Overview
Screenshots
Features
License
Installation
Running
Usage
Questions
Known bugs
Development
Future plans
References
Contact
Valid XHTML 1.0 Strict

Developing PerformanceMonster

PerformanceMonster is open source, and the release always contains all source code. You are free to alter, extend, and in other ways modify PerformanceMonster accoring to the license rules.

The PerformanceMonster source code is hosted on JavaForge. If you would like to contribute to the development of PerformanceMonster, the best way is to register as a developer there, join the PerformanceMonster project, and check out the source code.

Since it is extremely hard to find any facts on the JavaForge site, here is a short "how-to".

Joining the project

  • Go to the JavaForge web site and register. This is quite straightforward.
  • Log in.
  • Click on the "Projects" tab.
  • In the "Search for project" field, enter PerformanceMonster and press "GO".
  • Click the "join" link to the left of the displayed PerformanceMonster project.

Checking out the source

  • Install the Eclipse Java IDE if you don't already have that.
  • Install the Subclipse Eclipse plugin.
  • In Eclipse, set up a new Subversion repository: In the "SVN Repository Exploring" view, create a new repository location. As Url, enter http://svn.javaforge.com/svn/PerformanceMonster. As user name and password, use the details from your JavaForge account.
  • Open the newly created repository location, right-click on "trunk", choose "Checkout...". Just check out as a project in the workspace.

Anonymously checking out the source

Same as above, except you need not join the project. Use username "Anonymous" and password "anon". Checking out the code anonymously is handy if you just need to look at the code, or if you e.g. want to run CruiseControl.

Developing

  • Install Java 6 (currently available as a beta download).
  • In the PerformanceMonster project in Eclipse, configure the Java 6 installation as your JDK: Right-click on the project, choose "Properties". Click the "Java Compiler" entry, click the hardly noticeable "Configure..." link in the lower right corner, specify the new JRE, specify it as default. Back in the "Properties for (project name)" dialog, click the "Java Build Path" entry, go to the "Libraries" tab, make sure the "JRE System Library" is taken from the Java 6 JRE.
  • In the Eclipse workbench, double-click on the "values.properties" file in the top-level directory. Alter the "java6.jdk.home" variable to point to your new JDK.
  • In the Eclipse workbench, select the pull-down menu "Window->Preferences...". Click "Ant->Runtime", click "Ant home Entries (Default)". Hit the "Add External JARs" button, point out the file "(eclipse-home)/plugins/org.junit_3.8.1/junit.jar". Click "OK".
  • In the Eclipse workbench, double-click on the "build.xml" in the top-level directory. You should now be able to run the various tasks. Start off with "test". If it fails, find out why. It is worthless to continue if this task fails!

The targets in the main "build.xml" file should be self-explanatory.

We really need to describe the coding standards we adhere to, such as the code formatting and rules for how much unit testing is mandatory. For now, look at the existing code to get an idea of the formatting, and use your common sense (and experience!!!) regarding unit tests.

Committing changes

Let's imagine you implemented a new feature, fixed a bug, or whatever. Now you want to commit your change back into the JavaForge repository.

  • Make sure you have automatic tests for your changes, and that those tests are automatically invoked when invoking the "test" target in the top-most "build.xml" file.
  • Update your repository.
  • Make sure that the Ant target "clean" followed by "test" works with no errors.
  • On the web pages for PerformanceMonster on the JavaForge site, you need a bug report, a change request, a requirement, or a task describing what you have done. Note the ID of that issue.
  • Commit your files like you normally would using Subclipse. As commit comment, prefix with # followed by the JavaForge issue id. For example, if you fixed some spelling mistakes described in issue 1571, a possible commit comment could be "#1571 Fixed Spanish spelling mistakes".

Setting up CruiseControl

It's quite cool to have a CruiseControl instance running, continuously checking for changes in the Subversion repository and building PerformanceMonster if such changes exist. A complete log for all builds can be viewed, and for each build, the source code changes since last build can be seen. Test results can be shown. And so on, and so on... You want one too, right?

  • Download latest release of CruiseControl (version 2.4.1 is known to work).
  • Unpack the CruiseControl ZIP file somewhere. Let's call that place "(cc-home)".
  • Create the directory "(cc-home)/projects/PerformanceMonster".
  • Go to "(cc-home)/projects/PerformanceMonster", run the command svn co http://Anonymous:anon@svn.javaforge.com/svn/PerformanceMonster/trunk . (including the last "."!).
  • Put this config.xml file directly in "(cc-home)".
  • Start up CruiseControl: Go to "(cc-home)", run ./cruisecontrol.sh.

PerformanceMonster will now be compiled, packaged, and released everytime somebody commits new stuff to the repository. Go to http://localhost:8080 to get an overview of the details of the builds.

And now...

Happy coding!!