Sublime Text 2 build system to compile & run Java in a new Terminal/Command Prompt window?

Question

I would like to make a build system in Sublime Text 2 that will compile a Java file, and then run it in a new Terminal (for OS X or Linux) or Command Prompt (for Windows) window.

The reason for this is because Sublime Text 2 doesn't allow users to input anything, so any programs requiring input will spit out an error when running inside Sublime Text 2, like this:

This is what I currently have (I've also tried a batch file), but it simply runs inside Sublime Text 2, as opposed to in a new shell:

Is this possible? If so, please explain, step-by-step (I'm a noob at Sublime Text 2), how to do it; I've already tried posting on the Sublime Text 2 forums, and so far no luck! I'd be inexpressibly grateful. Thanks for your time!

Answer 1

Here's the "polite" (read: short and readable) version of what I did to make this work.

• This is a starting point only. Full impl is a blog post, not an answer.
• Assumes: OS X, xterm, no package hierarchy, etc.
• Package/project stuff is relatively straight-forward, but IMO awkward.
• I don't have a complete solution that's cross-OS or that takes weird directories into account.
• My real version makes some assumptions that may or may not work for the rest of the world.
• My real version uses Ant or Maven, which solves many problems, but not all.
• Some of this can be wrapped up in the sublime-build file, but…
• …for me it's easier this way because of other stuff not shown here.

Nutshell (Simplification): compile and run through a shell script in order to get a new window.

Script

cd $1
/usr/bin/javac $2
/usr/X11/bin/xterm -e "/bin/bash -c \"/usr/bin/java $3; echo 'Press ENTER to quit...'; read line\""

JavaC.sublime-build

{
  "cmd": ["~/bin/run-java.sh $file_path $file $file_base_name"],
  "file_regex": "^(...*?):([0-9]*):?([0-9]*)",
  "path": "/usr/bin/java",
  "selector": "source.java",
  "shell": true
}

In real life it's a bit more complex.

All this said, I never really do anything with console input in Java proper; I do it via either a Groovy or JRuby REPL, or allow stubbing of input/output sources/destinations, or… but not in Java, and not from Sublime Text 2–I use an IDE for Java development. Anything else is a waste of my time, even for short, experimental stuff.