that long. In
particular, you need to look at “Basic Usage” and, if you’re doing any
development at all “Branching and Merging”. ’
I use Eclipse on Windows, but your problem doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. I am able to checkout branches with no problems.
The only recent change is that the VASSAL and org source folders have been moved down into a src sub-folder. This means that after you have checked out the VASSAL project, you need to make sure you reconfigure the build path to specify src as the source directory, not the project root folder.
BTW, If you plan on making any sizable amount of changes, it is far better if you create a new branch from the trunk for your personal use and then checkout the branch. This allows you to check changes back in to your own personal branch and use version control on your own changes. If you check out the trunk, you cannot check anything back in.
The main problem is that for new or casual programmers there is no explicit protocol for settting up VASSAL in Eclipse or any other default IDE. The documentation in the Developer’s Corner in the wiki used to enable me to get the software up and running in a few minutes time; it no longer does that. If you want wargamers who may be casual or beginning programmers to be able to investigate VASSAL’s potential then they need to have a monkey-see monkey-do way of setting up the IDE. They may need that even if they have a minimally sufficient or better knowledge of Java itself. Nor, with all due respects, do I think that one should be required to read a book on Subversion in order to get a simple checkout up and running.
For example, it is one thing to tell someone they have to set up their source folders, buildpath, libraries , classpath, and virtual machine settings according to particular criteria but a new programmer, one who has limited experience with a particular IDE, can be told to do those things and use the IDE’s controls to create a setup that, for all intents and purposes, appears to meet those criteria but in fact does not. If the new programmer’s setup fails, is it due to his limited knowledge of the IDE or to his limited knowledge of the way the source code is organized? Probably both.
I am in that situation right now. Until the recent addition of the src folder in the repository, I was able to successfully checkout the 3.0.13 trunk, compile, and run it with only the warnings and no errors. I was able to do it in both Eclipse and (getting myself away from monkey-see monkey-do) Netbeans 6.0.
With the latest trunk anonymous checkout, I can’t make it work. Now that I have been told that I can no longer select the project folder as the source (the first documentation to that effect that I have seen, by the way), I have figured out why Eclipse kept trying to package the code into packages that did not match the package statements in the Java source code. The next problem was how to figure out what do do with that little source folder that Eclipse kept wanting to create on its own. I solved that so now my Eclipse package explorer shows the the org and VASSAL files properly within source file folder called src. So far so good.
How does the Build Path look? Source tab: /src. Projects tab: none. Libraries tab: each of the .jar files from the checkout’s libraries folder followed by the JRE System Library (this matches my working 3.0.13 setup). Order and Export tab: /src, JRE System Library, followed by each of the .jar files found in the checkout’s library folder. Does the code compile under these settings? Yes, with no errors and about 500 warnings mostly about raw data types.
How do the Run settings look? I created a new run configuration with settings as follows. Main tab: the configuration references in my current workspace and the Main class is VASSAL.launch.Main. Include System Libraries when searching for Main class is checked. Arguments tab: -Xmx256M (same as on my 3.0.13 setup). JRE tab: my current default JRE which is 1.6.03. Classpath tab: This is automatically generated with Bootstrap Entries as JRE System Library and the User Entries as the folder followed by each of the .jar files in the checkout library folder. Source tab: this was generated automatically and it shows a source lookup path that is within a Default folder. Inside the Default folder I have miscellaneous .jar files associated with the JRE System Library followed by a folder that include a subfolder with a reference to my source folder followed by the individual .jar files found in the checkout’s lib folder. Environment and Common tabs: no change from default settings.
With the exception of the distinction between the new checkout’s having a source folder reference I can see no discernible difference between my settings for my old VASSAL 3.0.13 and the new checkout. Does the checkout of the current VASSAL trunk run? Of course not. Nothing happens.
The gist of my request is that the setup instructions be explicit and maintained as documentation somewhere.
You shouldn’t be having as much problems as you appear to be having. I
suspect the problem may be that Eclipse is detecting some sort of
recursion in the build path in which case you should clear out your
source path and set it to ‘src’. However, according to your note, the
buildpath looks fine…
Here are some specific comments:
That is true. All the source has been moved to ‘src’. There was one
revision where you need the project root directory so that it could
find the images and help directories, but that’s not true in the
latest revision.
