I'm developing an eclipse plugin using e4 technologies intended to be run in Eclipse IDE.
How can I add my part (defined as 'PartDescriptor' in fragment.e4xmi file in my plugin) into the "Show View" dialog tree (main menu > Window > Show View > Other ...) ?
Based on examination of org.eclipse.e4.ui.workbench.swt.internal.copy.ViewContentProvider#createChildren source code and based on examination of PartDescriptors of other parts using Live Application Model part I tried to add following tags to my PartDescriptor on Supplementary tab:
View
categoryTag:MyGroup
However, it doesn't work for me. I use Eclipse 4.3 and e4 0.14.
It's not possible, says Thomas Schindl at
http://www.eclipse.org/forums/index.php/t/499424/
Hello.
How can I add my part (defined as 'PartDescriptor' in fragment.e4xmi
file in my plugin) into the "Show View" dialog tree (main menu >
Window > Show View > Other ...) ?
Based on examination of
org.eclipse.e4.ui.workbench.swt.internal.copy.ViewContentProvider#createChildren
source code and based on examination of PartDescriptors of other parts
using Live Application Model part I tried to add following tags to my
PartDescriptor on Supplementary tab:
View categoryTag:MyGroup
However, it doesn't work for me. I use Eclipse 4.3 and e4 0.14.
Thans for answers.
I don't think this is the class making up the Show View ... content in
the compat layer which is constructed from IViewDescriptors IIRC.
Hence if you contribute through a fragment it can't show up there.
Tom
It's possible in 4.6.3 (and possibly before that).
You still need the View tag, but categoryTag apparently has been deprecated. Instead, there now is a Category field in MPartDescriptor, which can be set via the Eclipse e4 model editor:
Related
Is it possible to define a perspective stack and perspective in the fragment.e4xmi?
The Eclipse 4 model editor doesn't seem to allow it. Why?
I add a new Model Fragment and for Feature Name I click Find ....
When I want to add a Perspective or a Perspective Stack, the dialog greys out the OK-Button.
Also, I have a lack of understanding what this Dialog is showing in general. It lists certain UI Elements and a lot of items below them, like
children
handlers
menus
and so on.
But those are listed multiple times. For example children is listed under CompositePart and under Dialog. But it doesn't make any difference which one I chose.
I know I can define the Perspective in the plugin.xml using the extension point and implementing IPerspectiveFactory. Is there no way to do it with the fragment.e4xmi?
Not sure about that dialog as I don't usually use it.
What you want to add is a Model Fragment with the 'Extended Element-ID' set to the id of the TrimmedWindow you want to put the perspective in. The 'Feature Name' would be children.
The model editor should then let you add a "Perspective Stack" as a child.
You can add the Perspective to the stack.
Note: Using the plugin.xml and IPerspectiveFactory is for Eclipse 3.x compatability mode, not pure e4. If you are using compatability mode I'm not sure how defining a perspective in the model editor fits.
In Flash Builder 4.6's code assist, there is this extra box on the right of the classes, outlined in red, (image: http://oi42.tinypic.com/rqyuqq.jpg) that pops up when using the default Flex SDK. What is it called?
I find this feature very useful and wondering where I can get more information to implement a similar one in another Eclipsed-based IDE that I'm using.
this window is called JavaDoc View
http://help.eclipse.org/juno/index.jsp?topic=%2Forg.eclipse.jdt.doc.user%2Freference%2Fviews%2Fref-view-javadoc.htm
any developer that uses the eclipse IDE knows this windows, it's shown the javadoc content of selected element,
it's part of Eclipse Java development tools (JDT)
I am using eclipse 3.6. I created one sample plugin application. It is neither a eclipse rcp nor workbench. Now when I run the eclipse I want that plugin also to be loaded. But I dont want to use IStartUp. Because what I have found out is
IStartup will be called after the workbench is loaded. I want to refresh some menu. So Is there any way to activate my plugin while the eclipse loaded?
I tried to use Bundle Activation policy. But that is also not activating my Activator class. I just put one System.out. println("Inside start()"). So that is not called. Now can I make it activate my activator?
EDIT:
what my exact requirement is, I have created one workbench application.It is not eclipse rcp application. Now I want to remove the following menu and menu items from the eclipse before the eclipe is loaded.
1. File Menu
2.) Search Menu
3.)Run Menu
4.)Help->search,Dynamic Help,Key assist,Tips and trick,Report Bug,Cheat Sheet.
These menus are inbuilt menu of eclipse. So that is the reason I have to do in this way.
So I already implemented by using startup extension point. But the early startup is called after the eclipse is started.So I need to do some refreshment on the workbench.Then only the menu item will get removed.So I thought I need startup extension point will not satisfy my requirement as it doesnot refresh the workbench.I need to activate the my plugin and refresh the workbench before it is loaded.
Thanks
Bhanu
You can set the needed start level for your plugin using touch point instruction.
You are just a plugin that expects to run in the Eclipse IDE?
Then the answer is, you cannot do what you want.
