[gedit-list] Would the ProjectsManager make sense in gedit-plugins?

[Jeff Johnston <jeff johnston mn gmail com>]

I am wondering if it would make sense to include the ProjectsManager plugin with the gedit-plugins at some point in the future? 

The  projects manager offers a way to organize related projects together. These projects are then logically grouped together and can be easily toggled from one group to the other. In addition when a file is selected it has a reference back to the project (GObject) that opened it. This can be used for other plugins that need that information. 

The projects manager offers all the features of the file browser so you can cut, copy, delete, rename, etc... files/folders. In addition the current document will be selected in the side pane. The selecting of the document is something I really like in that it will open the tree nodes and scroll (if needed) to get to the proper place in the tree as you move from one document to the other. 

In the future I want to keep track of the state of the opened files when switching groups. I also want to have a way to configure project and/or group settings.

The reason I think the projects manager would make a good candidate to be included in the gedit-plugins (at some point) is because the projects manager could be seen as a core building block for creating a lightweight IDE. In addition, the settings are stored in a sqlite database which could be leveraged in interesting ways. The sqlite database could offer another way for other plugins to associate themselves with the current group and/or project.

But then I think it also depends on where you are going with gedit. With the right plugins gedit really blurs the lines of whether it is a text editor or an IDE. I think the projects manager would blur this line even more. Not that I want to create a big bloated IDE. I have spent too many years with Eclipse and Netbeans and I have grown tired of tools that try to be everything to everyone.

If you are interested then I would be willing to work with the gedit team to keep the plugin generic. It does not matter to me what it is called. Currently it is being developed as part of the Code Slayer tools. You can try out the Python implementation, although I have finished porting it over to C now.

No problem if it doesn't make sense at some point. I am working on this for myself as I really want to get away from the tools that I use now. However, I have been very surprised at how many downloads it has had considering I have it labeled as .1.1.

http://code.google.com/p/codeslayer/
http://code.google.com/p/codeslayer/wiki/ProjectsManager

-Jeff Johnston