Issues of extending the user interface of integrated development environments

ABSTRACT

The current level of extensibility of integrated development environments (IDEs) does not provide sufficient access to make modifications to their user interface components. This limits innovation in IDEs. This paper reviews the problems we have encountered and presents alternative ways to help developers achieve their goals of extending user interface components. Developers interested in extending existing applications will appreciate the information on likely problems and solutions with extensible architectures. Furthermore general suggestions for software architecture extensions to maximize extensibility are included.

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INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  D. Software
  D.2 SOFTWARE ENGINEERING
      D.2.6 Programming Environments

Additional Classification:
  D. Software
  D.2 SOFTWARE ENGINEERING
      D.2.7 Distribution, Maintenance, and Enhancement

  H. Information Systems
  H.5 INFORMATION INTERFACES AND PRESENTATION (I.7)
      H.5.2 User Interfaces (D.2.2, H.1.2, I.3.6)

Keywords:
annotation, extensibility, integrated development environment, user interface