If it just hangs, it could be blocking on some condition. It’s
possible it’s trying to load the splashscreen and can’t find it? If
that’s the case, VASSAL will indeed just sit there and wait. Look
where your images and help folders are. If it’s in src, then I don’t
know what the problem is. If they’re in the root, then add the root
path to the buildpath, exclude src from that path, then add src as a
separate path. Otherwise, Eclipse will complain about a recursion and
do something really strange.
I’m using Eclipse to compile the trunk code now. However, I’m not
following the instructions on the website as they’re very much out of
date.
There’s probably a couple of differences between what I’m doing and
how you have your setup. I’m not running Windows, so forgive me if I
don’t quite know what to do in that case.
First of all, I have had little success with either Eclipse subversion
plugins. I don’t know if they worked well at one time and something
happened, or if the situation was always slightly broken. However, I
now avoid them. At one point, I really wanted someone to tell me how
to use them properly, but the command line turns out to be much, much
easier.
Once you have those installed, what you need to do is find a suitable
directory to keep your Eclipse workspace and type (all as one line):
svn checkout vassalengine.svn.sourceforge.ne … -src/trunk
If you’re on Windows, you might have to use '' instead of ‘/’, or
maybe it’s smart enough…
Whereever that puts the VASSAL source is where you want your workspace
to be. When you start of Eclipse, you want to select that path as
your workspace. Unfortunately, Eclipse still doesn’t know about your
project at this point, so you have to create it. Create a project
with the same name as the checked out root directory ‘trunk’. It will
warn you about it already existing, but that’s good. Once that’s
created, you’re almost ready to go.
Then, under project->preferences, you want to set the buildpath to
‘src’ with no inclusions or exclusions. This part was different only
a couple of revisions ago, so maybe that’s where we’re getting stuck.
You also have to select all the libraries that are under ‘lib’ in your
libraries tab.
Click on Run… As Java Application… select VASSAL.launch.Main as
your main class, at it should run. It was complaining about errors
one revision ago, and if it still does, ignore them, it should still
run.
Let me know if any of this random advice actually works.
I changed the trunk so that the ‘help’ and ‘images’ directories are inside the ‘src’ directory. That should solve the problem of the program hanging on startup.
Once we get the kinks worked out from the trunk re-org we should up update the wiki, whose instructions shouldn’t have to change much.
The problems I had were only with respect to juggling the trunk and
branch code. Merges just never worked. I ended up with a completely
botched directory. I finally gave up and just used the command line.
Otherwise, Eclipse works perfectly fine.
Thank you for responding. I could find no sign of a recursion in the build path.
FYI I am using Eclipse in Windows Vista. I tried two approaches along the lines you suggested below. Without adding the project folder itself, I tried adding the help and image folders to the build path. This did not work. Then I tried doing exactly what you suggested, including the project (root) path and excluding the src folder, then adding the src folder separately. This compiled and ran with errors associated with the dist folder; excluding that folder eliminated the errors.
As for using the Subversion plug-ins with Eclipse and Netbeans 6.0 I have been able to do basic anonymous checkouts. Until I “graduate” myself to requesting full check-in and check-out privileges I am sorry I don’t have any more experience to relate.
Regarding the warnings, while I have not looked at every one but they appear to have more to do with legacy code being compiled under post 1.5 standards with its generics and typesafe collections. To me it seems that they can be ignored for the most part.
I’d like to have a list of those warnings, as they should all eventually
be corrected. (It sounds like Eclipse’s compiler is not producing the
same set of warnings as Sun’s.)
The errors all appear to relate to the raw usage of parameterized types, especially Class:
Class is a raw type. References to generic type Class should be parameterized
We get this error on every AbstractConfigurable where this:
public Class[] getAttributeTypes() {
return new Class[] {String.class};
}
public Class[] getAllowableConfigureComponents() {
return new Class[0];
}
is made happy by
public Class<?>[] getAttributeTypes() {
return new Class<?>[] {String.class};
}
public Class<Configurable>[] getAllowableConfigureComponents() {
return new Class<Configurable>[0];
}
Plus plenty of this error:
Iterator is a raw type. References to generic type Iterator should be parameterized
Where Raw Iterators are being used without parameterization.
