Migrating Eclipse-based Tools/Plugins to Eclipse Theia or VSCode

Do you have an existing Eclipse-based tool, application or plugin and wonder how to evolve it to web-based platforms such as Eclipse Theia or VS Code? In this talk, we will provide you with a guideline on how to approach and conduct this migration, while maximizing the reuse of your existing business logic and getting the most out of this exciting new technology stack!

There is currently a big shift of developer tooling to web-based tools and platforms such as Eclipse Theia or VS Code -- and there are many good reasons for this. Migrating existing Eclipse-based plugins and tools, however, also involves a major architectural switch and usually means rewriting some parts of your tool. In many cases, you can still preserve much of your business logic and reuse some existing features. In this talk, we provide you with a consistent guideline on how to prepare and conduct this migration. We start with providing an overview  of the most important architectural changes, how to assess your existing plugins against that new architecture and how to prepare the migration. We discuss how to select the right target platform (Theia or VS Code), the right extension mechanisms and how to decide between desktop vs. pure browser-based solutions. We highlight which technologies are still relevant in a web-based context and how to replace the frameworks that are not available in the new technology stack. We will discuss all steps in the migration process along selected examples to provide better understanding and blueprints for your own migration project

Finally, we will also quickly discuss how to manage the transition phase of a tool project in terms of effort and strategic planning. Your migration project will probably still require quite some effort, but we will get you prepared as good as we can in 30 minutes!