IntelliJ plugin

[adaliszk]

Hey!

First, you are doing a fantastic job adding advanced features on top of Prisma!

I saw that you had made a VS Code extension to add your syntax, linting, and more; however, would it be possible to create a very basic IntelliJ/JetBrains plugin as well? It should only need the syntax and the formatting rules; the IDE already ships the rest.

[jiashengguo]

Thanks and sorry that we don't have plan to support IntelliJ/JetBrains in the short term yet.

Our VScode extension uses another OSS project Langium. I found there was an open issue with it too:
eclipse-langium/langium#999

I think we will consider to support it when this issue is resolved by langium.

[Lordfirespeed]

Heads up: As of Intellij Platform Build 232, LSP is supported.

Ironically, the LSP plugin implementation provided for reference is the JetBrains platform Prisma plugin!

Development of an IntelliJ platform plugin for ZenStack is no longer blocked by that issue.

Build 232 released just under a month ago.

[ymc9]

This is GREAT news!

[ymc9]

Related issue here: #519

[ymc9]

Just out of curiosity. What makes you guys choose Jetbrains instead of VSCode?

[Lordfirespeed]

Various things.

• My mum is a software developer and uses JetBrains products
• As a student, I get a free license to JetBrains software, so there is no incentive not to
• JetBrains put a lot of effort into making their platform 'just work' out of the box. Quality-of-life tools:
  • PyCharm sets up your Python venv for you and configures your terminal to activate it by default
  • IntelliJ IDEA's Gradle tool-window feels like magic
  • If a language is supported (and most are), JetBrains will auto-detect environment dependencies & use run configuration templates to run your code without having to configure specific run configurations
  • etc.

I know that VSCode can do most of these things too; but in my (admittedly brief) history of using VSCode, I felt like I was spoon-feeding the IDE - it wouldn't do anything by itself - I had to find a plugin, configure the plugin for what felt like every single feature.

By contrast, JetBrains ships 'specialised' (but configurable) IDEs. For example, when I open JetBrains Rust IDE (RustOver), I can expect that with no user input or configuration, the IDE will detect my environment and things like debuggers (that are often a pain to setup manually) will just work.

[adaliszk]

Most, if not all, settings are tuned in nicely from the get-go; there is no need for extensive configuration sessions to have a working environment. If you run into a new thing, the suggestion to install a plugin is accurate and seamless.

The refactoring and static code analysis tools are exceptional; you can learn tricks about your used language and libraries without any external input. Pretty much all utilities are included; usually, there are no "servers" in the background that you'd need to debug when they break.

On top of all the above, the testing and tool integration to ensure you do not lose your flow is great. You do not need to rely on CLI or browser tools for the same tasks, which is an excellent productivity boost. Additionally, project management is quite handy with the templates provided and the dynamic way of either attaching projects together or just having multiple windows to quickly swap between.

At least these are the main ones I use daily and had issues before in VSCode. To be fair, some plugins offer a similar experience or even better, but after hours of research and debugging LSP servers, I kinda gave up. I only really use VSCode for simple tasks nowadays.

[ymc9]

Thank you for the comments @Lordfirespeed @adaliszk ! I used to use JetBrains in my Java days and really loved it. Then got attracted by VSCode's lightness when it came out and have been staying with it since then. Lots of improvement must have happened in the past few years.

Another thing is IDE is usually a team decision. Few teams make sure their code base works flawlessly with multiple IDEs. So I believe many teams have decided to settle on JetBrains and continue that way.

I wish the new LSP progress makes it much easier for ZenStack to offer a good experience in JetBrains. Let me know if you guys are interested in collaborating on it.

[ymc9]

Btw, the language parser and AST are actually inside the "language" package:

https://github.com/zenstackhq/zenstack/tree/main/packages/language

[Lordfirespeed]

JetBrains language plugins are written in Java (or Kotlin. Definitely use Kotlin since this is a new project) and require a .bnf grammar and .flex lexer, so we'll need to adapt the Prisma ones

I'm happy to initialise the project if you give me access to a repository where it can live. Otherwise I can just put it in a repository I own, if you don't mind

[milansimek]

@Lordfirespeed Seems like maybe the .bnf grammar and .flex lexer are there for backwards compatibility?

In the readme it states:

LSP support (since version 2022.3)

Which by the looks of it can be found here:

https://github.com/JetBrains/intellij-plugins/tree/master/prisma/language-server

My guess is we could use the LSP language server as is since it's a standardized protocol, as long as we only support versions above v2022.3.

I could be wrong though, maybe you can shed some light on this?

[Lordfirespeed]

They aren't only there for backwards compatibility.

JetBrains' LSP API provides error annotations and autocompletion.

For everything else, e.g.

• syntax highlighting (textmate is not good enough)
• refactoring
• file structure view
• go to declaration

JetBrains needs to know how to build a PSI tree for a program, and then implementation has to be provided to the psi elements that should have special functionality (such as the above)

The grammar and lexer are required to build the AST which is parsed by the ide (using our psi node impls) to build the PSI tree.

Program -> lexer -> tokens
Tokens -> grammar -> AST
AST -> JetBrains -> PSI tree

[milansimek]

@Lordfirespeed I see, thanks for the explanation! You clearly know what you're talking about.

Personally I don't have any experience with building Jetbrains plugins, LSP or anything related to this. Not my area of expertise.

Of course, I'd be happy to help where I can. I wouldn't mind writing some of the code, although I guess building the plugin is pretty much a one man job.