Eclipse only want to show me the first 100 errors, just trying to find a log somewhere.
I think it may be that Eclipse uses different default compiler
switches. If you pass the flag “-Xlint:unchecked”, you should get a
large number of warnings like that from the Sun compiler. IIRC
Eclipse doesn’t use its own java compiler. It uses what is installed
on the system.
I’ve always compiled with “-Xlint”, which according to the documentation,
implies “-Xlint:unchecked”. I get precisely the same complement of warnings
with “-Xlint” as with “-Xlint -Xlint:unchecked”. I do seem to recall getting
different warnings when I used Eclipse.
Have you tried this? I’m guessing not. It gives me a “generic array
creation” error. (Which is ridiculous. It should be possible to do
such a thing without casting.)
Just now I committed a change to the trunk which switches all of the
getAttributeTypes() calls to use Class<?>. Let me know if this
eliminates a chunk of the warnings you see in Eclipse. (Also let me
know if this produces any new ones…)
Down from 536 to 407. First 100 (sorry, I’m still new enough to Eclipse
that I can’t see how to get the full list) are:
Severity and Description:Path:Resource:Location
ArrayList is a raw type. References to generic type ArrayList should
be
parameterized:VASSAL-src/src/VASSAL/build/module/gamepieceimage:InstanceConfigurer.java:line
74
ArrayList is a raw type. References to generic type ArrayList should
be
parameterized:VASSAL-src/src/VASSAL/build/module/gamepieceimage:InstanceConfigurer.java:line
75
ArrayList is a raw type. References to generic type ArrayList should
be
parameterized:VASSAL-src/src/VASSAL/build/module/turn:TurnTracker.java:line
986
ArrayList is a raw type. References to generic type ArrayList should
be
parameterized:VASSAL-src/src/VASSAL/build/module/turn:TurnTracker.java:line
986
Class is a raw type. References to generic type Class should be
parameterized:VASSAL-src/src/VASSAL/build:AbstractConfigurable.java:line 89
Class is a raw type. References to generic type Class should be
parameterized:VASSAL-src/src/VASSAL/build/module:DieManager.java:line 388
Class is a raw type. References to generic type Class should be
parameterized:VASSAL-src/src/VASSAL/build/module:DoActionButton.java:line
286
Class is a raw type. References to generic type Class should be
parameterized:VASSAL-src/src/VASSAL/build/module:Documentation.java:line 102
Class is a raw type. References to generic type Class should be
parameterized:VASSAL-src/src/VASSAL/build/module:GlobalOptions.java:line 156
Class is a raw type. References to generic type Class should be
parameterized:VASSAL-src/src/VASSAL/build/module:Inventory.java:line 473
Class is a raw type. References to generic type Class should be
parameterized:VASSAL-src/src/VASSAL/build/module:Map.java:line 2199
Class is a raw type. References to generic type Class should be
parameterized:VASSAL-src/src/VASSAL/build/module:Map.java:line 2200
Class is a raw type. References to generic type Class should be
parameterized:VASSAL-src/src/VASSAL/build/module:ModuleExtension.java:line
197
Class is a raw type. References to generic type Class should be
parameterized:VASSAL-src/src/VASSAL/build/module:NotesWindow.java:line 269
Class is a raw type. References to generic type Class should be
parameterized:VASSAL-src/src/VASSAL/build/module:PieceWindow.java:line 151
Class is a raw type. References to generic type Class should be
parameterized:VASSAL-src/src/VASSAL/build/module:PlayerRoster.java:line 167
Class is a raw type. References to generic type Class should be
parameterized:VASSAL-src/src/VASSAL/build/module:Plugin.java:line 83
Class is a raw type. References to generic type Class should be
parameterized:VASSAL-src/src/VASSAL/build/module:Plugin.java:line 83
Class is a raw type. References to generic type Class should be
parameterized:VASSAL-src/src/VASSAL/build/module:Plugin.java:line 107
Class is a raw type. References to generic type Class should be
parameterized:VASSAL-src/src/VASSAL/build/module:PredefinedSetup.java:line
