The Java Developer's Guide to Eclipse

Jim D’Anjou is a senior software engineer and a certified IT Specialist located at the IBM Silicon Valley Lab in San Jose, California. He has a degree in computer science from the University of California at Berkeley. Jim has more than twenty-five years of industry experience at IBM and elsewhere. He has held a variety of technical and management positions developing products for relational databases, database tools, application repositories, and application development tools. He holds two U.S. patents for work in software process automation. In March 2001, he joined the Eclipse Jumpstart team and serves as an instructor and industry consultant. Scott Fairbrother is an advisory software engineer at IBM in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. Scott is a software developer with more than twenty years of experience. He has developed object-oriented application frameworks for business process management. He has written specifications for IBM middleware on Windows 2000 and has also written about Microsoft Visual Studio .NET. Most recently, Scott has worked on the Eclipse Jumpstart team, helping IBM and partners create commercial offerings based on Eclipse. He received a B.S. in marine biology from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. Dan Kehn is a senior software engineer at IBM in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. His interest in object-oriented programming goes back to 1985, long before it enjoyed the acceptance it has today. He has a broad range of software experience, having worked on development tools like VisualAge for Smalltalk, operating system performance and memory analysis, and user interface design. Dan worked as a consultant for object-oriented development projects throughout the United States, as well as for four years in Europe. His recent interests include object-oriented analysis/design, application development tools, and Web programming with the WebSphere Application Server. He is currently concentrating on performance analysis and tuning of IBM Eclipse-based projects. John Kellerman joined IBM in 1984 with a computer science degree from Purdue University. He has since completed graduate degrees in computer engineering at North Carolina State and business administration at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He has spent the majority of his twenty years at IBM in the development and management of application development tool products, including ISPF/PDF, VisualAge Smalltalk, VisualAge Generator, and Eclipse. John was a founding member of the Eclipse Project, which got under way in late 1999. He is currently IBM Product Manager of Eclipse. His responsibilities include working closely on behalf of IBM with eclipse.org, the Eclipse Foundation, and the member companies to help grow the Eclipse community of contributors and commercial offerings. Pat McCarthy, a senior software engineer at IBM, is a specialist in the use and management of development technologies on a variety of runtime platforms. Pat’s IBM career has included hands-on development of business application systems in Poughkeepsie, New York, and 12 years of project management for the development of IBM Redbooks and education offerings in San Jose, California. He has spent the last several years in Raleigh, North Carolina, focused on supporting the use of Eclipse technology in IBM application development products. Pat has a B.S. from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, an M.S. from Marist College. He is the coauthor of more than twenty IBM Redbooks.

Foreword.

Preface.

    Origin of the Book.

    Goals.

    Intended Audience and Prerequisites.

    How the Book Is Organized.

    Coding Conventions.

    CD-ROM.

    Where to Find Further Information.

Guide to Reading This Book.

Acknowledgments.

About the Authors.

1. Read Me First.

    Eclipse as a Host for Application Development Tools.

    Beyond Tools: Eclipse as a Host for Client Applications.

    What Is Eclipse?

    Getting and Installing Eclipse.

    Chapter Summary.

    References.

I. USING ECLIPSE.

2. Getting Started with Eclipse.

    Your First Steps.

    Basic Eclipse Use.

    Resource Management.

    Customizing Eclipse.

    Exercise Summary.

    Chapter Summary.

    Reference.

3. Using Java Development Tools.

    Getting Started with JDT.

    Writing Java Code.

    Working with Java Elements.

    Tuning the Performance of the JDT.

    More on the JDT Views and Preferences.

    Exercise Summary.

    Chapter Summary.

    Reference.

4. Running and Debugging Java.

    Running Java Code.

    Debugging.

    Remote Debugging.

    Exercise Summary.

    Chapter Summary.

    Reference.

5. Teaming Up with Eclipse.

    Eclipse Support for CVS.

    General Team Support by Eclipse.

    An Overview of CVS for the Novice.

    The CVS User Interface in Eclipse.

    Special Situations and How to Handle Them.

    Additional Features.

    Exercise Summary.

    Chapter Summary.

    References.

6. Managing Your Eclipse Environment.

    An Overview of Your Eclipse Installation.

    Understanding the Runtime Configuration.

    Coordinating Preferences.

    Understanding Configuration Management Fundamentals.

    Interacting with the Update Manager.

    Managing Your Configuration.

    Chapter Summary.

    Reference.

II. FUNDAMENTALS OF EXTENDING ECLIPSE.

7. Extending Eclipse for Fun and Profit.

    Excited About Extending Eclipse? You Should Be!

    An Easy and Practical Example.

    A Brief Tour of "Hello, World".

    Asking the Right Question Is More Important Than Knowing the Answer.

    Where to Go from Here?

8. Overview of the Eclipse Architecture.

    That Was Then, This Is Now.

    Architectural Top Priorities: Extensibility and Integration.

    Eclipse the IDE Platform and Rich Client Application.

    The Eclipse Platform Runtime.

    User Interface Frameworks.

    Workbench Frameworks.

    Chapter Summary.

    References.

9. Getting Started: Plug-in Development.

    Getting Started with Plug-ins.

    Getting Started with Extensions and Extension Points.

