API dependency improvement checklist

[FWDekker]

The checklist below has been replaced by separate issues to allow easier tracking and separate comment threads. These issues have been marked with the api-update tag.

Originally, the plan was to provide compatibility with IDE versions up to two years old. However, updating the dependency would allow usage of new features, in particular the Kotlin UI DSL. At the same time, supporting only the latest version would mean that some users are left out, and I don't think I can justify this by saying that the newer features are strictly necessary. At the same time, support for two years may be excessive. Many major plugins such as Scala, Kotlin, and Python target the latest IDE version only. Some plugins have a separate channel for older releases, but I think that that is too much trouble for a small plugin such as Randomness.

I have therefore made the decision to support IDEs only up to one year. That is, if the latest release is 20xx.y, then Randomness should support at least [20xx - 1].[y + 1]. For example, if the latest version is 2020.3, then support at least 2019.4 (which does not exist, so support at least 2020.1) The comment below explains the rationale behind this decision in more detail.

Checklist

Upgrading to a newer version would allow for the following improvements.

• (181+) Use ExpandableTextField in the symbol set table. (See also Improve UI/UX #198.) (Fixed in Add expandable text fields for symbol sets #248.)
• (182+) Implement #getPreferredFocusedComponent in configurables to auto-focus on a particular element. Currently not completed: Property is unused in settings dialog.
• (182+) Implement #getPrivacyNoticeText in ErrorReporter to inform users of privacy considerations when submitting an error report. (Fixed in Remove usage of internal method #333.)
• (191+) Use LINK_PLAIN_ATTRIBUTES instead of custom SimpleTextAttributes in SymbolSetTable. (Fixed in Update dependencies and stuff #345.)
• (191+) Change ServiceManager.getService(X::class.java) to service(). (Fixed in Update dependencies and stuff #345.)
• (192+) Use Kotlin UI DSL instead of .form files. (See also Migrate UI to Kotlin #157.) Currently not mature enough: Lacking documentation and stability.
  • Use separators between settings groups instead of relying on etched JPanels. (Fixed in Replace titled panel borders with separators #244.)
  • (Hopefully) solve the question about how large a vertical inset should be. (See also Question about vertical insets JetBrains/ui#15.)
• (201+) Remove suppression of false positive warning that #getVersion in ErrorReporter is not available before API version 201.
• (203+) Use Java 11. (Announcement)

[FWDekker]

This page gives a brief insight into usage statistics. The main takeaway is as follows:

It makes sense to support the latest major release, as well as at least two previous major releases.

With this approach, 80% of the people would be supported, whereas 2019.3+ would only support 50%. I think 80% is sufficient.

Therefore, the current support level could be narrowed from 2017.1+ to 2019.1+; note that this does not include the 2019.2 release which introduced the Kotlin UI DSL. Therefore, these features will probably not be supported until the first (or maybe second) major release of 2020, i.e. around june/july of that year.

[FWDekker]

As an alternative to using the Kotlin UI DSL, take a look at using com.intellij.application.options.editor.BeanConfigurable.