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.
Related
I am starting a new eclipse plug-in project and trying to evaluate what is the best approach.
What is the goal: I want to create a plug-in that adds a View/Editor stacked on the Editor of the C/C++ perspective from the CDT plug-in. Similar to XML editors that have highlighted text editor view and a view that contains a form to be filled and automatically creates xml code.
The best way would probably be to extend the existing C/C++ perspective from the CDT plug-in. How this is done wtih the 3.X API is explained here [1,2]. Basically you use the org.eclipse.ui.perspectiveExtensions extension point to add views realtive to the views in the perspective.
But how can this be done with the e4 API and the model fragment? Is this possible with compatibility layer?
I think another possibility would be to add views contained in the C/C++ perspective through the combability layer to my own perspective like the package explorer. This has the adavantage that already existing 3.X views (like the package explorer) can be used but also have the advantages of the e4 API.
Or would it even be the best to create a pure 3.X plug-in because my plug-in is mainly based on another perspective/plug-in?
Hope somebody can help me here :)
I don't think it is possible to extend a 3.x perspective using e4 model fragments. It is certainly easier to stick to the 3.x style.
You can use e4 style views by using the e4view style view on the org.eclipse.ui.views extension point.
I'm using Eclipse as default IDE. In Eclipse there is a visual editor available to insert HTML tags in your *.html files. I'm using a lot of DOJO in my current project and want to add these widgets to the palette view. I assumed that there would be an option to add custom widgets/tags easily(palette's contextmenu or something), but this is not (yet) implemented. Does somebody knows if there is an option to add custom widgets in Eclipse?
I've already Googled a lot and didn't found where I am looking for.
ps. I don't want to use other editors(Maqetta, WDT-plugin, ...).
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 trying to develop an eclipse plugin that does some documentation check on java code and highlights some lines of code in the editor.
To achieve my goal, I DON'T want to create a new editor in eclipse, I simply want to extend the default java editor to draw a line under (or highlight) the methods that do not satisfy some set of predetermined requirements.
Do I need to create a PresentationReconciler? If yes, how do I make the JDT or workbench use my reconciler.
I have never done plugin development and this is my first attempt.
Several starting points for you:
Annotations are an UI feature of JFace's text editor that allows you to visually mark some places in an open editor.
Markers are a Workbench feature, more high-level. They are generic "objects that may be associated with Workbench resources", and they can display in several places: in text editors (as annotations) or in the Problems view, for example.
Depending on what you want to do, you would plug in your plug-in into extension points related to either of those.
The Eclipse Java editor is located in the org.eclipse.jdt.internal.ui.javaeditor.JavaEditor package.
The "internal" in the package name means that the Eclipse development team can change how the Java editor works with new revisions.
Try this help page: Juno Help on syntax highlighting
At the end of the page, it describes how to dynamically add a PresentationReconciler, which is used for syntax highlighting. See if that fits the problem that you want to solve.
I assume you already have a plugin project.
In your plugin.xml, open the tab Extensions, click Add..., search for org.eclipse.ui.editors, then you should see a template named Editor, which will produce a simple xml editor to experiment and play with. Also, you will be able to see the needed structure to define a custom editor.
Hope this helps...
I don't know if you still have a need for this, but you are going to want to use Annotations to keep track of what parts of the editor you need to highlight.
For actually doing the graphical effect of highlighting, you could do syntax highlighting via a PresentationReconciler, but I have no experience with that.
We used a technique we borrowed from http://editbox.sourceforge.net/, replacing the background image of the editor Shell. Its open source, so check it out. (Our code might also help -- its at https://github.com/IDE4edu/EclipseEditorOverlay )
I'm looking for a component that contains items which can be selected to show their client areas, to be used on an Eclipse RCP application.
SWT TabFolder and CTabFolder would be the first choices, but I want to try out some alternatives.
There's SWT ExpandBar and I've read about Nebula Pshelf.
Can you tell me some other alternatives?
You could build your own alternative using a StackLayout and some control(s) to switch between the different "panels." Here's a simple example SWT Snippet.
If you wanted to build an Eclipse Forms UI, you could use ExpandableComposite. See:
http://www.eclipse.org/articles/Article-Forms/article.html - about half-way down it talks about ExpandableComposite.
http://www.vogella.de/articles/EclipseForms/article.html
Eclipse RCP - good Eclipse Forms tutorial/resource
I can only add the JFace Forms widgets to your list, which include ExpandableComposite and Section, see this article
But I like CTabFolder most. It has some nice options like the optional topRight Control or even customizable CTabFolderRenderer.
There's also the Eclipse Forms' ScrolledPageBook, which can integrate with other RCP/SWT components.