Author Topic: Integrating SlickEdit in a 3rd party application  (Read 8785 times)

johnnydftr

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Integrating SlickEdit in a 3rd party application
« on: November 25, 2009, 01:40:21 PM »
Hello,

I would like to inquiry about the available options for integrating SlickEdit features into a custom 3rd party product (i.e. I guess this would fall under the OEM category).  We would be interested in evaluating the possibility of integrating SlickEdit’s custom editor(s) (more specifically targeting mainframe language editors e.g. COBOL) so that we can leverage functionality that is typically found in IDE(s) such as code assist, syntax highlighting, etc...).  As part of our evaluation, we would like to determine:

  • If it is possible to extend/customize the SlickEdit editor(s) to hook into our application’s logic/usability (i.e. our application uses “virtual” source code files instead of the typical user’s file system – which means we would need to intercept or supply logic related to saving/opening the editor(s) )?
  • Does SlickEdit editor(s) include any modules/functionality that does syntax checking/validation (i.e. if a user is editing a COBOL file, and they type invalid syntax, will the editor complain (just like eclipse does w.r.t Java))?
  • If there is an SDK and/or API documents that could be of great help for such 3rd party integrations?
  • If there is a way to override/modify the SlickEdit branding (i.e. file extension, editor icons, etc) so that it will be more inline with our own products’ look and feel standards?


Any insight will be much appreciated...
Thanks

Ryan

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Re: Integrating SlickEdit in a 3rd party application
« Reply #1 on: November 25, 2009, 03:51:09 PM »
Greetings,

I can certainly help with some of these questions, but for further inquiries you should probably contact sales@slickedit.com or dial 1-919-473-0070, press 1 for "Sales", and then ask for Rick Lanning.  He will be able to assist you whatever you need...and he knows more about our OEM program and partnerships than I do.

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If it is possible to extend/customize the SlickEdit editor(s) to hook into our application’s logic/usability (i.e. our application uses “virtual” source code files instead of the typical user’s file system – which means we would need to intercept or supply logic related to saving/opening the editor(s) )?

I think this will be possible but this would probably need to be discusses in more detail with Rick and the dev team.

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Does SlickEdit editor(s) include any modules/functionality that does syntax checking/validation (i.e. if a user is editing a COBOL file, and they type invalid syntax, will the editor complain (just like eclipse does w.r.t Java))?

Unfortunately we do not have any type of "live errors" for COBOL...we only have that functionality for Java.

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If there is an SDK and/or API documents that could be of great help for such 3rd party integrations?

Yes, we have OEM kits for both our plug-in and our standalone product that help with this.

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If there is a way to override/modify the SlickEdit branding (i.e. file extension, editor icons, etc) so that it will be more inline with our own products’ look and feel standards?

This will also not be a problem.

Let me know if I can be of any further assistance.  Is the product in question an Eclipse-based application, and are you interested in integrating our plug-in for Eclipse?  Or are you interested in our standalone editor?  We have trials for both products available if you want to test drive.

- Ryan

johnnydftr

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Re: Integrating SlickEdit in a 3rd party application
« Reply #2 on: November 26, 2009, 07:06:23 PM »
Thanks for the info and quick reply Ryan.

A couple of followups... Yes, the product is Eclipse RCP based (Galileo version 3.5.x) - we would be looking at the plausibility of integrating your SlickEdit eclipse plugin into our product (i.e. have the SlickEdit plugins/features as part of our product definition).  However, I'm not sure if the OEM kits you mentioned export java APIs that will allow our code to call SlickEdit specific APIs (I would need to contact your sales dept. for further info on this...). 

I've noticed that there is an "_eclipse_execute_command" macro command that could be useful if you want to execute eclipse-based commands (custom/internal/etc...), however, the only way I've seen (at least so far in my research - I downloaded the trial for the SlickEdit Core for eclipse) to trigger the macro is via a key binding or using the SlickEdit command prompt - would you know if there are other ways to trigger a macro (Is it possible to trigger/call the macro from custom java code programmatically - once again perhaps the OEM kit allows this???)? (This would allow our code to hook into SlickEdit - i.e. don't call us we will call you paradigm)

Thanks,
Johnny

P.S. I had sent an email to "oem@slickedit.com" but never got a response (is this a deprecated email address?)

Ryan

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Re: Integrating SlickEdit in a 3rd party application
« Reply #3 on: November 27, 2009, 04:18:48 AM »
Our plug-in does have a Java API for calling native slickedit functions, and executing slickedit macro commands.  We know that most plug-in developers want to program in Java, as most plug-ins are Java-only, but our plug-in is not Java-only...so while we do have an extensive API for leveraging slickedit functionality directly from Java, you will most likely end up doing some macro programming too.  We will want to talk in the future about your specific customization needs.

I think oem@slickedit.com is still valid...but I'll have to check on that.  It's possible someone just didn't receive it yet, as it is a holiday week.

-Ryan