Eclipse Plugin Development - a Bird’s Eye View

Eclipse plugin development A bird’s eye view				defined by you. This feature provides a better
� By Debadatta Mishra,				approach to achieve the specific task. Just as a
�				traveler moves from one compartment to
Introduction				another for his/her suitability, a user can switch
Eclipse platform made a new era in the history of				between various perspectives.
java development. It provided a new and broader				View:-
horizon and new dimension to the developers for				A view presupposes a visual component inside the
easy, swift and economic development. Besides it				perspective and inside the workbench. In a
fosters the sprit of enthusiastic learning for the				common man term it is the room inside your
developers.				railway compartment. In a view you can place
In the true sense of the term Eclipse is an				your components according to your suitability. A
integrated application of several core projects built				view can be of different type for example outline
inside it. Eclipse provides core and generic				view, property view, work-in progress view , tree
framework and services upon which you can				structure view etc. Each view should be created
accomplish your java development and you can				to achieve the generic goal of your application.
build your own eclipse like custom or customized				Editor:-
applications. Besides it provides several tools which				An editor is an area for editing. In a common man
make ease for rapid application development.				term, I can say that it is the seat or its related
Besides I can say that it is such a platform or				stuffs in a railway compartment where you can
environment where you can plug your application				push and pop your article. As you define your
as plugin and play with your application. However it				sitting area to place beverages bottle, you can
contains so many features that beggar				create an area to push your luggage and specific
descriptions. You can find all the features from				area to place your laptops, similarly an editor can
the eclipse site or you can go to help menu of				be created to write a functionally structured email
your eclipse editor which provides detailed				specific to your application and requirements or
descriptions. It is only because of its pluggable				editor may be defined to write an .XML file, plain
features, it has gained momentum in the industry.				text file or a document editor. The basic purpose
Many industries adopt it as a standard and the				is to edit the text contents. An editor may be
better approach for the development. Eclipse				common to one or more perspectives.
plugin framework has brought a revolutionary				Workspace:-
change in the look and feel and provides most				A workspace is the central repository of data
exciting graphical approach as compared to				files for an application. The workspace contains
traditional swing applications. This framework has				user data and some internal configuration files.
proved its worth for the current changes in the				Basically the workspace contains the directories
development and testing. In the field of top notch				and files related to your application project. This
competition, we envisage several changes in the				workspace is created automatically when the
field of development and testing in the industry.				workbench gets started. In case of plugin
Now a days the platform of development has				development, the creation of workspace is
been changed radically in the industries. Now				customized.
client's requirements have become much more
matured and strict. Many clients are reluctant to				Toolbar:-
expose their existing functionality and legacy				A toolbar is a horizontal bar visible just beneath
systems to the industry. They want new				the workbench menu bar. It is similar to that of
applications which should be pluggable for their				Microsoft MS Word. The basic purpose of this
existing systems. They want better UI approach				toolbar is to provide quick view of the items.
and more intelligent works in their applications.
Besides, organisations want rapid cost effective				Wizard:-
development. That is why many organisations are				A wizard is a typical dialog box which provides a
laying down several approaches in the hiring				set of sequential execution and provides guidance
processes. So it is up to you how you can cope				to the user. If you are developing an application as
with the current technologies and organisational				a plugin under eclipse, you can create your own
policies. I have a suggestion to all of you that				wizard. More specifically the wizard page is just
please leave the habit of spoon feeding. There				like a UI of a software installer.
was a time when every organisations provide
training to the new and novice developers. Now				Widget:-
this trend has been changed dramatically and has				In eclipse platform each UI control can be
come to a limited aspect in the industry. I request				considered as widget. Each widget is defined for a
you to realize your subject of your learning rather				specific task and functionality. So eclipse underlying
than understanding it. Try to make self learning at				framework or API is called as standard widget
your home (the best place for your development)				toolkit (SWT).
and be a smart developer and help the
development community with your new ideas and				SWT:-
thoughts.				It stands for Standard Widget Toolkit but not
In this article I will present				Standard Window Toolkit. It is an API which
some glimpse of eclipse concepts which are				provides basic apis and native implementations
specific to plugin development. I will make you				specific to your underlying OS.
familiar with very few commonly used terms in
eclipse plugin development. From the very				JFace:-
inception the novice developers may find it difficult				It is a middle level UI framework which provides
to get started with plugin development, but it is				flexibility to create complex UI and it works with
true that once you get accustomed to the coding				SWT.
style for plugin development, you may be
enthusiastic and you can develop anything to				I hope that you have enjoyed
satisfy the aesthetic desire of your clients and				this article. Please refer to my next article where
mangers . I am not going to give you the				I will provide one basic example to make your
complete overview, architecture and details of				hands on plugin development.
eclipse plugin development. I will provide an
approach so that you can make self learning at				Caution
your home. The following terms and jargons are				My article is only meant for learning and it does
used in course plugin development. It is difficult to				not bear any commercial significance .I request
provide all the terms, I will provide you the terms				you not to integrate in your actual development
in brief and I will update accordingly.				of the organization. I want tohelp the freshers,
Workbench:-				novice developers or those who are new this
A workbench is a visible environment which				plugin development environment. In the yester
contains several user interface manifestations. In				years I have realized several problems relating to
a very layman term we can say that workbench				development in the organizations. The reasons of
is the view or a typical window when your				problems may be infinite; however I do not want
application gets started. It is just like a railway				to discuss this. However we have to be smart
track where you can build your vehicles to run				and try to cope with the current environment. I
over it. More specifically a workbench comprises				will provide you some ways of solutions to the
the following major UI components. The				commonly occurring problems relating to plugin
components are "perspectives","views" and				development. In my forthcoming articles I may
"editor". You can also reiterate that it the UI				provide various source codes which are only for
portion of the eclipse. It simply provides a broader				your understanding. Please do not attach, copy or
infrastructure for your plugins for swift and				integrate the code in your applications. In case of
economic development.				any problems I will not be held accountable.
Perspectives:-
A perspective encapsulates several views and				Question to audience
editors inside the workbench window. In a layman				I hope that you may have gone through and
term it is the railway compartment/s which of				enjoyed my small article. Please provide me your
which has several views. Since railway				most valuable feedback so that I will realize it.
compartments are of different type like				The last but not the least I leave a small question
airconditioned, non-airconditioned or deluxe type,				to you for which you can send me in email id .
similarly perspectives may be of different type
specific to your functionality. For example to				Is eclipse platform independent?
make web-service interaction, it may be a
webservice perspective, for database				Conclusion
perspective, it may be your DBPerspective. One				Please provide me your valuable feedback at . If
or more perspectives can be built based upon				you find any error or errata, please report to me
your requirements and functionality. Besides it				as soon as possible. In my next article, I will help
provides the initial layout of your views and				you how to create a dialog box and you can
decorations. Please remember that your				place your UI components safely.
perspective should achieve the core functionality

Tech Assist

Eclipse Plugin Development - a Bird’s Eye View