[jbosstools-dev] integration stack component installation

[Paul Leacu]

   Greetings,
      At the JBoss f2f last week in Brno there was a meeting to discuss the ease of installation 
   issue (or lack thereof) of integration stack components.  Presented here is a summary of the
   issue and a proposed solution as drafted by the team.  Although members of platform architecture, 
   engineering, PM and QE were present - the solution is simply proposed at this time.  We also
   plan to evolve the solution over time - so that the issue will be addressed more fully.

   Your comments are welcome!

   Thanks,
          --paull

   ------

   Issue: Finding integration stack components to install is too difficult.  This was made
          clear by Fuse Tooling usability reviews and is discussed in detail here:

          https://mojo.redhat.com/docs/DOC-977658

   Proposed Solution:

   - Extend Eclipse Marketplace by enabling JBTIS/ JBDSIS entries for product groupings and establish
     JBTIS/ JBDSIS installers based on JBT/ JBDS.
  
     Discussion:
     As it exists today, users who search within the standard Eclipse Marketplace for keywords
     such as "Camel Editor" or "Fuse" are directed to the JBDS or JBT Kepler installers.  Users
     must select the "more info" link on the Marketplace installer page and then page down to
     find this text:
    
     "Also available is the JBoss Developer Studio Integration Stack, which includes support for SwitchYard, Camel, Fuse, Fabric8, Drools, jBPM, ModeShape, Teiid and more. It is available from within JBoss Central, via the Software/update tab."

     This is the first mention of Fuse and directs the user to install JBDS (or JBT) and then,
     after installing/ restarting and as a separate action, use the Software/Update tab within
     JBoss Central to find the Fuse tooling.  In this case Fuse is part of:

     "JBoss Integration and SOA Development" - (The category description does mention Fuse.)

     Solution Details:

     The extended IS-aware Eclipse Marketplace entries will reference the existing update site
     and when selecting "Install" you will get a yet-to-be-defined subset of the Eclipse features that
     will match what you would get when using the install from JBoss Central today - but without having
     to install Developer Studio plugins separately first.

     The installer option is to be based on the JBDS installer and will be made available from the CSP/jboss.org
     download next to the existing installer.  

     JBDS 7.1.1.GA/JBDSIS 7.1.0.GA (Kepler) - What can we do today?

     - https://issues.jboss.org/browse/JBTIS-354

       The least required changes would leave the user with a single JBDSIS installer and a single
       JBTIS installer when searching for "Fuse" or "Data Virtualization" for example.  Upon selecting
       one of these installers the user would see all available installation-units (features) available
       in the combined integration stack.  Users could then select all or just the fuse tooling IUs.
       This is the "laundry list" approach.

     JBDS 8.1.0.GA/JBDSIS 8.0.x.GA (Luna) - Short term for upcoming tooling releases.

     - https://issues.jboss.org/browse/JBTIS-355

       * Add a new com.jboss.devstudio.core.central.feature that packages up the com.jboss.devstudio.core.central
         plugin and include this in com.jboss.devstudio.core.feature (this is missing today).
       * Enable usage tracking in JBTIS components' MANIFEST.MF files (this is under way now)
         - https://issues.jboss.org/browse/JBTIS-290
       * create three connectors, each based on the content in JBDSIS discovery plugin.xml's top three
         connector categories
         - https://issues.jboss.org/browse/JBTIS-357

         1. Fuse ServiceWorks -         ref: JBoss Integration and SOA Development
         2. BRMS/BPMS -                 ref: JBoss Business Process and Rules Development
         3. JBoss Data Virtualization - ref: JBoss Data Virtualization Development

       ** A1: PMs (hey Alan) must come up with appropriate names for 1-3 above.  The naming convention should be
              "compatible" with a Mobile tools install that have been requested too.

       The user searches for "Fuse" from Marketplace and immediately finds JBDSIS.  The installer allows
       the user to select from 1-3 above.  The user selects "Fuse ServiceWorks" (if that's the name) by
       selecting the radio button (or selects all easily).

     JBDS 9.0.0.GA/JBDSIS 9.0.x.GA (Mars) - Make it better - continue to evolve the solution

     - https://issues.jboss.org/browse/JBTIS-356/ https://issues.jboss.org/browse/JBIDE-18734
       Refactor project examples in Central to remove dependencies on portal & seam (size reduction - avoid
       installing unnecessary plugins).

     Similar experience to Luna except the installer is much leaner.

  No default perspective change - potential stretch goal.

     This subject went back and forth.  The user has an established perspective when they began the installation
     process and may be installing multiple features which may very well have different default perspectives.  
     Once users manually set their perspective it will be remembered the next time they start the tool.

     Alternatively, the installer option definitely should be able to do this. When installing into an existing
     Eclipse that is not that trivial, which is one of the reasons why JBoss Central exists. Central shows
     up across perspectives and when the user selects Fuse the Fuse project can declare it and would ask users
     if they want to move to the Fuse perspective.

     We could also look into adding "roles" to Central to make it adopt better depending on what interest you
     have as a user.

        --paull