If you start before the workbench has finished initializing, most of the services that could be used won't work: The workbench itself, menu service, command service, etc.
For most plugins in eclipse, the plugin.xml should be used to add menus, views, editors, etc to eclipse. When necessary, the framework will instantiate them.
org.eclipse.ui.IStartup is available and as you mentioned it will be called after the workbench has been initialized, but before any windows have been shown. It's not to be used lightly, and not by plugins contributing to the UI as it allows all extension from that plugin to be loaded.
EDIT:
If you are an RCP app, you control the main menu. As an RCP app, you have access to the ActionBarAdvisor, WorkbenchAdvisor, WorkbenchWindowAdvisor, which all have lifecycle methods.
If you are an an eclipse plugin, you can add to the main menu ... you cannot easily remove from the main menu. This is by design. Start levels and org.eclipse.ui.startup are 2 mechanisms that won't do what you want.
You still need to answer these questions:
There might still be a way. The crux of your problem is: "I want to refresh some menu"
What kind of menu (popup, main menu,
compound list of menu items in a
menu, etc)?
Where is the menu contribution coming from?
Which specific menu item is it?
Please edit your question (do not comment) and include the information from the above 3 questions, please.
I need to customize the look & feel of my RCP application.
I took a look at Eclipse Presentation API and I suppose it allows to customize everything in workbench except controls.
So is there any solution to customize controls?
I made some research work and implemented some ad-hoc SWT cunstomization using control canvas drawning. May be there are better solutions?
In Swing you can use Synth theme. It would be great if some 'skin' framework exists for SWT.
One way of customizing an RCP app is by using a plugin_customization.ini file. Like this:
Create a new file called "plugin_customization.ini" in the root of your project.
If you have not already done so, create a product configuration and define a Product.
In your plugin's manifest editor, on the "Extensions" tab, locate the "org.eclipse.core.runtime.products" extension, expand the node, right click on your product node and select "New > property" from the context menu.
Enter "preferenceCustomization" in the "name" field and "plugin_customization.ini" in the "value" field.
Select "File > Save" from the main menu.
You can then customize a lot of things simply by editing plugin_customization.ini file. For example, adding the following line
org.eclipse.ui/SHOW_TRADITIONAL_STYLE_TABS=false
will give you rounded tabs on your views and editors (similar to those that Eclipse IDE has) instead of the default ones.
You can find other constants that you can use in IWorkbenchPreferenceConstants javadoc.
Also, check out the Eclipse skins project, if you haven't already.
There is also the possibility to use CSS to change the look & feel of your app, but that is still in development and can be buggy
As for customizing the SWT controls themselves, the only way to do that (apart from small customizations such as changing the background colour of a control etc.) is by creating your own custom controls by extending Canvas or Composite, but you already know that. Keep in mind that the point of SWT is to use native controls, so if you desire the ability to completely customize your controls, perhaps using Swing would be a better option. However, if you're going to use Swing, it may be better to use another RCP entirely - namely, NetBeans RCP. I haven't tried it out yet, but I know that whereas Eclipse RCP uses SWT as a widget toolkit, NetBeans RCP relies on Swing, so that may save you from some headaches regarding compatibility problems and so on.
The new Eclipse 4 work contains plugins that allow the L&F to be customized using CSS. These plugins can be run in a 3.7 Eclipse environment. See Kai's blog for a presentation on the subject: http://www.toedter.com/blog/?p=477
The Eclipse 4 Styling Tutorial has a slide (p.66) on where to get an 3.7 based RCP example.
i am making an eclipse plugin which make a ui on right clicking a project in eclipse workspce . the ui contains text fields , package explorer for the current project and directory explorer for current project.
i have successfully made a ui which appears on clicking a menu item on right clicking the project but it seems i can't make any jface or swt ui since they are not visible when we are using eclipse command hadlers .so in order to overcome it i made dialog pages but they have limited dialog like directorty dialog and file dialog and that too for entire window directory..... but i want package explorer and directory explorer for the project i just chose like it happens when u try making a new class in a project the browse buttons just show packages and directory struture w.r.t to current selection
am i doin things wrong or is there a way out please suggest .....
It seems a bit unclear to me, what the 'UI' is about. If you plan to embed the package and directory views inside a dialog next to each other, then I think you have to build similar lists on your own, since they are views with their own event logic. But if you plan to use them via the browse buttons as describes, take a look at this page. It gives a good overview of the available selection dialogs in eclipse.
It is also always a good practice to search for code in eclipse that does nearly the same you want to do.
As an example, take a look at the new class wizard from the jdt.ui plug-in (This is the wizard you mentioned in your question): Press Cmd-Shift-T and begin typing 'newclass' and open NewClassWizardPage from org.eclipse.jdt.ui.wizards. This works as expected if you imported all jdt plug-ins as (binary) projects.
Take a look at the createControl method and dive into the createXXXControls methods via F3 and try to find out how JDT is doing the job.
As an alternative, open the desired selection dialog class (again with Cmd-Shift-T) and open the call hierarchy of that class...