Constraint: lang kind type license lictype namespace project url host container form

Value:

core queries

• text »
• name »
• function abstraction »
• object abstraction »

special queries

• function abstraction (Java/C/C#) »
• object abstraction (Java/C#) »
• find web service »
• access web service »
• identify containing jar »
• find Javadoc »
• search open source project »
• source classes only »
• filter duplicates »
• search with JUnit test case »

Installation

We recommend to use Eclipse 3.3.1 (Europa), other versions may cause problems. To install the plugin -

1. Close any open instances of Eclipse
2. Remove any former installation of the Code Conjurer (delete the jar-file in the /plugins folder)
3. Copy the file com.merotronics.merobase.code_conjurer_1.0.0.date.jar to your /plugins folder, which can be found in your Eclipse installation directory (or use our update site under http://merobase.com/updates).
4. Launch Eclipse

Prerequisites

If everything went fine, you will see a button with the Merobase logo in your Eclipse toolbar. If you cannot see this button, open the About Eclipse SDK dialogue via the Help menu and examine the plugin details. If Merobase is not listed there the installation has failed. Consider using a different version of Eclipse.

Before you start using the Code Conjurer, you need to configure its preferences. In the Window menu click on the entry Preferences and after the preferences dialog is opened select the entry Merobase in the tree on the left..



Select the Connection options page and enter your username and password (you can register your user account at http://merobase.com for free). According to your company's needs, you may need to specify a proxy server to connect to the Web.



When you've finished with these settings, you can start using the Code Conjurer. Further options will be described later in this manual.

Pro-Active Component Recommendations

The Code Conjurer offers you the possibility to search for components while you are programming. To activate the proactive recommendation assistant, simply click on the small Merobase button in your Eclipse toolbar. A view called "Reuse Recommendations" will open below the Java editor, where the recommendations will be displayed. A basic example should demonstrate how the Code Conjurer works:
Imagine you need a component that provides the four basic mathematical operations. So you create a new class Calculator in your project and start typing public int add(int a, int b) { }

Now the Code Conjurer will automatically in the background send a query to the merobase server and after the blink of an eye you will find numerous recommendations in the recommendation view:



In the recommendations view you may now select the components retrieved one by one and examine their code in the code preview. If a component fits your needs, a simple double click on it is enough to insert it into your project. If the classname is the same as that of an already existing class, it will overwrite the existing class. Alternatively, you may also want to double click on a method to paste the code of the method into the active Java editor:



In the upper right corner you can see three or four buttons, depending on your version of the Code Conjurer. One of them shows a small flashlight which can be used to initiate a search manually at any time on the code in the active Java editor. To the left of this button, there are two other buttons, that can be used to expand or collapse the results tree to make navigation through it easier. All pasting operations can be undone simply using the undo function of Eclipse by pressing CTRL-Z.

Manual Searching

Sometimes you might want to search for only one keyword or you are not satisfied with the query built by the Component Finder. In this case, you have the opportunity to send any arbitrary text to the merobase server. Simply type your query into the Java editor (best as a comment so no error is reported by Eclipse) and select it. A right-click on the selection will offer a function called "Search merobase.com".



Clicking on this, the selected text will be sent to the server without any modification. If the query meets the Merobase requirements and format and there are any components matching you will receive the results to it after a few moments in the Recommendations view.

QuickFixes for Missing Dependencies

The Eclipse quickfix feature offers developers a convenient way to correct errors in their source code or to search for a solution. If for instance a type cannot be resolved by Eclipse, the quickfix by default offers the opportunity to create a new class with the name of the type. This means that you have to write the code  for the generated interface, however. The Code Conjurer adds a feature to the quickfixes of Eclipse in order to directly search for the unresolved type.

The following Java code example, will make Eclipse to offer the shown quickfix:

class BlackJack {
    public void init() {
         Deck d = new Deck();
    }
}

After a few moments the Recommendations view will present all the found components and you can insert an appropriate one into your project with a simple double click.

Advanced Query Settings

Maximum Number of Results to Show

Registered Merobase users can obtain 100 results for a query by default. Nevertheless, this number of components is in general too large to be examined by a developer on the fly. Thus the Code Conjurer offers the opportunity to reduce the number of retrieved and displayed recommendations. With the slider you can set the number of results to a value between 5 and 100.

License Settings

Components in the Merobase index are - as far as possible - classified by the open source license they were released under. To offer you the possibility to retrieve only components that meet your license requirements, you can set the license filter according to your needs.

Duplicates Filter

From time to time Merobase may offer you the same component twice. This can be for different reasons, but most likely one single component was stored at two or more distinct places on the Internet and thus was indexed more than once. Since you normally do not need these duplicates, you can activate the duplicate filter in the query preferences in order that the Code Conjurer only delivers you unique components.
Nevertheless, later during your development / retrieval process, it may be convenient to disable the filter. For example - after you have inserted a component into the editor, you might want to let the plugin resolve some dependencies which may be stored at the location of a duplicate of the component.

Automatic Dependency Resolution

Sometimes components recommended by the Code Conjurer plugin depend themself on other components. If they are contained in the same package, the Code Conjurer will automatically download the necessary component(s) and insert it/them into your project. To enable this feature, simply enable it in the query settings.

Further Constraint Settings in Code Conjurer

Host Constraints

To restrict searches to certain hosts, you can specify a list of hosts that should be used for searches by the Code Conjurer. Thus the recommendation view will display only candidates from this server. Results from other servers that might be available in the Merobase index are ignored. You can enable this feature if , for example, you only want to reuse components from your company's repositories and not from servers, projects and developers on the Internet (however, you should consider to purchase our the merobase Enterprise version to make this process more convenient). For the sake of simplicity, you can enable/disable this feature with the appropriate button instead everytime adding/deleting items in the host list.

Project Constraints

Just as it is possible to restrict searches to certain hosts, you can also restrict searches on certain projects. To enable this feature click on the enable button in the preferences and add projects to the list according to the rules of merobase. You might specify something like "eclipse.org" if you want to search for components only inside the Eclipse project.