Project Requirements

• IDE should be 'a Stand alone application (based on Netbeans platform) and' a Netbeans Module.
• Complete Support for PH Component, OOR, APOC, UI schemas
• User should be able to visually enter values for all fields in the schemas
• User should be able to specify a number of install units in a easy way. For eg: point to a directory and tool should read all install units in that dir
• Dependencies between CPs should be specified and visualized in a user friendly graphical way '(View only at this moment, depending on the time, edit can be added later)'
• Data types supported in input fields should be restricted to the data types supported by the schema
• Intelligent validation of user entered data should be performed
• Tool should be smart enough to infer/deduct as much of input data as possible and populate defaults or avoid user inputs '(Needs deeper look into XMLs)'
• User should be able to see the XML files that will be generated as they are providing input data. That is, tool should generate XMLs on the fly as user is entering data
• User should be able to load existing XMLs and edit the fields visually (Roundtrip editing)
• User should be able to load other CP XMLs as references to facilitate validation of cross-CP data '(Overall Integrity check, a must)'
• Tool should be smart enough to check for errors or data that violates best practices and suggest better ways to the user '(PH and Java ES conventions, needs deeper look)'
• User should be able to specify Source control repository data and tool should be able to checkin the generated XMLs in the given repository '(decided to drop this, as version control is out of scope for this tool)'
• Tool should <i>avoid</i> having built-in JES specific intelligence or JES specific data or hard coded values or validations etc. This requirement is needed to support open sourcing of the tool and for the tool to be used in a generic way for generation of any installer.
  • JES Specific code or data could be separated into a run time loadable "plugin" to the tool. '(This is a pending AI to be worked on)'
• Tool should not require saving data in any other form other than the PH XMLs.
• Tool should be able to save, load and edit partial XMLs
• <del>Tool should be able to verify/validate XMLs and report on errors or missing required data. </del> 'This is already addressed as part of Overall Integrity check'