Node Js Plugin with Eclipse

       There are so many editors supporting Javascript. But I feel Eclipse as a comfortable one as this is one stop for everything. Till now I have worked on different frameworks of Java and felt Eclipse as the best for debugging and even for remote debugging also. When I started to work for Node JS, I was trying to find some best editors and debugging tools. Tried so many and finally came back to Eclipse. There is a very good plugin available for Node in Eclipse.

       NodeEclipse gives you all the details about the different plugins available. Github site for NodeEclipse gives you all the details about the usage of hese plugins also. Two different sets called ENIDE and NODE NTS are available for Node JS. There are very minor differences in between them. If you carefully observe the below listings, the only difference is ENIDE has some extra editors which support coffee script and also a REST client which is good for debugging purpose.


ENIDE
       ENIDE which basically means Eclipse NodeJS IDE has the below listed plugins.

Nodeclipse 0.4.0
Chrome Development Tools, fixed for debugging Node.js
MarkDown (*.md) Editor (Integrated)
GitHub Flavored Markdown (GFM) Viewer (Optional)
Eclipse 3.x Color Theme (Optional)
Eclipse 4.x Chrome Theme (Optional)
JSHint Eclipse Integration (Optional) 0.9.7.20130526-1111
JSDT jQuery Integration (Optional)
NJSDT (JSDT alternative when JSDT is not installed)
NJSDoc library (only for NJSDT)
JSON Editor Plugin (Optional for Outline)
StartExplorer (Optional)
CoffeeScript Editor
TypeScript Editor

Installation:

       Always get the latest version from Eclipse MarketPlace. Eclipse Node.js IDE (Enide) is basically one configuration file (*.p2f) that lets you quick start with Node.js development. Link to file: https://raw.github.com/Nodeclipse/eclipse-node-ide/master/ENodeIDE.p2f
To install

• save file with *.p2f extension
• In Eclipse, use File -> Import \ Install Software Items from File
• select needed components and continue the installation.

Node NTS
       Node NTS is a tool suite of eclipse and includes the below listing.4.0

Chrome Development Tools, fixed for debugging Node.js
MarkDown (*.md) Editor (Integrated)
GitHub Flavored Markdown (GFM) Viewer (Optional)
Eclipse 4.x Chrome Theme (Optional)
JSHint Eclipse Integration (Optional) 0.9.7.20130526-1111
JSDT jQuery Integration (Optional)
StartExplorer (Optional)
Minimap View (Experimental, close when don't like)

Installation:

       Always get the latest version from Eclipse Marketplace. You can download this from Eclipse Marketplace as plugin or download the zip from sourceforge and copy that into Eclipse plugins folder of your local installation.

Code Assist
In both the configurations, until and unless we have the node modules source in the library folder, code assist is not possible.

Debugging with Eclipse
When the above plugin is installed, set your breakpoints and normally launch your node application in the debug mode. Else, Using-Eclipse-as-Node-Applications-Debugger details the complete process about debugging a node application in eclipse.