Creating a "live" view in the background - eclipse

Question

I'd like to define an Eclipse view that is self-contained, but able to respond to selection events as soon as the Workbench app is launched, even if the view is not visible, as long as it appears as one of the "background views" in a folder. In other words, I need a "hook" which is invoked when placeholder for my view is created.
The problem is that when a Workbench app launches, the background views are normally not instantiated. You can of course implement an IPerspectiveFactory to do an initial perspective layout in Eclipse, but the factory is only used when the perspective is initially chosen; after that, on subsequent launches, Eclipse persists mementos that don't involve creating the view.
Is there any way to accomplish this?

Answer 1

I think it would be a good idea to separate the data model that's driving your view from the view UI. This will allow the data model to be continuously updated and the view to be added or removed without having to maintain any kind of state.
You can add the data model as a SelectionService listener in your plugin Activator:
private ISelectionListener listener;
public void start(BundleContext context) throws Exception {
super.start(context);
listener = new ISelectionListener() {
#Override
public void selectionChanged(IWorkbenchPart part,
ISelection selection) {
// Update model
}
};
PlatformUI.getWorkbench().getActiveWorkbenchWindow()
.getSelectionService()
.addSelectionListener(listener);
}
public void stop(BundleContext context) throws Exception {
PlatformUI.getWorkbench().getActiveWorkbenchWindow()
.getSelectionService().removeSelectionListener(listener);
super.stop(context);
}
When the view is created it can use the data model to populate the UI components and listen to the data model for any live updates.
You'll need to make sure that your plugin is activated when the application is launched. The following question can help with that.
auto-start OSGi service
Edit
The following code can be used to activate your view (calling createPartControl) even if the view is currently hidden. By placing this code in your activator it can start listening to model events as soon as your plugin is activated.
PlatformUI.getWorkbench().addWindowListener(new IWindowListener() {
...
#Override
public void windowActivated(IWorkbenchWindow window) {
IViewReference view = window.getActivePage().findViewReference(
VIEW_ID);
if (view != null) {
view.getPart(true);
}
}
});