211
Class is a raw type. References to generic type Class should be
parameterized:VASSAL-src/src/VASSAL/build/module:PrototypeDefinition.java:line
64
Class is a raw type. References to generic type Class should be
parameterized:VASSAL-src/src/VASSAL/build/module:PrototypesContainer.java:line
72
Class is a raw type. References to generic type Class should be
parameterized:VASSAL-src/src/VASSAL/build/module:SpecialDiceButton.java:line
473
Class is a raw type. References to generic type Class should be
parameterized:VASSAL-src/src/VASSAL/build/module:SpecialDie.java:line 99
Class is a raw type. References to generic type Class should be
parameterized:VASSAL-src/src/VASSAL/build/module:SpecialDieFace.java:line
123
Class is a raw type. References to generic type Class should be
parameterized:VASSAL-src/src/VASSAL/build/module:ToolbarMenu.java:line 157
Class is a raw type. References to generic type Class should be
parameterized:VASSAL-src/src/VASSAL/build/module/documentation:AboutScreen.java:line
245
Class is a raw type. References to generic type Class should be
parameterized:VASSAL-src/src/VASSAL/build/module/documentation:BrowserHelpFile.java:line
207
Class is a raw type. References to generic type Class should be
parameterized:VASSAL-src/src/VASSAL/build/module/documentation:BrowserHelpFile.java:line
354
Class is a raw type. References to generic type Class should be
parameterized:VASSAL-src/src/VASSAL/build/module/documentation:HelpFile.java:line
230
Class is a raw type. References to generic type Class should be
parameterized:VASSAL-src/src/VASSAL/build/module/documentation:Tutorial.java:line
192
Class is a raw type. References to generic type Class should be
parameterized:VASSAL-src/src/VASSAL/build/module/gamepieceimage:ColorManager.java:line
180
Class is a raw type. References to generic type Class should be
parameterized:VASSAL-src/src/VASSAL/build/module/gamepieceimage:ColorSwatch.java:line
124
Class is a raw type. References to generic type Class should be
parameterized:VASSAL-src/src/VASSAL/build/module/gamepieceimage:FontManager.java:line
112
Class is a raw type. References to generic type Class should be
parameterized:VASSAL-src/src/VASSAL/build/module/gamepieceimage:FontStyle.java:line
117
Class is a raw type. References to generic type Class should be
parameterized:VASSAL-src/src/VASSAL/build/module/gamepieceimage:GamePieceImage.java:line
255
Class is a raw type. References to generic type Class should be
parameterized:VASSAL-src/src/VASSAL/build/module/gamepieceimage:GamePieceImageDefinitions.java:line
100
Class is a raw type. References to generic type Class should be
parameterized:VASSAL-src/src/VASSAL/build/module/gamepieceimage:GamePieceLayout.java:line
238
Class is a raw type. References to generic type Class should be
parameterized:VASSAL-src/src/VASSAL/build/module/gamepieceimage:GamePieceLayoutsContainer.java:line
74
Class is a raw type. References to generic type Class should be
parameterized:VASSAL-src/src/VASSAL/build/module/gamepieceimage:InstanceConfigurer.java:line
294
Class is a raw type. References to generic type Class should be
parameterized:VASSAL-src/src/VASSAL/build/module/gamepieceimage:Item.java:line
196
Class is a raw type. References to generic type Class should be
parameterized:VASSAL-src/src/VASSAL/build/module/gamepieceimage:ItemInstance.java:line
175
Class is a raw type. References to generic type Class should be
parameterized:VASSAL-src/src/VASSAL/build/module/gamepieceimage:LayoutConfigurer.java:line
374
Class is a raw type. References to generic type Class should be
parameterized:VASSAL-src/src/VASSAL/build/module/map:BoardPicker.java:line
319
Class is a raw type. References to generic type Class should be
parameterized:VASSAL-src/src/VASSAL/build/module/map:CounterDetailViewer.java:line
846
Class is a raw type. References to generic type Class should be
parameterized:VASSAL-src/src/VASSAL/build/module/map:DrawPile.java:line 609