I could definitely help with testing and stuff like that. Just let me know if there's anything I can do!

[ymc9]

I am interested in collaborating on it! I'm also vaguely familiar with the JetBrains platform API, but I have a lot on my plate right now 😭 Let me know how / where you would like the code to go, and I'll take a look when I can (provided someone else doesn't get there first!)

Great to know that! We can definitely use your help. Let me also take a look at JetBrains, and let's chat in more detail before starting the work.

[Lordfirespeed]

I'm in your Discord server, @lordfirespeed, so feel free to message me there if it's more convenient

[anli-xsigns]

Hello eryone, I'm interested about using zenstack in out new product - however in our team we use Jetbrains Webstorm. I kindly ask if there has been any progress on this issue lately? Thanks in advance for some information!

[ymc9]

I'm also rereading this doc right now 😄

No, we haven't got time to start the work yet. I have zero experience with Jetbrains plugin development, but the process doesn't look too hard. Let's get this done within 2023!

Hi @Lordfirespeed , I know it's been a while. Do you feel you still have some time to work on this? I'd greatly appreciate it if other people here have time to contribute too!

[milansimek]

@ymc9 Nice 😄 Seems they simplified the docs a bit to make it more clear.

This also seems promising:
https://github.com/redhat-developer/lsp4ij

And the (wip) developer docs:
https://github.com/angelozerr/lsp4ij/blob/getting_started/docs/DeveloperGuide.md

This plugin is using redhat-developer/lsp4ij:
https://github.com/redhat-developer/intellij-quarkus/tree/main

So it seems to me we can either analyze the implementation used by the Prisma ORM plugin, or we can check out the quarkus plugin code. The latter does seem more simple to wrap your head around.

[Lordfirespeed]

I really wish I had time, but I don't think I do at the moment. I'll let you know if that changes in the meantime.

As far as I can tell, LSP4IJ requires that you have a language server and client implemented in Java/Kotlin for your language. Have I misunderstood how it works?

I would prefer to re-use the existing language server used in the VSCode plugin if possible. I don't think it's implemented in Java?

[Lordfirespeed]

I've just done a bit of a deep dive on how everything ties together (both in ZenStack vscode plugin and Prisma IJ) - replicating the prisma IJ plugin is definitely the way to go.

As I said previously - trickiest part will be getting the grammar right. It'll be a learning experience for me 😅😭

[ymc9]

Thank you for the input @Lordfirespeed . Yes, I also think using Prisma as a baseline could be an easy start.

I'll see if I can find time to start first. Let me know when you get some more free time later and we can collaborate on it.

[ymc9]

Hello @adaliszk @anli-xsigns @milansimek @Lordfirespeed ,

I've made some progress implementing a JetBrains plugin using its LSP support. The following are working now:

• Syntax highlighting (through TextMate bundle)
• Error highlighting
• Go to definition
• Completion (not working for attributes yet)
• Formatting (CMD + OPT + L)

I've submitted a review to JetBrains but it hasn't been approved yet. When you guys have time, do you mind helping test it with the offline build? I have very limited experience using JetBrains IDE 🙏

zenstack-0.5.0.zip

[ymc9]

Code changes are in #904

[adaliszk]

They probably will be out during the holidays, the PR looks neatly done. Do you have an example repo with some use cases already?

[ymc9]

Thanks @adaliszk ! We can use this sample repro (Next.js Todo app):

https://github.com/zenstackhq/sample-todo-nextjs

I don't have a list of test cases yet. Just wanted to make sure the very basic things work in different people's environments.

Btw, LSP support is quite new, so it's best to upgrade WebStorm to the latest version.

[ymc9]

The plugin is live now!

https://plugins.jetbrains.com/plugin/23397-zenstack-language-tools/versions/stable/458108

[milansimek]

@ymc9 this is great. You're a machine 👍 (in a positive way. )

I'll see if I can use the plugin soon for an existing project and will definitely fix issues and make improvements along the why (if needed).

[angelozerr]

As far as I can tell, LSP4IJ requires that you have a language server and client implemented in Java/Kotlin for your language. Have I misunderstood how it works?

The goal of LSP4IJ is that it is an LSP client like vscode does. So you can consume any existing language server written in any language (Java, TypeScript with node, etc)

To integrate a language server you can:

• develop an IJ plugin to embed your language server the required runtime etc, see https://github.com/redhat-developer/lsp4ij/blob/main/docs/DeveloperGuide.md
• or just with simple settings, register the commandwhich starts your language server, see https://github.com/redhat-developer/lsp4ij/blob/main/docs/UserDefinedLanguageServer.md

We define some language server template which initialize command for some language server like TypeScript, Go, Rust, see https://github.com/redhat-developer/lsp4ij/blob/main/docs/UserDefinedLanguageServer.md#using-template

For instance if you have installed vscode, you can consume the vscode css language server coming from vscode just by filling the proper command and file mappings, see https://github.com/redhat-developer/lsp4ij/blob/main/docs/user-defined-ls/vscode-css-language-server.md

I suggest that you install LSP4IJ nightly-builds https://github.com/redhat-developer/lsp4ij/tree/main?tab=readme-ov-file#testing-nightly-builds and you try to create an user defined language server

We plan to release soon LSP4IJ.

I would prefer to re-use the existing language server used in the VSCode plugin if possible. I don't think it's implemented in Java?

You are right and LSP4IJ provides this feature. You can see the current LSP support at https://github.com/redhat-developer/lsp4ij/blob/main/docs/LSPSupport.md