When creating an Eclipse-based Product, how can I set the default workspace? - eclipse

Question

I've built an eclipse-based product, and I want to set the default workspace used by the Product. Currently, when the "Workspace Launcher" pops up for the first time, the default workspace location is just in the same directory as the Eclipse Product executable. I'd like to change to something like USER_HOME/myworkspace.
I can't seem to find a setting for this, but I'm guessing / hoping its a setting in my product_configuration.ini.
Cheers!

Answer 1

here is a more easy way
Once you have Eclipse up and running you can open Window-->Preferences-->Editors-->Startup and Shutdown. Click the first box that says Prompt for workspace on startup.
Or In your config.ini file ull've this line (or look in configuration.settings\org.eclipse.ui.ide.prefs)
//The default workspace location
Osgi.instance.area.default=#user.home/workspace
try changing this

Answer 2

Here is what needs to be done.
Wherever eclipse is installed go to the "configuration" directory and open the config.ini file in there.
Windows paths normally look like this:
C:\Users\Wilbert\Documents\Installers\Eclipse\eclipse
You will probably find something like this in the config.ini file:
osgi.instance.area.default=#user.home/workingspace
You need to change that to[Getting rid of the "#" and using forward slashes instead of back slash]:
osgi.instance.area.default=C:/Users/Wilbert/Documents/Programs/CS111B(Java)/Practice Programs/Projects
I just did it and it worked.

Answer 3

In your product (.product), go to the "Configuration" tab. Under the "Properties" section, add the property 'osgi.instance.area.default' with a value of '#user.home/myworkspace'. When you export your product, this property will be automatically added to your product's configuration file (just as ayush and Wilbert Sequeira were manually doing).
Note that only an exported product will use that configuration. When running your product in the Eclipse IDE, the workspace location will be overridden by your IDE's configurations.

Answer 4

The now-defunct Symbian WRT product did this. Looking through the sources, it seems to be done by a p2.inf file in the product package. See the screenshot below:
The first yellow arrow is for Windows and the second for Mac and Linux

Answer 5

In your .product file you can specify this as part of the programArgs element.
<programArgs>-data #user.home/MyWorkspace</programArgs>

Answer 6

Note that you can customize config.ini for individual platforms in the product descriptor (*.product) editor. But it never worked for me - hence that hack using P2. It may be working now as I was working with either 3.5 or early 3.6 when I last tried it.

Answer 7

Have a look at the following tutorial: http://hexapixel.com/2009/01/12/rcp-workspaces.
You said in your comment to the question "I just want to prepopulate the selector window with a certain default location".
You can do just that in PickWorkspaceDialog's (from the tutorial) getWorkspacePathSuggestion() method:
private String getWorkspacePathSuggestion() {
StringBuffer buf = new StringBuffer();
String uHome = System.getProperty("user.home");
if (uHome == null) {
uHome = "c:" + File.separator + "temp";
}
buf.append(uHome);
buf.append(File.separator);
buf.append("My App Name");
buf.append("_Workspace");
return buf.toString();
}
For this to work, you do have to create your own dialog though, and I can't tell if that's an option from your question...

Answer 8

In your .product file within the block add:
<property name="osgi.instance.area.default" value="#user.home/workspace" />
And when you build your product, the default config.ini will have this property set.
Details are in the Eclipse docs regarding the various variables.

Answer 9

To set the workspace location programmatically, use:
Platform.getInstanceLocation().set(new URL(...));