Class is a raw type. References to generic type Class should be
parameterized:VASSAL-src/src/VASSAL/build/module/map:GlobalMap.java:line 312
Class is a raw type. References to generic type Class should be
parameterized:VASSAL-src/src/VASSAL/build/module/map:HidePiecesButton.java:line
245
Class is a raw type. References to generic type Class should be
parameterized:VASSAL-src/src/VASSAL/build/module/map:HighlightLastMoved.java:line
204
Class is a raw type. References to generic type Class should be
parameterized:VASSAL-src/src/VASSAL/build/module/map:ImageSaver.java:line
321
Class is a raw type. References to generic type Class should be
parameterized:VASSAL-src/src/VASSAL/build/module/map:LOS_Thread.java:line
830
Class is a raw type. References to generic type Class should be
parameterized:VASSAL-src/src/VASSAL/build/module/map:LayerControl.java:line
219
Class is a raw type. References to generic type Class should be
parameterized:VASSAL-src/src/VASSAL/build/module/map:LayeredPieceCollection.java:line
115
Class is a raw type. References to generic type Class should be
parameterized:VASSAL-src/src/VASSAL/build/module/map:MapShader.java:line 554
Class is a raw type. References to generic type Class should be
parameterized:VASSAL-src/src/VASSAL/build/module/map:MassKeyCommand.java:line
133
Class is a raw type. References to generic type Class should be
parameterized:VASSAL-src/src/VASSAL/build/module/map:PieceRecenterer.java:line
122
Class is a raw type. References to generic type Class should be
parameterized:VASSAL-src/src/VASSAL/build/module/map:SelectionHighlighter.java:line
321
Class is a raw type. References to generic type Class should be
parameterized:VASSAL-src/src/VASSAL/build/module/map:SelectionHighlighters.java:line
50
Class is a raw type. References to generic type Class should be
parameterized:VASSAL-src/src/VASSAL/build/module/map:SetupStack.java:line
355
Class is a raw type. References to generic type Class should be
parameterized:VASSAL-src/src/VASSAL/build/module/map:StackMetrics.java:line
490
Class is a raw type. References to generic type Class should be
parameterized:VASSAL-src/src/VASSAL/build/module/map:TextSaver.java:line 165
Class is a raw type. References to generic type Class should be
parameterized:VASSAL-src/src/VASSAL/build/module/map:Zoomer.java:line 512
Class is a raw type. References to generic type Class should be
parameterized:VASSAL-src/src/VASSAL/build/module/map/boardPicker:Board.java:line
245
Class is a raw type. References to generic type Class should be
parameterized:VASSAL-src/src/VASSAL/build/module/map/boardPicker/board:HexGrid.java:line
388
Class is a raw type. References to generic type Class should be
parameterized:VASSAL-src/src/VASSAL/build/module/map/boardPicker/board:Region.java:line
170
Class is a raw type. References to generic type Class should be
parameterized:VASSAL-src/src/VASSAL/build/module/map/boardPicker/board:RegionGrid.java:line
278
Class is a raw type. References to generic type Class should be
parameterized:VASSAL-src/src/VASSAL/build/module/map/boardPicker/board:SquareGrid.java:line
315
Class is a raw type. References to generic type Class should be
parameterized:VASSAL-src/src/VASSAL/build/module/map/boardPicker/board:ZonedGrid.java:line
111
Class is a raw type. References to generic type Class should be
parameterized:VASSAL-src/src/VASSAL/build/module/map/boardPicker/board/mapgrid:RegularGridNumbering.java:line
259
Class is a raw type. References to generic type Class should be
parameterized:VASSAL-src/src/VASSAL/build/module/map/boardPicker/board/mapgrid:Zone.java:line
259
Class is a raw type. References to generic type Class should be
parameterized:VASSAL-src/src/VASSAL/build/module/map/boardPicker/board/mapgrid:ZoneHighlight.java:line
347
Class is a raw type. References to generic type Class should be
parameterized:VASSAL-src/src/VASSAL/build/module/map/boardPicker/board/mapgrid:ZonedGridHighlighter.java:line
103
Class is a raw type. References to generic type Class should be
