I always have a mixed feelings when I try to write anything about Mylyn. It's just impossible to cover all its greatness it in one blogpost, and the fact that it is written as an Eclipse add-on is not helping much in promoting it amongst my linux readers (it's all because of this joke:
But let's try. First of all, Mylyn is an excellent tool to keep all your bugs in one place, which is very useful for me, as I very often jump between projects and need to switch between different areas quite fast:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIfOTDEjHyS9W19qX9TauT9OjdZnrzVkPibP1vPCet8u8Z0KmFhwrRuOL_kgRyB1D7srJh7mUl5T0D7rofaowcPBHAq5zdEjGpkQ0SopNnT3A4cQ-53vZt31zPFrKk5rJcv22SlnW62ik/s320/Mylyn-tasklist.png) |
Mylyn Task list - bugs from different sources in one place |
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But that's just a tip of the ice berg. The true power of Mylyn is 'context' management. What is a context? Well, it's a set of files you are working with, and Mylyn's ability to track which files are important for certain bug is hard to overestimate when you get a comment like:
Can you include a "description.txt" file (or similar) that describes how to rebuild them, in case it is required in the future?
The context is just one click-away - the only thing you need is to activate your task by clicking the ball next to it:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSBXMrwlo_Bwh5l_xtMO1-WEe2HQVv3Ggla7r_mtIrQL1UBvtovQ8K9iNzLDnsNskszHzcIpj7BDcj6t0jRL6DOYj_kpvF4AV9JrlDE2NGM5X9wasrawktWNm0lUBOtmoBM9POYd9PW2Q/s320/Mylyn-context-tasks.png) |
An active task, a task without context, and an inactive task with recorded context. |
So now we go to the main Mylyn functionality, that really let's the entire Eclipse shine - just compare the next two screenshots:
Have you noticed which files are presented in the 'Package Explorer' view? Yes, that's those I really need! No clutter, no list scrolling! One click and you're back to task that you've left a week ago!
But even that's not all. If you have Continuous Integration running on Jenkins/Hudson, you may connect your Eclipse to it, and get this lovely view of your jobs:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUug4gGtG1fzwU9klu35_5ibVUP3w43hcPurgZ7F7tr1Wh2CIjC7n8NHdljN-fxSBFiLce8HmQxFIrH-BHF_FaKthyH7-VlUKkK0APcRxZfwOWEdq_8KLNIKvqV3IGuex0EUnMTo4fTuY/s400/Mylyn-Builds.png) |
Builds view. Notifications included. No more page refreshing. |
Can you see the small JUnit action? Guess what does it do :). Yes, you are right - it opens tests in a JUnit view:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioFZQ_yoPrQT8dnKv5tn-rD_cMOcV91VdG3fiBWbJNEB0psXwCdAh0mJz6iz04uAb5BDUlaJkFjzX6x_3MxCSCc7By8aqA-hc5paVmIG6HDlPM85QyQdm_taG-675nt-9NlqPqUwoHdAs/s320/BuildsJUnit.png) |
Jenkins/Hudson build test result loaded into Eclipse. |
And now - once you double click the stack trace - Eclipse will open a file for you - no grepping, finding, searching - everything loaded into your really Integrated Development Environment!
Of course - this is just a small part of Mylyn functionality, this is just what appeals to me most in my daily work. But managers will be happy, too, with all the project-tracking functionality, integrated via
OSLC, and really powerful tools (out of scope for this blog).
Quick instructions how to install Mylyn in Fedora (packaged by me):
sudo yum install eclipse-mylyn
Pretty simple - and really worth to try out!