Skip to content

editor-setup.md

Latest commit

 

History

History
74 lines (54 loc) · 4.43 KB

editor-setup.md

File metadata and controls

74 lines (54 loc) · 4.43 KB

Editor setup

Project Sidewalk has two codebases with different sweet spots: a Scala + Play backend and a vanilla-JavaScript frontend. Use whatever editor you're productive in — the team uses both IntelliJ IDEA and VS Code, and we mandate neither. This page covers getting each one set up well. For everything around the editor (Docker, the database, the npm start workflow), see docs/dev-environment.md.

Whichever editor you choose, configure it to run scalafmt on the Scala files you change (CI checks formatting), and remember the app itself builds and runs inside Docker — your editor is for reading, navigating, and editing, while compilation and the dev server happen in the web container via npm start.

A note on the JDK

The project targets Java 17 (build.sbt sets -source/-target 17) and Scala 2.13. The app compiles inside the Docker container, which already has the right JDK, so you don't strictly need a local JDK to run Project Sidewalk. You do want one installed locally for your editor's language tooling (indexing, navigation, inline errors) to work. Install a Java 17 JDK (e.g. Temurin 17, or sudo apt install openjdk-17-jdk on Debian/Ubuntu) and point your editor at it.

IntelliJ IDEA

IntelliJ has the most turnkey Scala/Play support, so it's the easiest path for backend work. The free Community edition is enough; students can get Ultimate for free.

First run

On first launch, install the Scala plugin when prompted. Then add these from File → Settings → Plugins → Marketplace (search, then Install):

  • Scala — Scala/Play language support (the essential one).
  • Play Routes — syntax support for conf/routes.
  • HOCON — for the .conf files (application.conf, cityparams.conf, …).
  • i18n support — helps manage the conf/messages.* translation files.

Point IntelliJ at the JDK

If you see "Project JDK is not defined" or "No Scala SDK in module" at the top of the window, IntelliJ can't find a JDK/Scala SDK and won't be able to analyze the code. Open File → Project Structure → Project and set the SDK to your local Java 17 JDK (see A note on the JDK above). The Scala SDK is supplied by the Scala plugin once it's installed.

Format on save

Enable scalafmt as the formatter so your changes match .scalafmt.conf: Settings → Editor → Code Style → Scala → Formatter → Scalafmt, and turn on Settings → Tools → Actions on Save → Reformat code. You can also format the current file manually with Ctrl+Alt+L.

Navigating a file

Alt+7 opens the Structure pane — the classes, methods, and fields of the current file. Handy in the larger Scala services and the big frontend modules. (JetBrains docs.)

VS Code

VS Code is excellent for the vanilla-JS frontend and works well for Scala with the Metals extension.

  • Scala: install the Metals extension. On first open of the project it will import the build (it uses your local Java 17 JDK) and then provide navigation, inline errors, and formatting. Metals reads .scalafmt.conf directly — run Format Document (or enable "editor.formatOnSave": true) to keep Scala files formatted.
  • Frontend: no build tooling is needed in the editor — files are plain ES concatenated by Grunt. Edit under src/ and let the grunt watch from npm start rebuild the build/ bundles (don't edit build/ directly). An ESLint extension will pick up .eslintrc.json so you see our JS rules inline.

See also

  • docs/dev-environment.md — Docker, database, and the day-to-day npm start workflow, including a database-client section (Valentina Studio / Postico / pgAdmin).
  • docs/style-guide.md — the code conventions your editor should help you follow.
  • CONTRIBUTING.md — branch/PR workflow and the scalafmt expectation.