Busy Plugin Developers Newsletter – Q2 2024

Elena Kerpeleva

⭐️ Marketplace updates

Flexible trial periods for paid plugins

You can now customize trial periods for your paid plugins. Instead of the default 30-day trial, you can set a shorter trial period or even none at all. Just select the preferred trial period while uploading your plugin to the Marketplace or, if your plugin is already on the Marketplace, go to the settings and edit the trial period length.

Note: This feature is available in the IDE starting from the 2024.1.1 release. Anyone using an older version will see outdated trial period information.

Learn more about this feature in our recent blog post.

Important update on plugin download statistics

As a plugin author, you might have noticed a recent decrease in your download numbers. This is due to a miscalculation identified by JetBrains Marketplace – no actual decrease occurred. 

In March 2024, an error started causing inflated download numbers by mistakenly counting certain requests as downloads. We have now adjusted the algorithm to ensure data accuracy. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. 

If you have any questions or concerns, please reach out to our support team at marketplace@jetbrains.com.

The Writerside IDE is now on JetBrains Marketplace

Writerside, a documentation authoring and building environment aimed at professional technical writers and software developers, is now available on JetBrains Marketplace. It lets you author, preview, build, test, and publish technical documentation for your plugins directly within your favorite IDE. 

⭐️ Plugin development tooling updates

IntelliJ Platform Plugin Template 1.14.1

The IntelliJ Platform Plugin Template is a repository that streamlines the initial stages of plugin development for IntelliJ-based IDEs. Key changes in the recent update involve upgrading dependencies, as well as upgrading the platformVersion to 2023.2.7 and Gradle Wrapper to 8.8. Get more insights from the release notes.

IntelliJ Plugin Verifier 1.367 

Plugin Verifier Version 1.367 introduces a CLI switch to mute specific plugin problems, distinguishes errors in outputs, shows structure warnings with solution hints, fixes several issues when checking against Platform 2024.2, and adds a YouTrack App plugin structure parser.

Check out the changelog for more details.

IntelliJ Platform Gradle Plugin 2.0 (Beta)

The IntelliJ Platform Gradle Plugin is a plugin for the Gradle build system to help configure your environment for building, testing, verifying, and publishing plugins for IntelliJ-based IDEs. The plugin is now 2.0.0-beta8 and available for general use. Users can report bugs or problems via GitHub issues.
Find all of the details here.

⭐️ Useful resources

Plugin Internationalization

Two new articles cover plugin internationalization possibilities. The Internationalization page describes how to enable national language support (NLS) in IntelliJ-based IDEs and plugins, implement message bundles, and organize translations. 

The Providing Translations article explains how to provide translations for IntelliJ Platform products and plugins through language packs and bundled translations, detailing the structure, implementation, and prioritization of translation files.

Code Formatter

A reworked Code Formatter page describes how to implement custom language formatters in the IntelliJ Platform, including the structure of formatting blocks, implementation steps, and specific formatting properties like indent, spacing, wrap, and alignment.

Indexing and PSI Stubs: DumbAware API

A new addition to the Indexing and PSI Stubs article covers the implementation and testing of the DumbAware API, which enables certain extension points and actions to function during Dumb Mode in the IntelliJ Platform.

⭐️ Community highlights

Top plugin picks by JetBrains product teams

Recently, we introduced an application process for plugin authors, providing a chance to be featured in JetBrains Marketplace’s Staff Picks.

All applications were carefully reviewed, and our product teams selected a handful of plugins based on their utility and impact. You can check out this blog post for some of the selected plugins or see the full list here.

The Staff Picks list is updated with each IDE release cycle. Releases take place in April, July, and November. Feel free to apply to have your own plugin featured.

New People Behind Plugins video

Watch our latest interview with Yuna Morgenstern, author of the GitHub Workflow plugin. Yuna shares how she came up with the idea for the plugin and what inspires her to be an active member of the community. Learn about her journey, contributions to open-source, and how she manages her own pet projects and teaches kids to code.

Would you like to nominate someone, or do you have a story to share? Email us at marketplace@jetbrains.com. 

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