The aim of this project is to develop a premier Go language IDE hosted in a web interface. This was inspired by the way that the godoc tool uses a web UI instead of a traditional GUI.
There are certain advantages of a web UI in this case
- Remote access through your web browser (no extra install required)
- OS independent GUI (Go has no standard cross-platform library)
- Hosted Go development environments
Where possible godev aims to reuse existing tools to provide an integrated experience. Not every tool needs to be installed in order to get a basic editing, navigation and execution environment. This helps to keep the IDE bloat to a minimum as well as promote existing standalone tools. Third party extensions to GoDev can be created and installed easily (more details below).
The initial sprint and prototype is complete. Future sprints will focus on improving breadth and depth of functionality.
Areas explored:
- Edit and Code Navigation
- Use the Eclipse Orion project as a base
- http://www.eclipse.org/orion
- Syntax highlighting
- File outline
- Simple content assists
- Markers for compile errors, todo comments, fixme comments
- Documentation
- Go doc integration
- Build and Compile
- Use the go build/go install commands to compile the code
- Create console and markers for specific compile errors
- Run
- Run and manage running Go process (output buffer, input, stop)
- Go test
- Run a package's go test suite and report back results in a table/tree
- Contextual content assist
- Content assists based on the return value of a function call
- Content assists based on the other functions in the current file and local GOPATH packages
New areas to explore:
- Git Integration
- Manage push/pull/commit/add
- RTC SCM Integration
- Manage pending changes, check-ins, deliveries
Save your Go file to see markers for compile errors and warnings.
Content assistance when you type '.' or Ctrl+Space
Run your program quickly by pressing F8
Bring up GoDocs quickly using Ctrl+Shift+G
Bring up extra tools in the tools menu. Plugins can contribute more tools.
The GoDocs page provides full godocs. Quickly navigate to packages using the search at the top.
The Debug page provides advanced execution, race condition detection and debug (provided by godbg plugin).
The godev tool requires the Go SDK, which is freely available for download on golang.org
To begin working with Go you first need to set up your GOPATH. This is a directory where all of your source code and binaries live. Pick an empty directory somewhere on your system and set the GOPATH environment variable with the path to this directory. For more details you can read the "How to Write Go Code" guide on golang.org.
Get the source code from the latest release by running go get: "go get github.com/sirnewton01/godev"
Compile and install godev in your GOPATH by running go install: "go install github.com/sirnewton01/godev"
Make sure that $GOPATH/bin is on your system path and type "godev"
Open up your web browser and navigate to http://127.0.0.1:2022 Note that godev is only accessible from your local machine using the "127.0.0.1" address unless you set up Remote Access (more details below). You can begin a new godev project using the "New -> Folder" menu near the top of the screen.
If you have ideas for enhancements or find defects please Raise a Task on JazzHub (account required): https://hub.jazz.net/ccm01/web/projects/sirnewton%20%7C%20godev#action=com.ibm.team.workitem.newWorkItem&type=task&ts=13725284879510
Happy Go hacking!
Godev has remote access capabilities using your web browser and https. Access is controlled using a magic url known only to the person who launches the godev session. First, some setup is required to specify the fully qualified domain name of your system and establish a secure connection.
Godev uses HTTP over SSL/TLS, otherwise known as https, to encrypt information sent from the remote system and your local web browser. In order to set up the encryption both a certificate and encryption key is needed to establish the encrypted connection. You can use a tool like openssl or use a Go script included in every Go install to generate it.
To run the Go script to generate your certificates you can run the following command (replace / with \ on Windows, myhost.example.com with your fully qualified domain name):
$ go run /path/to/go/install/src/pkg/crypto/tls/generate _ cert.go -ca=true -duration=8760h0m0s -host=myhost.example.com
It is important to secure the certificates and keys with filesystem permissions so that others canot use them to intercept your communications.
$ chmod go-rwx cert.pem key.pem
Your fully qualified domain name, certificate file and key file are provided to gdbg using the following environment variables:
$ export GOHOST=myhost.example.com $ export GOCERTFILE=/path/to/my/cert.pem $ export GOKEYFILE=/path/to/my/key.pem
These variables can be set in the same place you set your GOPATH and PATH variables so that they are set automatically every time you run the tool.
Deprecated: Unfortunately, the persona system has been deprecated by Mozilla and has been removed from Orion.
You can debug your applications within godev with the godbg application. Go get it so that you can debug inside your godev session.
$ go get github.com/sirnewton01/godbg
Debugging is accessed via the "Debug" section of godev. Pick your package, set the command-line arguments and click on the "Debug" button. Click on the URL to switch to the debugging session.
Godev has an optional integration with the gocode tool to bring rich content assistance to the editor. Go get the latest go code source to activate the integration.
$ go get github.com/nsf/gocode
To activate content assistance you press Ctrl+Space in the editor to bring up a list of suggestions.
You can manage your imports with the goimports tool inside the godev editor. Install the tool with the following command:
$ go get code.google.com/p/go.tools/cmd/goimports
In the godev editor type Ctrl-I to add the imports you need and/or remove the unnecessary ones.
The godev editor has the ability to show blame for each line of source code managed by Git, Mercurial and Jazz SCM. Godev works with the command-line for each type of VCS to present the blame. If you are able to "go get" it then you should have the command-line tool installed on your system.
Godev has a number of third party extensions to further enhance the environment. To install an extension you simply "go get" it like any other Go command or library. Run the following command to add the Go Oracle extension to find references, implementers, callers and channel peers of selections in the editor:
$ go get github.com/sirnewton01/godev-oracle
For more information about writing extension check out the design document (https://github.com/sirnewton01/godev/wiki/GoDev-Extensions). The godev-oracle project is itself a relatively simple demonstration of a GoDev extension.
Having problems with godev? Try these couple of steps before raising an issue or defect:
- Try again using a new Firefox or Chrome
- Clear your browser cache
- In Firefox: History -> Clear Recent History (pick "Everything", "Cache" and "Offline Website Data")
- In Chrome: Tools -> Clear Browsing Data (pick "the beginning of time", "Empty the cache")
- Clear out old godev plugins
- In the godev top-right menu -> Settings -> Plugins
- Look for any plugins that have an 'x' action to the right of them
- Click 'x' to delete each of the the unnecessary plugins
- Click "Reload all" at the top-right of the page
- Clear the browser's local storage
- In Chrome, Ctrl+Shift+J , type localStorage.clear() and press Enter
- In Firefox, Ctrl+Shift+K , type localStorage.clear() and press Enter
- Reload your godev browser pages
If you are still having problems after running these steps then please raise either an issue on github or a defect on jazzhub.