How do I get Intellij IDEA 12.0 to work with Play Framework 2.1.0 app and Scala 2.10.0?

Question

So I've been trying to get IDEA 12.0 to work with Play 2.1.0 and Scala 2.10.0. I've just about given up because it's not working for me the way I want it to. Here is a copy of my build.properties, Build.scala, and plugins.sbt. I followed the approach on the playframework site to execute idea with-sources=yes in the play console. I've also tried adding sbt-idea plugin version 1.3.0-SNAPSHOT as seen in plugins.sbt, but nothing seems to work if I want to reference a new view template I just created or a new route. The only way I can work in IDEA is if I have a console open and run sbt compile, go back to IDEA, and it will refresh itself and recognize the new view templates or routes.

plugins.sbt

logLevel := Level.Warn

scalaVersion := "2.10.0"

// The Typesafe repository 
resolvers += "Typesafe repository" at "http://repo.typesafe.com/typesafe/releases/"
// Sonatype snapshots to get sbt-idea 1.3.0-SNAPSHOT
//resolvers += "Sonatype snapshots" at "http://oss.sonatype.org/content/repositories/snapshots/"

// Use the Play sbt plugin for Play projects
addSbtPlugin("play" % "sbt-plugin" % "2.1.0")
//addSbtPlugin("com.github.mpeltonen" % "sbt-idea" % "1.3.0-SNAPSHOT")

build.properties

sbt.version=0.12.2

Build.scala

import sbt._
import Keys._
import play.Project._

object ApplicationBuild extends Build {

  val appName         = "admin-application"
  val appVersion      = "1.0-SNAPSHOT"

  val appDependencies = Seq(
    // Add your project dependencies here,
    jdbc,
    anorm
  )

  val main = play.Project(appName, appVersion, appDependencies).settings(
    // Add your own project settings here      
  )
}

Solution

If you use IDEA Community edition, there is a SBT Console plugin (see http://plugins.jetbrains.com/plugin?pluginId=5007) that allows you to compile / run your Play project directly in the editor. That's the way I work every day and it is fine (I use the ~run command and then don't care anymore).

You may also add a remote debugger in IDEA that listens to you local server (it it is run with debug mode on) and use it as usual.

If you use IDEA Ultimate edition, JetBrains released a Play Framework plugin that seems to work fine (but I haven't tested it yet). Have a look at these tutorials:

• http://confluence.jetbrains.com/display/IntelliJIDEA/Play+Framework+2.0 or
• http://www.jamesward.com/2013/01/23/video-create-and-run-play-framework-apps-in-intellij

Hope this helps.

Comments

[Lord of the Goo]

With the latest version of Playframework this «trick» is no longer needed. playframework.com/documentation/2.2.x/Migration22