Che-Code, Che-IDEA feature gap (compared to Che-Theia)

[azatsarynnyy]

This is a quick feature gap analysis to identify what's missing in Che-Code/Che-IDEA compared to Che-Theia.

⚠️ What is not a goal of this analysis?
It's not intended to achieve complete feature parity between Che-Theia and Che-Code/Che-IDEA.

The main goal of this analysis is to identify the minimum set of base functionality that must be supported by Che-Code and Che-IDEA in order to satisfy the common developers' needs.

To identify the missing features I used one of the typical developer's scenarios:

1. Start a workspace with a Spring PetClinic Sample Application. /~https://github.com/azatsarynnyy/java-spring-petclinic/tree/devfilev2
2. Build the project.
3. Run a command in a non-editor container, like DB-container.
4. Run the built application and get the app preview link.
5. Debug the code, make some changes.
6. Open a terminal to a non-editor container to execute some commands.
7. Commit the code changes & push them to a remote repository.
8. Go back to the Dashboard, from IDE.

Running the Devfile commands (steps 2, 3, 4) must be possible with the Code's Task or IDEA's Run/Debug Configurations.

The comparison table below is to track the progress and have greater clarity of the missing features.
Che-Theia is present here as the desired state for Che-Code and Che-IDEA editors.

IDE functionality	Che-Theia	Che-Code	Che-IDEA
Run a Devfile command in an editor container	✔️	✔️ #21030	✔️ #21029
Run a Devfile command in a non-editor container	✔️	✔️ #21030	✔️ #21139
Preview URL	✔️	✔️	✔️ #21212 #21141
Terminal to a non-editor container	✔️	✔️	✔️ #21140
Git Commit & Push	✔️	✔️	✔️
Navigate to the Dashboard from IDE	✔️	✔️ #21130	✔️ #21137

✔️ - implemented | ✖️ - not implemented | 🏃 - work in progress

---

Note, some of these issues are part of the related epics:

• Production-ready support of VS Code as a Che editor #20500
• Production-ready support of JetBrains IDEs as a Che editor #20591

[azatsarynnyy]

Update.
In 7.49:
for Che-Code, we've added running the Devfile commands in both editor and non-editor containers:

• Support Devfile commands in Che-Code #21030

for Che-IDEA, it's possible to navigate to the Dashboard from IDE:

• Provide a way to navigate to Che Dashboard from Che-IDEA #21137

For 7.50, we're working on:
running a Devfile command in a non-editor container from Che-IDEA:

• Che-IDEA should support a target container when running a Devfile Command #21139

and preview URL features for Che-IDEA:

• Che-IDEA should display a component's endpoint URL #21212
• JetBrains IDEs running in a Che workspace autodetects the URL of a running application #21141

Updated the comparison table accordingly.

[vzhukovs]

Created the following PR to implement machine exec support: che-incubator/jetbrains-editor-images#121 it can be tested by using factory links:

https://che-host/#/~https://github.com/vzhukovs/vaadin-demo?che-editor=https://gist.githubusercontent.com/vzhukovs/95337765cbde9b6ed1f252e6e77671a2/raw/ce2508d6cd101d400a4b99cc788933ef5f7eff84/che-editor.yaml

https://che-host/#/~https://github.com/che-samples/bash/tree/devfilev2?che-editor=https://gist.githubusercontent.com/vzhukovs/95337765cbde9b6ed1f252e6e77671a2/raw/ce2508d6cd101d400a4b99cc788933ef5f7eff84/che-editor.yaml

@azatsarynnyy @l0rd

[l0rd]

@azatsarynnyy @vzhukovs we can close this one now right?

[azatsarynnyy]

@l0rd yes, we've implemented all the missing features for both Che-Code and Che-IDEA. Closing it.