Valencia For Linux

From the developers of the superb Geary email client, we are happy to introduce you to Valencia, an open source plugin for the Gedit text editor application, specifically designed to transform it into a powerful and easy-to-use IDE (Integrated Development Environment) for Vala.

The project has been designed from the offset to require no configuration, as developers only need to open a .vala file in order to be able to browse its symbols immediately. It will automatically default to a specific version of Vala, so you’ll have to make sure that both projects are up-to-date.

The plugin also allows Vala developers to jump to definitions of methods, classes, variables, and fields, as well as to build their project within Gedit, while having the build output in a Gedit pane.

Among other features, Valencia lets its users to double-click any build error in order to jump to the line where it occurred, and use the Run command to execute the application. Auto-completion suggestions and tooltips that display method prototypes are also included in the Valencia plugin.

To install Valencia, you will have to download the source archive from the downloads section above, extract it somewhere on your Home directory, and execute the make and make install commands (do NOT execute the “make install’ as root) in the extracted archive.

It will install in in your ~/.gnome2/gedit directory. To enable Valencia in Gedit, go to Edit -> Preferences and click on the Plugins tab. You will find Valencia in the plugin list, check its checkbox, then click on the Close button of the Plugins dialog. That’s it, Valencia is now enabled and you can start programming in Vala.