With the release of Version 8 of its IntelliJ IDE, JetBrains has added support for SQL, enabling editing of database scripts and running queries right in the IDE, with a range of coding assistance features for several SQL dialects. Release 8 also include new refactoring tools for Java, new code inspections tools, and tools for working with unit tests.
"Although IntelliJ IDEA has grown a lot during the recent years and added support for many frameworks and languages, at the heart it remains a code-centric IDE. This has always been our main focus, and this is what we believe to be a natural approach to developing even complex applications with pleasure," said Max Shafirov, IntelliJ IDEA project lead.
Other release highlights include:
- UML-like class diagrams for exploring the code structure visually
- Support for the new Seam framework from JBoss
- Built-in debuggers for JavaScript and Flex
- Improved Maven support, with repository browser and archetypes support
- FreeMarker and Velocity template languages, with full coding assistance in embedded HTML and CSS code
- Extended support for Spring frameworks, with Spring 2.5, Spring Web Flow, Spring MVC and Spring Dynamic Modules
- Support for Struts 2 and GWT 1.5 frameworks
- RESTful WebServices support
Additionally, JetBrains says it will release stand-alone Ruby and Python IDEs in the coming months.