Best IDE for Grails/Groovy?

Question

I am starting a project with Grails since I already use Eclipse, it was my first choice. But I don´t think its good enough, had some problems and the plugging is poor in functionalities.

Anyone uses/tested others IDEs(NetBeans, InteliJ(not free)...)?

Which one is the best?

thanks.

Answer 1

I switched to IntelliJ for its excellent (better than Eclipse & Netbeans at the time) Groovy and Grails support.

For an overview of Groovy and Grails related features of IntelliJ have a look here.

Update: a free and open source community edition of IntelliJ is now available here. The free version includes all Groovy features. The Grails features are only available in the Ultimate edition.

Since release 9.0.2 support for custom Groovy DSLs is available. Sure hope that more Groovy library providers will bundle gdsl definitions, like GPars already does.

New features and improvements coming in IntelliJ X (currently in EAP):

• Groovy++ support
• Improved code completion in GSP's (for model returned from controller, inline variables defined with g:set or g:each, controller name and actions, ... )
• Grails domain classes: support for the mapping DSL and the constraint DSL
• Grails queries: support for named queries and the criteria DSL

Answer 2

Netbeans 6.5 has Groovy/Grails support (code completion, etc.) baked in, and it's free. IntelliJ is arguably better but it costs you.

I've used both and I'd say they are about equivalent (obviously some small differences), so give Netbeans a shot. If not, buy IntelliJ.

http://www.netbeans.org

Answer 3

I took advantage of InteliJ's free trial and I did like it, but not enough to pay for it. I am using NetBeans 6.5 and it works well. If cost didn't matter I might choose IntelliJ but there is no compelling feature that makes me say that. One thing I did not try in IntelliJ was application server integration. NetBeans integrates extremely well with GlassFish but you do have to install GlassFish locally in order to use it with remote servers.

Answer 4

Actually, Eclipse really has worked great for me and seems to be the best free solution. IntelliJ is far too expensive for being only slightly better than Eclipse (if even that).

Answer 5

I use IntelliJ myself and it has an excellent Groovy/Grails support but if you do not want to spend money on it then give NetBeans 6.5 a try See here for how to integrate grails with NetBeans

Answer 6

You say, "I am starting a project." Is that project open source or proprietary? If it's open source, it might be eligible for a free IntelliJ license from JetBrains. I don't know if your project would qualify, but you should at least check it out.

I've done some work with Groovy/Grails in IntelliJ and have been really happy with it.

Answer 7

If you don't want to spend money, try Netbeans 6.5. The two main advantages over Eclipse are the categorized project view (split up in Domain Classes, Controllers, Views etc.) and some Grails commands built-in in the context menu (such as "generate-all"). In my experience, the code completion in GSP is hit-and-miss - it sometimes works, it sometimes doesn't. On the downside, Netbeans is dog-slow at times (mark two lines, indent them with [Tab] and wait two seconds for the lines to shift) and has the really annoying feature to scan all your projects at start-up.

If you go for Netbeans, download the Java version and then add Groovy & Grails. You can remove a lot of the default plugins for increased speed.

Answer 8

I have used Intellij and Eclipse for Grails development. I find IntelliJ better for grails (although I generally use Eclipse for most development, including Rails). IntelliJ seems more cohesive - easier to set things up and connect things together. It also seems to have better support for Groovy, which is extremely helpful.

Answer 9

I have tried out both Eclipse (STS 2.2.0) and Netbeans (6.7.1) for grails development. Feature-wise Netbeans looks richer. Netbeans provides decent support for code completion of dynamic finders. However, it has no support for GSP code completion. GSP code completion feature is planned for Netbeans 6.8 release. Hope it makes it. The Spring Tools Suite apparently looked very promising when I read about it but it was quite a disappointment. It provides support for a grails project creation and provides a window inside Eclipse (STS is Eclipse with the Spring Tools) to fire grails command. No support is available for contextual code completion in either gsp or grails specific groovy code. However, the groovy eclipse plugin is quite powerful. So, right now I have personally reverted to using a text editor and the grails command line. Will have to wait till decent contextual code completion support is available. I have not yet tried intellij idea.

Answer 10

I like the Spring's Eclipse Version: STS (http://www.springsource.com/products/sts), install the latest Groovy and Grails plugins and it works well.

I use eclipse for Java so i find it much more natural to use than IntelliJ.

Answer 11

Spending time dealing with IDEs that are not mature for Grails, could COST YOU MORE than buying a license to JetBrains and its excellent product: IntelliJ IDEA.

I think STS will rule them all, but just passed one year since I started with Grails and it's not that good yet.

Maybe one more year... 'Til that, I'm going very productive with IDEA =)

Answer 12

I use netbeans and STS for me STS is better .

Answer 13

Same deal, new to Grails and checking out IDEs.

Eclipse and STS are mediocre for Groovy/Grails at this point, although in future, since STS owns Grails, STS should get up-to-speed. Netbeans 6.8 looks great, the perfect fit, and free, but code completion is absurdly slow on OSX.

I'd go with IntelliJ, not free, but $250 is worth it, decent code completion alone is worth the price tag.