Eclipse: Building Commercial-Quality Plug-Ins

About

Features

An in-depth description of the process involved in building commercial quality extensions for Eclipse.

° Each chapter contains an overview, a detailed description, diagrams, screen shots, cookbook type code examples, and a summary

° Part of The Eclipse Series from AW Professional -- written by experts and technically reviewed by Eclipse insiders

° Helps Eclipse devotees extend the power of this formidable environment



Description

• Copyright 2004
• Edition: 1st

• Book
• ISBN-10: 0-321-22847-2
• ISBN-13: 978-0-321-22847-5

Build commercial-grade extensions to Eclipse and WebSphere Studio Workbench

This is the first definitive, start-to-finish guide to building commercial-quality extensions for both Eclipse and IBM's WebSphere Studio Workbench. Leading Eclipse developers Eric Clayberg and Dan Rubel don't merely introduce the basics: they show how to add the sophistication and "polish" that paying customers demand.

This book presents detailed, practical coverage of every aspect of plug-in development--with specific solutions for the challenges you're most likely to encounter. It contains everything you need to gain mastery and achieve results: cookbook-style code examples, relevant API listings, diagrams, screen shots, and much more.

• Includes a quick introduction to Eclipse for experienced Java programmers
• Serves as a systematic reference for experienced Eclipse users
• Introduces all the tools you need to build Eclipse and WebSphere plug-ins
• Explains the Eclipse architecture and the structure of plug-ins and extension points
• Walks step-by-step through building complete Eclipse plug-ins
• Offers practical guidance on building Eclipse user interfaces with SWT and JFace
• Shows how to use change tracking, perspectives, builders, markers, natures, and more
• Covers internationalization, Help systems, feature planning--even branding

This book is designed for anyone who wants a deep understanding of Eclipse, and every experienced developer interested in extending Eclipse or WebSphere Studio Workbench. Whether you're a tool developer building new commercial products, or a user customizing your environment, you'll find it indispensable.



Sample Content

Downloadable Sample Chapter

Download the Sample Chapter related to this title.

Table of Contents

Foreword by Skip McGaughey.

Foreword by Simon Archer.

Preface.

1. Using Eclipse Tools.

     Getting Started.

     The Eclipse Workbench.

     Setting up Your Environment.

     Creating a Project.

     Navigating.

     Searching.

     Writing Code.

     Team Development Using CVS.

     Running Applications.

     Introduction to Debugging.

     Introduction to Testing.

     Summary.

2. A Simple Plug-in Example.

     The Favorites Plug-in.

     Creating a Plug-in Project.

     Reviewing the Generated Code.

     Building a Product.

     Installing and Running the Product.

     Debugging the Product.

     PDE Views.

     Writing Plug-in Tests.

     Summary.

3. Eclipse Infrastructure.

     Overview.

     Plug-in Directory.

     Plug-in Manifest.

     Plug-in Class.

     Plug-in Model.

     Logging.

     Eclipse Plug-ins.

     Summary.

4. The Standard Widget Toolkit.

     SWT History and Goals.

     SWT Widgets.

     Layout Management.

     Resource Management.

     Summary.

5. JFace Viewers.

      List-Oriented Viewers.

        Text Viewers.

        Summary.

6. Actions.

     IAction versus IActionDelegate.

     Workbench Window Actions.

     Object Actions.

     View Actions.

     Editor Actions.

     Key Bindings.

     RFWS Considerations.

     Summary.

7. Views.

     View Declaration.

     View Chapter.

     View Actions.

     Linking the View.

     Saving View State .

     Testing.

     Image Caching.

     Auto-sizing Table Columns.

     RFWS Considerations.

     Summary.

8. Editors.

        Editor Declaration.

      Editor Chapter.

      Editing.

        Editor Lifecycle.

      Editor Actions.

        Linking the Editor.

        RFWS Considerations.

      Summary.

9. Resource Change Tracking.

     IResourceChangeListener.

     Processing Change Events.

     Batching Change Events.

     Progress Monitor.

     Delayed Changed Events.

     RFWS Considerations.

     Summary.

10. Perspectives.

     Creating a Perspective.

     Enhancing an Existing Perspective.

     RFWS Considerations.

     Summary.

11. Dialogs and Wizards.

     Dialogs.

     Wizards.

     RFWS Considerations.

     Summary.

12. Preference Pages.

     Creating a Preference Page.

     Preference Page APIs.

     Preference APIs.

     RFWS Considerations.

     Summary.

13. Properties.

     Creating Properties.

     Displaying Properties in the Properties Dialog.

     Displaying Properties in the Properties View.

     Property Pages Reused as Preference Pages.

     RFWS Considerations.

     Summary.

14. Builders, Markers, and Natures.

     Builders.

     Markers.

     Natures.

     RFWS Considerations.

     Summary.

15. Implementing Help.

     Using Help.

     Implementing Help.

     Context-Sensitive “Infopop” Help (F1).

     Accessing Help Programmatically.

     RFWS Considerations.

     Summary.

16. Internationalization.

     Externalizing the Plug-in Manifest.

     Externalizing Plug-in Strings.

     Using Fragments.

     Summary.

17. Creating New Extension Points.

     The Extension Point Mechanism.

     Defining an Extension Point.

     Code Behind an Extension Point.

     Extension Point Documentation.

     Using the Extension Point.

     RFWS Considerations.

     Summary.

18. Features and Branding.

     Feature Projects.

     Branding.

     Update Sites.

     RFWS Considerations.

     Summary.

19. Building a Product.

     A Brief Introduction to Ant.

     Building the Favorites Product.

     Summary.

20. Advanced Topics.

     Advanced Search–Reference Projects.

     Accessing Internal Code.

     Adapters.

     Opening a Browser or Creating an Email.

     Types Specified in an Extension Point.

     Modifying Eclipse to Find Chapter Identifiers.

     Label Decorators.

     Background Tasks–Jobs API.

     Plug-in ClassLoaders.

     OSGi Bundles and the 3.0 Run-time.

     Conclusion.

Appendix A.

Appendix B.

Index.

Foreword

Download the Foreword file related to this title.

Index

Download the Index file related to this title.



Updates

Submit Errata

