Using RefactorIT With Your IDE
Using RefactorIT with the supported IDEs is easier, there is no
need to configure projects as you will likely already have them
configured within the IDE. RefactorIT is added to both the
right-click menus and Tools menus as a sub-option. All of the
RefactorIT options will appear under the "RefactorIT"
menu subheading.
What's Missing (and Coming in Future Versions)
While I recommend RefactorIT, as is to be expected in a 1.x
version, there are a couple features I would have liked to see.
I still recommend the product without them, but these items
would go a long way towards the marketability of this product.
The most notable and according to the RefactorIT newsgroup, most
likely to wind up in the next major version is CVS integration.
RefactorIT offers its software to a number of open source
projects, most (if not all) of which certainly use CVS. Remember
that if people are making changes to applications across the
enterprise, it is important to have some sort of versioning or
locking features to keep developers from stepping on one
another's toes. CVS integration should take care of that.
Additionally, Eclipse support would be nice. I understand that
IBM WebSphere Studio is the enterprise application that uses
Eclipse and already has many refactoring features, however, many
companies do use Eclipse because it is customizable and easy to
use. This is also mentioned on the newsgroup as a possible
feature in future versions.
Conclusion
Refactoring is a crucial step in any object-oriented development
project, especially in corporate environments where many
applications are developed by employees (who often come and go)
and are outsourced by development firms. RefactorIT is a great
resource for a reasonable price that can be used as a standalone
application or integrated into many popular Java IDEs. I
recommend this product. I also highly recommend adding a
refactoring phase into the development process of any enterprise
with ongoing development projects in Java. For a $295 license
fee (discounts are available for numerous seat licensing) this
seems like a no-brainer. More Information
Drew Falkman is the author of the JRun Web Application Construction Kit and co-author (with Ben Forta) of Reality ColdFusion: J2EE Integration, both published by Macromedia Press. Over the past 6 years, Drew has developed over 150 Web applications in all sizes using ColdFusion and Java. Currently Drew consults, speaks at events, writes for numerous publications, and teaches courses at Portland State University. His latest project through his consulting company, Veraison LLC, was a real-time cattle auction using Flash Remoting and Flash Communication Server. In addition, Drew is a member of Team Macromedia, a certified ColdFusion Developer and a certified Macromedia instructor.
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