Link to java-file or specific codeline?

[derwiwie]

Hey there,

first of all I want to say, that it is a very nice project you set up there :-)

I have a question, whether it is somehow possible to add a link to a certain todo entry, such that by clicking one gets directly to the corresponding java-file or a line-number in the code?

That would be a very nice feature since by the nature of the todo-file there is no direct connection between the todo-entry itself and the location this todo belongs to.

Best,
derwiwie

[sebastianbenz]

Thanks for the kind words. Linking to java files is currently not possible. However, referencing java entities (e.g. java.lang.String or java.lang.String#length) should be quite easy to implement as xtext already provides access to the JVM types. The question is what the syntax should look like?

[derwiwie]

Hey Sebastian,

well, there are different ways it could look like. My first idea was similar to the syntax of java doc linking, i.e. {@link LinkedClass} or {@link #perform}. A small extension of this syntax for line numbers could look like {@link #perform:25} or {@link LinkedClass:25} to link to the 25th line of the perform-method or class.
But I guess it would be simpler, to use the markdown-syntax for java-entities, something like Bla.
Besides, I haven't found out so far how the syntax for java entity referencing looks like. If there is already a syntax for that, one could also extend this to support line numbers.

[sebastianbenz]

I like the idea of being able to directly reference other files, but I would favor using tags for referencing elements. For example:

@java(java.lang.String#toString)
@java(java.lang.String:225)
@file(File.txt)
@file(../RelativeFile.txt:35)

So far there is no syntax for java entities, but the underlying xtext frameworks supports referencing java entities, which would simplify the integration.

[sebastianbenz]

Nobody hinders you to specify file locations in that way right now. The question is which features should the editor provide based on such links to files?

[wiwie]

Well, the feature I would like most is jumping to the corresponding code-line. For example, if I have a certain block of code that I want to improve later on, I would put that into my .todo file together with a short explanation and some tags and a link, such that I simply can click on the link in the todo-entry later and can start implementing immediately.