Download - Plugging into Eclipse
Plugging into Eclipse
Plugging into Eclipse Eclipse User Interface Extending Eclipse Extension Points
Eclipse User Interface
Perspective Selected
Image from Eclipse Help, copyright IBM
Extending Eclipse
Plug-ins are custom tools Plug-ins connect to Eclipse through Extension Points
Image from Eclipse Help, copyright IBM
Extension Points What are they?
The only points where Eclipse may be extended. Extension points are where plug-ins plug-in
How to use them? Implement the correct Java interface for the extension point, and
add an extension point entry to plugin.xml Example entry:
<extension point="org.eclipse.ui.editors"> <editor name="CPS editor" default="false" icon="icons/obj16/cp.gif" extensions="cps" contributorClass="edu.ksu.cis.cadena.frontend.editor.CPSActionContributor" class="edu.ksu.cis.cadena.frontend.editor.CPSEditor" id="edu.ksu.cis.cadena.frontend.editor.CPSEditor"> </editor> </extension>
Q: What do Extensions know about the IDE around them?
A: Not much.
Extensions are restricted by: Extension Point interfaces The Eclipse API
Plug-ins cannot accomplish the following:1. A menu bar item that opens a custom editor2. A Workbench window without a status bar
The Eclipse API does allow...
All open resources can be accessed with:
Static class org.eclipse.core.resources.ResourcesPlugin
The workbench can be accessed with:
Static class org.eclipse.ui.PlatformUI
Example (Changing the Perspective):
IPerspectiveRegistry reg = PlatformUI.getWorkbench().getPerspectiveRegistry();IPerspectiveDescriptor persp = reg.findPerspectiveWithId(perspID);replaceCurrentPerspective(persp);
References Eclipse Homepage: http://www.eclipse.org List of all Extension Points:
http://dev.eclipse.org:8080/help/content/help:/org.eclipse.platform.doc.isv/reference/extension-points/index.html
Eclipse IDE source is available from cvs repository at :pserver:[email protected]:/home/eclipseNote: Eclipse user interface source is under the “org.eclipse.ui” moduleEclipse source is also included with the Eclipse distribution in “eclipse\plugins\org.eclipse.platform.source_2.0.1\src”
Eclipse newsgroup registration: http://eclipse.org/newsgroups/ Eclipse has a thorough help section with excellent searching, Help -> Help Contents
