Output styling in an IDE console

#The present invention relates in general to the field of computers and other data processing systems, including hardware, software and processes. More particularly, the present invention pertains to a text output formatting system that uses pattern matching specified by a user to automatically apply HyperText Markup Language (HTML) tagging and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) style definitions for rendering in a browser based Integrated Development Environment (IDE) console.

#Today, most programmers use an IDE when developing new code, particularly when using an Object Oriented Language (such as Java™). The output of such code is presented in a console pane in the IDE Graphical User Interface (GUI). This presented code is then examined by the programmer in order to help debug the source code. A problem arises for the programmer who is trying to correlate source code in an editor pane with displayed content in a console pane. The most common method for making such correlations is to add some meaningless symbols, such as a row of stars, to be output to the console pane. For example, two commands (to print the meaningless symbols) may bracket a block of meaningful source code in the editor pane. When the browser-supported console reads the source code from the editor pane, it will print out (in the console) the meaningless symbols before and after the output of the block of meaningful source code. However, this system of inserting such non-substantive code is clumsy, error prone, and time consuming. Furthermore, by displaying all text in the console using a same style/font/appearance, it is difficult, if not impossible, for the programmer to determine which displayed text correlates with which source code.

#The present invention provides an improved computer-implementable method, system and computer-usable medium for correlating source code in an editor pane and output displayed in a console. In one embodiment, the invention includes a method of formatting source code in an Integrated Development Environment (IDE) environment, wherein the method includes the steps of: selecting a source statement in an IDE; associating a style sheet definition with a selected source statement; applying the style sheet definition to the selected source statement to format a display of the selected source statement; and in response to the style sheet definition being applied to the selected source statement, displaying content from the selected source statement in a visual style that is defined by the style sheet definition.

#The novel features believed characteristic of the invention are set forth in the appended claims. The invention itself, however, as well as a preferred mode of use, further purposes and advantages thereof, will best be understood by reference to the following detailed description of an illustrative embodiment when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, where:

#FIG. 1a depicts an exemplary Graphical User Interface (GUI) for a Integrated Development Environment (IDE) used in the present invention;

#FIG. 1b illustrates the GUI in FIG. 1a, showing the results of using a style sheet pane to correlate source code (in an editor pane) with output (in a console pane);

#With reference now to the figures, and in particular to FIG. 1a, an exemplary Graphical User Interface (GUI) 102 for an Integrated Development Environment (IDE) is presented. As known to those skilled in the art of computer programming, an IDE is a type of computer software that aids computer program developers. The IDE may include a source code editor (which allows source code to be manually entered), a compiler and/or interpreter (for HyperText Markup Language—HTML based documents), build-automation tools, a debugger, directories of available libraries, an outline of a program being worked on, and a console for displaying source code output. Note that in the present invention, the console is browser-based, in order to take advantage of CSS and similar stylesheet languages to format the output of the source code.

#Thus, as shown in FIG. 1a, the GUI 102 may include a directory pane 104 (for showing all packages that can be explored by the IDE), an outline pane 106 (showing an outline of code currently being developed or modified within the IDE), and a source code editor pane 108 (into which actual source code can be typed). Note that the source code entered into source code editor pane 108 is shown in exemplary manner as Java™ code. However, the console that supports a browser based pane 110 is able to associate Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) style definitions, shown in user defined CSS style sheet pane 112, with output (shown in source code editor pane 108) from the Java™ code.

#As known to those skilled in the art, CSS is a stylesheet language that is used to describe a presentation of a document that is written in a markup language, such as HTML. Thus, CSS can style an output to be in a particular font (e.g., “courier”), font style (e.g., “bold”), color, size, etc. Similarly, HTML has a limited number of style descriptors, including “boldface” and other rudimentary descriptors. Again, these style descriptors can be applied to Java™ code, as contemplated in an exemplary manner in the present invention. Note that a Java™ programmer/developer using the present invention can output any image, text or non-text based, to the console in the IDE since the console is browser-based.