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Where can I find the hello world equivalent of "building a vala in Gnome-Builder" ?

I mean I can write and compile a simple helloworld.vala outside of gnome-builder. But I'd like to do it in a real IDE so I tried Gnome-Builder 3.26.1.

Using VS (or monodevelop) + C# is damn easy and I'd expected gnome-builder + vala to be the FOSS equivalent but it looks like it's not.

With VS you choose your template, you add (/organize) your source files wherever you want in the solution, you add your breakpoints, you hit F5 and that's it.

With GB I start with an empty template autotools + VALA. But then when I try to add a file in src directory I can only add an "empty file" (why can't I add a VALA file when it is the template I chose ?) Anyway I added a new vala file. I can compile it using the integrated terminal. But when I try to build it/debug it using ctrl f7, F5 it says the build is successful but does nothing. Even if I add errors in the file the build is still OK. So, clearly, Gnome-Builder is not building anything (but the files that were in the template at the very start).

Did I expected too much from Gnome-builder ? I wanted it to manage all the painfully uninteresting stuff for me (makefile...) so that I can concentrate on program core.

Is this what GB is supposed to do ? Or am I supposed to tweak some makefile.am or any esoteric file by hand ?

If so Why doesn't it see my vala file ?

Is this issue vala specific ? (VALA being a second class choice after C)

If I understand it well there's an alternative to autotools which is called meson ; will it help if I used MESOn instead of autotools ? (There's no meson template when I create a new project, is it normal ?) ? How to activate MESON ?

v1nce
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Disclaimer: I am using Emacs, not Builder. I have kept an eye on its development though.

I would highly recommend that you take a look at Meson. It's a great and modern build system. I am using it for a mixed Vala / C / C++ / protobuf project and it's working great there.

All of the GNOME packages are currently moving towards Meson and away from autotools as a modernization process.

Builder is still in its early stages of development, Christian Hergert et al. are working hard at creating a modern IDE for GNOME app development.

Builder was started as a crowdfunding campaign in 2015 and it will still take a while to catch up with a product as old and mature as Visual Studio. So don't lose hope there, it's still changing a lot.

Builder 3.28 will have improved Meson support.

You are welcome to help out yourself or talk with the devs on IRC.

Christian Hergerts blog is also worth a read.

Jens Mühlenhoff
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    It looks like I'll have to stay with monodevelop + c# for a while then. Meson looks too much like ini/makefile tweaking for me. What I'm really after is an IDE that "just works" without ever having to look at any makefile or adjusting compilation chain if you don't feel like having to. – v1nce Jan 24 '18 at 12:51