JetBrains IntelliJ IDEA Blog

There are roughly three hundreds of various extensions in the IntelliJ IDEA plugin repository .
Plugins are grouped by about thirty different categories, which is very comfy and lets you easily find an extension that adds the functionality you personally need to your favorite IDE.
Today I want to tell you about the Key Promoter plugin which is filed under Fun Stuff category.
After taking a look at it I can say that sometime the fun stuff can be really useful. Whenever you are using your mouse to carry out an action through toolbar or menu, the plugin displays large animated tooltip telling you what keyboard shortcut could have been used instead.




As you might have already noticed, keyboard shortcuts greatly boost your productivity because you don’t have to draw your hands from keyboard both when you’re writing the code or making the use of various IDE functions.
With Key Promoter it takes much less time to learn all the frequently used keystroke combinations and so take your productivity to a whole new level.

Key Promoter plugin is freeware and available for download at IntelliJ IDEA Plugin Repository

IntelliJ IDEA 6.0 features numerous enhancements for making Java EE development easier and more productive.

EJB relationship diagram builder brings valuable bonus to those who use Hibernate annotations for defining data models in their applications. All the power of the EJB diagram builder is at your disposal. You can get the complete picture of how your Hibernate entities relate one to another, and navigate through their relationships in just a couple of mouse clicks.



Just right-click the persistence unit where your Hibernate annotations are used and select Open ER Diagram. IntelliJ IDEA will build the relationship diagram showing entities and their relationships. Helpful tooltips are available when you hover your mouse pointer over diagram elements.



There’s a small catch, however. If your Hibernate annotations are placed through the Java code somewhere in one of your Java (not Java EE) modules, you will need to peform some initial steps, for the diagram builder to recognize them:

1. Create the file named persistence.xml in your module’s META-INF folder.
2. Populate it with the stub code as follows:
   
   

3. Switch to the Java EE Project View and select Java Modules from the tree. You should see the MyHibernateUnit persistence unit.
4. Now you can build the diagram that reflects relationships between your Hibernate-annotated entities.

The latest builds of IntelliJ IDEA 6.0 where this feature is available, can be obtained through the IntelliJ IDEA EAP. The final release is scheduled to the mid of fall, 2006.

JetBrains is glad to announce that the family of Companion Products is increased with the new tool - BuildDesk.

BuildDesk is the solution that smooths the build process of your IntelliJ IDEA projects by automatically generating the build scripts based on the project structure.

The benefits you gain with BuildDesk are:

• Your application builds are automatically generated
• No need to repeat what you have already done in your IDE - BuildDesk reads directly from your IntelliJ IDEA project
• Easy configuration of installation layout
• An easy out-of-the-box byte-code obfuscation solution
• Professional deployment of your application with native launcher and native installer for Windows
• Generation of a native Mac OS application, and a “generic” version for any operating system
• Intelligent analysis and highlighting of problems with your build

More information can be found at the BuildDesk Features page.

IntelliJ IDEA wins another annual award from JDJ: Best Java IDE, Editors’ Choice 2006.
JDJ Editors’ Choice award is honored every 12 months to the products that the JDJ editors see as providing significant benefits for the whole Java community.
JDJ Editors jury underlines that “This Java IDE is the best available today… IntelliJ IDEA has a loyal following of Java experts who can appreciate the productivity gain this tool brings for a small price… Everything is at your fingertips.”
We want to thank the JDJ team for appreciating our effort in creating the Java IDE that helps developers around the world to be more productive and successful.

This Wednesday, September 06, Mike Aizatsky, project manager at JetBrains will speak at Cologne JUG.
Mike’s presentation will include two parts. The first part is dedicated to the topic of extending the Java type system with annotations and best practices of this technology used at JetBrains. The second part is about the new Java EE features that are implemented in the upcoming release of IntelliJ IDEA 6.0: support for GWT, EJB3, JSF and other enhancements.
The detailed information is available at the JUG Cologne page and you can also view the presentation flyer.

Today, on September 1st we’re proud to announce the launch of the first ever IntelliJ IDEA Plugin Contest.
Anyone who ever wrote an IntelliJ IDEA plugin, or is just planning to start, can win cash and software prizes valued at over $25,000.
Be first to prove yourself worthy, hone you skills, enhance your favorite Java IDE, and become a few thousand dollars richer.
Read the IntelliJ IDEAL Plugin Contest offical page for detailed information about contest rules and requirements.
The contest officially ends October 31, 2006
Winners will be announced on December 11, 2006.