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plugin.xml for eclipse rcp app

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Andrey Hihlovskiy edited this page Jul 2, 2014 · 8 revisions

We already know how to program "plugin.xml" for Equinox app. Now we will program "plugin.xml" for RCP app.

Compile and inspect default "plugin.xml"

Let's take an example of RCP app that we built in RCP tutorial.

Invoke on command line: gradle build.

Open file "tutorials/MyRcpApp/build/libs/MyRcpApp-1.0.0.0.jar", it contains "plugin.xml" with the following content:

<plugin>
  <extension id="Application" point="org.eclipse.core.runtime.applications">
    <application>
      <run class="myrcpapp.Application"/>
    </application>
  </extension>
  <extension id="product" point="org.eclipse.core.runtime.products">
    <product application="MyRcpApp.Application" name="MyRcpApp"/>
  </extension>
  <extension point="org.eclipse.ui.perspectives">
    <perspective id="MyRcpApp.Perspective" name="MyRcpApp Perspective" class="myrcpapp.Perspective"/>
  </extension>
  <extension point="org.eclipse.ui.views">
    <view id="MyRcpApp.View" name="MyRcpApp View" class="myrcpapp.View"/>
  </extension>
  <extension point="org.eclipse.ui.perspectiveExtensions">
    <perspectiveExtension targetID="MyRcpApp.Perspective">
      <view id="MyRcpApp.View" standalone="true" minimized="false" relative="org.eclipse.ui.editorss" relationship="left"/>
    </perspectiveExtension>
  </extension>
</plugin>

Extension-point "org.eclipse.core.runtime.applications" is the same as in plugin.xml for eclipse-equinox-app.

Extension-points "org.eclipse.ui.perspectives", "org.eclipse.ui.views" and "org.eclipse.ui.perspectiveExtensions" are the same as in plugin.xml for eclipse bundle.

There is new generated extension-point: "org.eclipse.core.runtime.products". As we see, it was automatically linked to extension-point "org.eclipse.core.runtime.applications" via "product/@application" attribute.

Customize application extension-point

Create folder "tutorials/MyRcpApp/src/main/resources", create file "plugin.xml" in it, insert content:

<plugin>
  <extension id="myappid" point="org.eclipse.core.runtime.applications">
    <application>
      <run class="myrcpapp.Application"/>
    </application>
  </extension>
</plugin>

Compile and inspect custom application extension-point

Invoke on command line: gradle build.

Open file "tutorials/MyRcpApp/build/libs/MyRcpApp-1.0.0.0.jar", open "plugin.xml". Now extension-points "org.eclipse.core.runtime.applications" and "org.eclipse.core.runtime.products" look a bit different:

<plugin>
  <extension id="myappid" point="org.eclipse.core.runtime.applications">
    <application>
      <run class="myrcpapp.Application"/>
    </application>
  </extension>
  <extension id="product" point="org.eclipse.core.runtime.products">
    <product application="MyRcpApp.myappid" name="MyRcpApp"/>
  </extension>
  <extension point="org.eclipse.ui.perspectives">
    <perspective id="MyRcpApp.Perspective" name="MyRcpApp Perspective" class="myrcpapp.Perspective"/>
  </extension>
  <extension point="org.eclipse.ui.views">
    <view id="MyRcpApp.View" name="MyRcpApp View" class="myrcpapp.View"/>
  </extension>
  <extension point="org.eclipse.ui.perspectiveExtensions">
    <perspectiveExtension targetID="MyRcpApp.Perspective">
      <view id="MyRcpApp.View" standalone="true" minimized="false" relative="org.eclipse.ui.editorss" relationship="left"/>
    </perspectiveExtension>
  </extension>
</plugin>

As we see, Wuff does not generate extension-point "org.eclipse.core.runtime.applications", it uses the one provided by us. Also it links the generated extension-point "org.eclipse.core.runtime.products" to it.

Customize product extension-point

Edit file "tutorials/MyRcpApp/src/main/resources/plugin.xml", insert content:

<extension id="myproductid" point="org.eclipse.core.runtime.products">
  <product application="MyRcpApp.myappid" name="Very nice app">
    <property name="windowImages" value="icons/icon_16x16.png,icons/icon_32x32.png,icons/icon_64x64.png,icons/icon_128x128.png"/>
    <property name="aboutText" value="This program has big future!"/>
    <property name="aboutImage" value="images/logo.png"/>
    <property name="startupForegroundColor" value="FFFFFF"/>
    <property name="startupMessageRect" value="28,218,421,20"/>
    <property name="startupProgressRect" value="28,243,421,15"/>
  </product>
</extension>

Compile and inspect custom product extension-point

Invoke on command line: gradle build.

