1Summary of function 2=================== 3 4The Tk Remote development tools enable the development tools to be used with 5any session of ECLiPSe via the Tcl remote interface. This allows the tools 6to be used with an ECLiPSe that does not use ECLiPSe's Tcl embedding 7interface, such as the tty toplevel, and an ECLiPSe that is already embedded 8into another language. The development tools can also be run on a different 9platform from the ECLiPSe session, as long as the two machines can be 10linked through the network. 11 12The full suite of development tools is provided, and they can be used much 13as with Tkeclipse. The only difference is that the user can only 14interactively use the tools when the tools have `control', that is, when 15ECLiPSe code is not being executed. 16 17When the tools have control, execution of ECLiPSe code is 18suspended. ECLiPSe execution can be continued by either pressing the `Resume 19ECLiPSe' button, or through interacting with some of the development tools, 20such as the tracer. 21 22Control can be transferred from ECLiPSe to the tools by the tools/0 23predicate. 24 25Layout 26====== 27 28The remote development tools toplevel has a menu bar, below which is a 29status bar, below which is a `Resume ECLiPSe' button. 30 31Menu bar options: 32----------------- 33 34File Menu: 35 36 Disconnect -- disconnect from the ECLiPSe session. The tools window(s) 37 remain, and can be examined further. However, interaction 38 with the ECLiPSe session is no longer possible. The 39 disconnection will cause the ECLiPSe to abort what it was 40 doing. 41 42 Exit -- Terminate the execution of the remote development 43 tools. If it is attached to an ECLiPSe session, a 44 disconnection will be performed first. 45 46Tools Menu: 47 48 This provides the same suite of development tools as the Tkeclipse 49 toplevel. 50 51Help Menu 52 53 Balloon help - toggles balloon help 54 55 Help topics for the development tools 56 57 58Status Panel: 59------------- 60 This indicates the status of the TkTools. It can display 2 different 61 statuses. This is indicated by the message on the panel, and the colour 62 it has: 63 64 ECLiPSe Active: the panel is grayed out. ECLiPSe side has control, 65 and the user cannot interact with the development tools. 66 67 TkTools Active: the panel is highlighted. Remote development tools 68 has control, and the user can interact with the development tools. 69 70Resume ECLiPSe button: 71---------------------- 72 73This allows the control to be passed explicitly back to ECLiPSe so that 74ECLiPSe execution can continue. This can only occur when the remote 75development tools have control. However, it is not always possible to pass 76control explicitly to ECLiPSe: for example, the control has to implicitly 77passed back to ECLiPSe via the tracer while debugging a program. In such 78situations, the button is disabled even though the development tools have 79control. 80 81If the ECLiPSe side is disconnected from the development tools (e.g. by 82terminating the ECLiPSe process), then the development side has control but 83no longer has an ECLiPSe side to pass control back to. In this case, the 84button is also disabled, and the `Resume ECLiPSe' label is replaced by 85`Disconnected'. The user can still use the development tools to view any 86previous results that was generated while the development tools was 87connected to ECLiPSe. 88 89Differences From TkECLiPSe 90========================== 91 92The main difference from using the development tools with TkECLiPSe are: 93 941. In TkECLiPSe, the toplevel is provided by TkECLiPSe. With the remote 95 tools, the toplevel is provided by the ECLiPSe side. This can be the 96 ECLiPSe application that the user is developing, or the standard tty 97 ECLiPSe top-level. 98 992. The user cannot interact with the development tools when ECLiPSe side 100 has control. 101 1023. The development tools can be run on a different machine than the ECLiPSe 103 process. The defaults for the development tools (editor to use, the 104 values for the preference editor) is taken from where the remote 105 development tools are run from, and not from where the ECLiPSe process 106 is (With TkECLiPSe, the two are the same). 107 108 109