Graphical Workflow Editor plugin to Eclipse/IntelliJ/Webapp

Question

I'm considering developing a multi-platform graphical workflow editor as a plugin for Eclipse and/or IntelliJ. The editor would work in a way similar to tools such as Visio/OmniGraffle/Activiti Designer/FuseIDE. It would allow the developers to drag and drop components from a toolbox, connect them using the mouse (or would-be-cool touch), and even run simulation of the workflow (highlighting component by component and show their corresponding value).

Some more important features include:

1- It should enable the developers to go back and forth between their code (Java/Scala) and the workflow editor.

2- It should be able to connect to a web application which displays the model on a browser (if possible in real-time).

Basically, the final product would look something like that depicted in the 2 pictures below.

_{(source: fusesource.com)}

I did some research and found out that Eclipse supported the development of workflow-oriented plugins with the Graphical Modeling Framework. But I can't seem to find any similar support for IntelliJ. Our team internally uses IntelliJ and I believe that it provides a more intuitive and developer-friendly experience than Eclipse.

Can you provide me a few hints on how to start building my plugin? How is IntelliJ's support for such interactive editor, compared to Eclipse? Or would you suggest a third approach (web-based IDE, tool...)? A few references would be more than enough. I'd really appreciate your help.

Answer 1

I found this plugin for IntelliJ. It works for Activiti framework. This is the description: Activiti Designer plugin for Intellij Idea

https://plugins.jetbrains.com/plugin/7429