Open file "tutorials/MyRcpApp/build/libs/MyRcpApp-1.0.0.0.jar", open "plugin.xml", expect to see:

<plugin>
  <extension id="myappid" point="org.eclipse.core.runtime.applications">
    <application>
      <run class="myrcpapp.Application"/>
    </application>
  </extension>
  <extension id="myproductid" point="org.eclipse.core.runtime.products">
    <product application="MyRcpApp.myappid" name="Very nice app">
      <property name="windowImages" value="icons/icon_16x16.png,icons/icon_32x32.png,icons/icon_64x64.png,icons/icon_128x128.png"/>
      <property name="aboutText" value="This program has big future!"/>
      <property name="aboutImage" value="images/logo.png"/>
      <property name="startupForegroundColor" value="FFFFFF"/>
      <property name="startupMessageRect" value="28,218,421,20"/>
      <property name="startupProgressRect" value="28,243,421,15"/>
    </product>
  </extension>
  <extension point="org.eclipse.ui.perspectives">
    <perspective id="MyRcpApp.Perspective" name="MyRcpApp Perspective" class="myrcpapp.Perspective"/>
  </extension>
  <extension point="org.eclipse.ui.views">
    <view id="MyRcpApp.View" name="MyRcpApp View" class="myrcpapp.View"/>
  </extension>
  <extension point="org.eclipse.ui.perspectiveExtensions">
    <perspectiveExtension targetID="MyRcpApp.Perspective">
      <view id="MyRcpApp.View" standalone="true" minimized="false" relative="org.eclipse.ui.editorss" relationship="left"/>
    </perspectiveExtension>
  </extension>
</plugin>

As we see, "plugin.xml" contains our application and product extension points, not the default ones.

Default intro extension points

Let's take an example of RCP app with intro page that we built in RCP tutorial.

Invoke on command line: gradle build.

Open file "tutorials/MyRcpApp/build/libs/MyRcpApp-1.0.0.0.jar", it contains "intro/introContent.xml" with the following content:

<introContent>
  <page id="homePageId" url="welcome.html"/>
</introContent>

Wuff generated this file for us, because it have seen, then there is "intro/welcome.html" page, but no "intro/introContent.xml". If we would provide our own version of "intro/introContent.xml" (either in "src/main/resources" or in project's root), Wuff would use just that.

Open file "tutorials/MyRcpApp/build/libs/MyRcpApp-1.0.0.0.jar", it contains "plugin.xml" with the following content:

<plugin>
  <extension id="Application" point="org.eclipse.core.runtime.applications">
    <application>
      <run class="myrcpapp.Application"/>
    </application>
  </extension>
  <extension id="product" point="org.eclipse.core.runtime.products">
    <product application="MyRcpApp.Application" name="MyRcpApp"/>
  </extension>
  <extension point="org.eclipse.ui.perspectives">
    <perspective id="MyRcpApp.Perspective" name="MyRcpApp Perspective" class="myrcpapp.Perspective"/>
  </extension>
  <extension point="org.eclipse.ui.views">
    <view id="MyRcpApp.View" name="MyRcpApp View" class="myrcpapp.View"/>
  </extension>
  <extension point="org.eclipse.ui.perspectiveExtensions">
    <perspectiveExtension targetID="MyRcpApp.Perspective">
      <view id="MyRcpApp.View" standalone="true" minimized="false" relative="org.eclipse.ui.editorss" relationship="left"/>
    </perspectiveExtension>
  </extension>
  <extension point="org.eclipse.ui.intro">
    <intro id="MyRcpApp.intro" class="org.eclipse.ui.intro.config.CustomizableIntroPart"/>
    <introProductBinding introId="MyRcpApp.intro" productId="MyRcpApp.product"/>
  </extension>
  <extension point="org.eclipse.ui.intro.config">
    <config id="MyRcpApp.introConfigId" introId="MyRcpApp.intro" content="intro/introContent.xml">
      <presentation home-page-id="homePageId" standby-page-id="homePageId">
        <implementation kind="html"/>
      </presentation>
    </config>
  </extension>
</plugin>

Wuff generated two new extension points: "org.eclipse.ui.intro" and "org.eclipse.ui.intro.config", which are linking product and "introContent.xml". Similarly to application and product extension points - as soon as we provide our own versions of "org.eclipse.ui.intro" and "org.eclipse.ui.intro.config", Wuff would use these versions, not the automatically generated ones.

Next page: "plugin.xml" for IDE app

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