Front end development without eclipse or an other IDE, just a texteditor and GIT. Is this possible?

[fraser_waters]

Hi

We are new to AEM. Our Java devs are happy (almost!), our architects are happy, BUT our web/frontend devs are struggling with a few concepts.

Do we need to use Eclipse and Maven to do any html or css amends? as I can't see any other way to get a local AEM instance to show the changes that are being made.

The request from the front end team is:

"I would like to be able to align my local GIT repo with my local AEM instance, make changes to html, css etc...in textmate or sublime, commit to my repo and then refresh the browser to see my changes. Without having to worry about MAven, Eclipse etc..."

I would like to know if this is possible? Or do we HAVE to use Maven/Eclipse etc...

Cheers...Fraser

[Ojjis]

Hmm..
I think the Web DAV (http://dev.day.com/docs/en/crx/current/how_to/webdav_access.html) might be something for you.
The front end team must be able to retrieve and commit to the common codebase but they can still check in / modify code through any other program like Coda through the WebDav and test them out without ever having to touch (the otherwise very helpful tools) IntelliJ or Eclipse. 

When the front end developer is happy with the file he/she have uploaded  and tested out ithe local instance, its just a matter of committing that file into the common codebase.

However, this is limited to the front end part (UI) but i think that this is what you are looking for ? This worked just fine, but in the end, it's difficult to beat the power of the tools like IntelliJ or Eclipse (when connected properly to the AEM environment) and I wouldn't be surprised if the front end developers might end up using them later on. Especially since you want to integrate with the back end code.

Good luck
/Johan
 

[Bruce_Lefebvre · Accepted solution]

Hi Fraser,

I wrote a Sublime build system for working with vault: https://github.com/blefebvre/sublime-vault-build-sys

This enables me to `vlt commit` a file with a single keyboard shortcut while still using my editor of choice.

Bruce

[Scott_Brodersen]

FileVault is for what you want to do:

http://dev.day.com/docs/en/cq/current/core/how_to/how_to_use_the_vlttool.html

scott

[Former Community Member]

You can use FileVault to push content into your local repository, but what's the value of working without a build tool? I don't understand why you specifically don't want to. You don't need to run Eclipse to run a Maven deployment. Generally, once someone else has the Maven configuration put together, you just need to run one very simple command in the Terminal (or a Windows equivalent). Using FileVault makes things unnecessarily complex, though it is possible.

[fraser_waters]

Hi Johan

Thanks for the webdav tip, unfortunately it doesn't seem to work very well with Mountain Lion for some reason. It does work sometimes but not others. The other replies on here mention VLT so I'm going to try that. Thank you though.

[Ove_Lindström]

Scott Brodersen wrote...

FileVault is for what you want to do:

http://dev.day.com/docs/en/cq/current/core/how_to/how_to_use_the_vlttool.html

scott

I second this. FileVault is the thing to use if they don't like the tools provided by IntelliJ.

And some attitude change that makes front end developers understand that they are no different from other developers and need to know about things like version control systems, frameworks, release management and other "boring" stuff they tend to think about as "backend". ;)

/Ove