Version 20 of Eclipse Europa TCL Editor (DLTK project)

Updated 2008-03-18 17:25:53 by JH

Europa [L1 ] is the 3.3 major release of the Eclipse Java IDE platform.

An interesting component is the DLTK project [L2 ]. This essentially brings IDE capabilities to dynamic languages. They currently feature Ruby and... TCL! This is an exciting development since it exposes to large number of developer eyeballs.


XO 2007-12-14

  • Why not taking a 03:10 minute video tour presented here at... [L3 ] (link updated, is from this page [L4 ] - screencasts), where a Tcl mymath package is driven by a test script, to convert decimal numbers into binary representations, an error was planted into lappend command inside the mymath package on purpose, in order to illustrate the debugging processes within Eclipse DLTK, typical breakpoint, step into, step out, step over,... watch variables & stack trace were very nicely organized & presented. Enjoy the ride!
  • Found this installation instruction, Running Eclipse as a Tcl IDE with the DLTK plugin[L5 ], it's for Eclipse 3.2 + DLTK 0.7, I believe the latest versions are: Eclipse V3.3.1.1 + DLTK 0.9.
  • From Re: [Dltk-dev] Tcl Eclipse DLTK install guide. [L6 ], and RE:[Activetcl] dbgp_tcldebug.exe - Availability? [L7 ], I learned that the debugger behind the scene in the aforementioned video demo is dbgp_tcldebug.exe, a functional component of Komodo.

RJM 2008-01-13 I have taken a look at DLTK with Tcl support, since I am using Eclipse for various other projects, too. Actually, the problem is the debugger. One can download dbgp_tcldebug.exe separately at the Activestate website. But apparently other resources from KOMODO are necessary, too.

RLH 2008-01-14 :: Could you list what those other resources are?

To be short: I believe that Activestate should consider to bring a debugger support package at reasonable cost. I would pay for good debugger support for projects managed with Eclipse, provided a capability is present to send procedures for update to a running script.

LV Note that for some time Activestate had Tcl debugger support in Komodo. They spun the code off, making it freely available. However, I suspect that it will still integrate with Komodo - your best bet would be to ask on the Komodo mailing list how to go about doing that.

RJM Thanks for the hint. I was not aware of the fact that more then one resource (dbgp_tcldebug.exe) has been spun off. Meanwhile I have posted an email to the DLTK team. The defect link to the video has been reported, too. Hope that sufficient infos will enter in order to let the installation instruction not end with the header "debugger"...

JH The ActiveState Tcl debugger is not free, and was never spun off. There was never any communication to this effect, so I'm not sure why that was misrepresented. It is available as a separate component purely for the purpose of allowing your to debug on a remote machine and still connect to Komodo (or another DBGP capable debugger like Eclipse+DLTK). Note that you still require a license to Komodo or the Tcl Dev Kit to be legally compliant and run the Tcl debugger.

RJM 20080318 The DLTK, also with Tcl package has been updated to a V1.0 state. It is not found that easy. It is here [L8 ] but one has to select "More DLTK downloads". Then select the subpage "Integration Builds". One should download the Core Frameworks and the Tcl IDE. Once having started eclipse, and having set up a project, the project properties must be opened. In the tree, Tcl must be opened, then Debug, Engines and finally ActiveState. The dialog associated with this tree element allows for "Configure Workspace Settings...", where another dialog allows to DOWNLOAD the ActiveState Debugging engine. Alas, it is not explicitly noted which single download must be taken. One must download the Tcl Remote Debugging package for the appropriate OS, then store this and specify the path of the External Debugging Engine.

My first experience is that this works! I'm still going into getting more experiences.

JH 20080318 I am curious if that process properly notes the license requirements for the Tcl debugging component. It used to, and still should. We don't mind others leveraging the Tcl debugger, but making something free that isn't ... is not appreciated.