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p5.js Mode for Processing

A simple editor for p5.js code that runs inside the PDE.

Goals/Criteria

  • Have a simple way to get started with p5.js, while making use of the editing facilities of the PDE and its Sketchbook.
  • Provide a bridge until the official p5.js Web Editor project is complete. With any luck, this project will have a lifespan of just a few months (initially the 2016-2017 school year, but it's lasted longer).
  • Have a simple editor that allows offline use.
  • Make use of the PDE being installed in many schools and labs, and have a Mode that’s easy to install from inside the PDE (no download, unzip, install process).
  • A way for us to support courses we're teaching.
  • Sketches should always be runnable directly from the folder: no need to Export or otherwise prepare a Sketch.
  • This is not an official Processing Foundation project, no matter what you might know about its primary author.

Details

This Mode is not designed for flexibility. It's also not a way to teach people how to do “proper” JavaScript development any more than the PDE is a way to teach people Java. Like all things in the PDE, we're removing features in an attempt to simplify the process of getting started quickly, creating projects at the simpler end of the scale, and trying ideas rapidly.

The tradeoffs below represent the best solution based on the goals and criteria above. Of course, these are subject to change if/when we realize mistakes.

  • Like the usual Java Mode in Processing, the main code is found in a file with the same name as the sketch. If you need more flexibility, this Mode isn't for you.
  • An index.html file is created in each new sketch folder. It contains a section where each .js file from the sketch is added automatically. Removing this block of code (it’s clearly marked in the file) will cause the sketch to no longer run inside the PDE.
  • If you run into trouble, remove the index.html file, which will reset it to the version from the template.
  • Add library files or additional code to the libraries subfolder of the sketch. References to that code will automatically be added to the HTML file, though the libraries won’t be visible as tabs in the Editor.
  • Like everything else in the PDE, this uses the data folder (unlike many p5js examples which use an assets folder). Because sketches must specify assets in the path, it's just as easy to do that as to specify data instead (rather than rewrite file handling in the PDE).
  • As with the rest of Processing, if you outgrow this setup, you should use another IDE or development solution (like a full-featured programmer's text editor and similar tools). We have no interest in creating a JavaScript IDE. Also like the rest of Processing, we want people to outgrow this setup.
  • This started from Florian Jenett's JavaScript Mode that was previously included in Processing 1.5, but I’m not sure if any of his original code remains.