One of the first and best of the System i plug-ins for WDSC, this extension provides some basic features missing from Remote Systems Explorer.

By Joe Pluta

The Remote System Explorer (RSE) extensions from Softlanding include a number of nicely written tools that fit very well into the RSE feel. As we'll see, that has its pros and cons. But the plug-in works as intended, and it's perhaps one of the best examples of a well-written, professional plug-in.

Open-source plug-ins work well in WDSC, although some of them may be "eclipsed" by existing functionality.

By Joe Pluta

The Arcad plug-in from my last tip was obviously intended as a tool for System i developers. There aren't a whole lot of other folks who need a 5250 emulator. And there really aren't a lot of other plug-ins devoted specifically to the System i, with the exception of a number of commercial plug-ins for things like source control management.

In this first of a series of tips on plug-ins for WDSC, I'll introduce you to the ARCAD emulation plug-in.

By Joe Pluta

Until recently, I didn't do much with plug-ins in WDSC. I use the base package extensively, but I don't mess with non-IBM stuff for a number of reasons. My biggest reason was that I didn't like to incorporate third-party software of unknown stability into a framework that was working out its own kinks. That particular reason is less of an issue now, not only because WDSC itself has gotten so much more stable but also because the plug-ins I'll be mentioning have been around for some time and have gained good reputations.

Merge your versioning and your development into a single, user-friendly environment.

Eclipse is a widely used Integrated Development Environment (IDE) supporting many languages, including Java, PHP, and even C and C++, just to name a few. The word integrated in IDE is very important; it means that Eclipse should not only allow you to write, test, debug, deploy, etc. your code, but it should also allow you to (easily) work on a versioned project with a group of developers.