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Getting Started

Reuse what has proven useful

The Virtual Developer IDE (VD-IDE) is an Eclipse Java IDE with the lightweight Virtual Developer IDE plugin installed. The plugin makes use of the following standard Eclipse functionality:

  • Java Development Tools (JDT)
  • Plugin Development Environment (PDE)
  • Eclipse Modeling Framework (EMF)
  • Groovy Plugin, in case you want to make use of Groovy code in your generator

A code generator developed with and for Virtual Developer is nothing else than a Java program developed with the Eclipse IDE. So your existing Java and Eclipse skillsets help you.

Which Eclipse Package to use?

You don’t need to install a specific Eclipse package in order to make the VD-IDE work fine. However, if you want to generate code for a programming language or a certain technology where there exists Eclipse support for, it makes sense to use an Eclipse package that supports that language or technology. If you for instance want to generate C/C++ code, you are best off installing the Eclipse package “Eclipse IDE for C/C++ Developers”.

On the other hand, if you want to generate code for a technology where there is no Eclipse support available for (e.g. ObjectPascal/Delphi), you can use the standard Eclipse functionality of virtual/linked folders within the Eclipse workspace where you develop your code generator. Such virtual/linked folders then point to the actual location in the file system, where you want the generated code be used by other IDEs/tools.