parameterized:VASSAL-src/src/VASSAL/build/module/noteswindow:SecretNotesController.java:line
343
Class is a raw type. References to generic type Class should be
parameterized:VASSAL-src/src/VASSAL/build/module/properties:ChangePropertyButton.java:line
163
Class is a raw type. References to generic type Class should be
parameterized:VASSAL-src/src/VASSAL/build/module/properties:GlobalProperties.java:line
62
Class is a raw type. References to generic type Class should be
parameterized:VASSAL-src/src/VASSAL/build/module/properties:GlobalProperty.java:line
162
Class is a raw type. References to generic type Class should be
parameterized:VASSAL-src/src/VASSAL/build/module/properties:PropertyChangerConfigurer.java:line
51
Class is a raw type. References to generic type Class should be
parameterized:VASSAL-src/src/VASSAL/build/module/properties:PropertyChangerConfigurer.java:line
52
Class is a raw type. References to generic type Class should be
parameterized:VASSAL-src/src/VASSAL/build/module/properties:PropertyChangerConfigurer.java:line
53
Class is a raw type. References to generic type Class should be
parameterized:VASSAL-src/src/VASSAL/build/module/properties:PropertyChangerConfigurer.java:line
54
Class is a raw type. References to generic type Class should be
parameterized:VASSAL-src/src/VASSAL/build/module/properties:ZoneProperty.java:line
47
Class is a raw type. References to generic type Class should be
parameterized:VASSAL-src/src/VASSAL/build/module/turn:TurnComponent.java:line
88
Class is a raw type. References to generic type Class should be
parameterized:VASSAL-src/src/VASSAL/build/module/turn:TurnGlobalHotkey.java:line
96
Class is a raw type. References to generic type Class should be
parameterized:VASSAL-src/src/VASSAL/build/module/turn:TurnLevel.java:line
331
Class is a raw type. References to generic type Class should be
parameterized:VASSAL-src/src/VASSAL/build/module/turn:TurnTracker.java:line
425
Class is a raw type. References to generic type Class should be
parameterized:VASSAL-src/src/VASSAL/build/widget:Chart.java:line 140
Class is a raw type. References to generic type Class should be
parameterized:VASSAL-src/src/VASSAL/build/widget:HtmlChart.java:line 169
Class is a raw type. References to generic type Class should be
parameterized:VASSAL-src/src/VASSAL/build/widget:MapWidget.java:line 129
Class is a raw type. References to generic type Class should be
parameterized:VASSAL-src/src/VASSAL/build/widget:PieceSlot.java:line 363
Class is a raw type. References to generic type Class should be
parameterized:VASSAL-src/src/VASSAL/configure:AutoConfigurer.java:line 69
Class is a raw type. References to generic type Class should be
parameterized:VASSAL-src/src/VASSAL/configure:AutoConfigurer.java:line 91
Class is a raw type. References to generic type Class should be
parameterized:VASSAL-src/src/VASSAL/configure:ChooseComponentDialog.java:line
44
Class is a raw type. References to generic type Class should be
parameterized:VASSAL-src/src/VASSAL/configure:ChooseComponentDialog.java:line
48
Class is a raw type. References to generic type Class should be
parameterized:VASSAL-src/src/VASSAL/configure:ChooseComponentPathDialog.java:line
35
Class is a raw type. References to generic type Class should be
parameterized:VASSAL-src/src/VASSAL/configure:ConfigureTree.java:line 435
Class is a raw type. References to generic type Class should be
parameterized:VASSAL-src/src/VASSAL/configure:ConfigureTree.java:line 442
Class is a raw type. References to generic type Class should be
parameterized:VASSAL-src/src/VASSAL/configure:ConfigureTree.java:line 458
Class is a raw type. References to generic type Class should be
parameterized:VASSAL-src/src/VASSAL/configure:ConfigureTree.java:line 586
Class is a raw type. References to generic type Class should be
parameterized:VASSAL-src/src/VASSAL/configure:ConfigureTree.java:line 700
Class is a raw type. References to generic type Class should be
parameterized:VASSAL-src/src/VASSAL/configure:ConfigureTree.java:line 780