    Basic Steps of Implementing a Plug-in.

    Using the Plug-in Development Environment.

    Exercise Summary.

    Chapter Summary.

    References.

10. Creating Applications Using the Rich Client Platform.

    Reasons Applications Are Being Built on the RCP.

    Eclipse Architecture, Revisited.

    Opportunities for Reuse of Eclipse.

    Implementing Your Own Workbench.

    Exercise Summary.

    Chapter Summary.

    References.

11. Creating Extension Points: How Others Can Extend Your Plug-ins.

    Relationship Between Extension Points and Extensions.

    Viewing the Official List of Enabled Plug-ins, Extensions, and Extension Points.

    How to Define Extension Points.

    Handling Dynamic Plug-ins.

    How to Enable the Schema-Based New Extension Wizard.

    Example Summary.

    Chapter Summary.

    References.

12. Advanced Plug-in Development.

    Migrating Your Plug-ins from Eclipse 2.1.

    Plug-in Class Loader.

    Runtime Discovery and Delayed Loading.

    Forcing Early Plug-in Activation.

    Plug-in Granularity.

    Plug-in Fragments.

    Chapter Summary.

    References.

13. Defining Features and Products.

    Features.

    Products.

    Exercise Summary.

    Chapter Summary.

    References.

III. EXTENDING THE ECLIPSE WORKBENCH.

14. The Standard Widget Toolkit: A Lean, Mean Widget Machine.

    The Basic Structure of an SWT Application.

    Common SWT Widgets.

    Responding to Events.

    How to Arrange SWT Widgets Using Layout Managers.

    Error Handling.

    Widgets Have Special Disposal Requirements.

    Using Threads to Separate UI and Non-UI Activities.

    An Overview of SWT Packages.

    SWT Support for Swing.

    Eclipse Forms.

    Example Summary.

    Chapter Summary.

    References.

15. JFace Viewers.

    Viewer Basics.

    Viewer Framework.

    Creating the Basic Content Viewer Arrangement.

    Controlling the Content Displayed in a Structured Viewer.

    Interacting with Viewer Objects.

    Using Alternative Viewer Types.

    Advanced Workbench Integration Options.

    Example Summary.

    Chapter Summary.

    References.

16. Dialogs and Wizards.

    Dialogs-The User Interface Beyond Workbench Parts.

    Contributing to the Preferences Dialog.

    Contributing to the Properties Dialog.

    Contributing Wizards.

    Directly Opening a Wizard Dialog for Your Wizard.

    Example Summary.

    Chapter Summary.

    References.

17. Dialog Settings, Preferences, and User Settings.

    Overview of the Options.

    Storing Values in Dialog Settings.

    Storing Preference Values for a Plug-in.

    Scoped Value Management with User Settings.

    Example Summary.

    Chapter Summary.

    References.

18. Views.

    Views: The General-Purpose Workbench Part.

    View Implementation.

    Supporting Action Contributions.

    Interacting with Other Workbench Components.

    Examples Summary.

    Chapter Summary.

    References.

19. Editors.

    Editor Behavior and Architecture.

    Basic Implementation Steps.

    Beyond the Basic Implementation Steps.

    Example Summary.

    Chapter Summary.

    References.

20. Perspectives.

    Creating a Perspective.

    Using the perspectiveExtensions Extension Point.

    Example Summary.

    Chapter Summary.

    Reference.

21. Action Contributions: The Integration Fast Track.

    Action Contribution Extension Points.

    The Fundamentals of Action Contributions.

    Contributing to the Workbench Menu Bar and Toolbar.

    Contributing to the View's Menu and Toolbar.

    Contributing to an Editor's Menu and Toolbar.

    Contributing Context Menus to Views and Editors.

    Assigning Accelerator Keys to Your Actions.

    Example Summary.

    Chapter Summary.

    References.

22. Providing Help.

    Integrating Your Online Documentation.

    Creating Context-Sensitive Help.

    Running the Standalone Help Infocenter.

    Customizing Your Help System.

    Example Summary.

    Chapter Summary.

    References.

IV. EXTENDING THE ECLIPSE IDE.

23. Workspace Resource Programming.

    Resource Concepts.

    Workspace API.

    Resource Properties.

    Processing Workspace Resource Change Events.

    Resource Modification Event Management.

    Using Workspace Save Events to Save Critical Data.

    Examples Summary.

    Chapter Summary.

    References.

24. Managing Resources with Natures and Builders.

    Customizing Project Processing.

    Defining and Implementing a Nature.

    Defining and Implementing an Incremental Project Builder.

    Example Summary.

    Chapter Summary.

    References.

25. Resource Tagging Using Markers.

    Using Markers.

    Adding New Marker Types.

    Extending Markers with Generators for Resolution and Help Support.

    Example Summary.

    Chapter Summary.

    References.

26. Building a Custom Text Editor with JFace Text.

    Standard Text Editor Functions.

    Editor Configuration: Customization Points.

    Under the Covers of the Text Editor.

     Example Summary.

    Chapter Summary.

    References.

27. Extending the Java Development Tools.

    What Is the JDT and What Does It Do?

    Java Model.

    Accessing Reusable JDT Functionality.

    Compiling Java Source Code.

    Analyzing Java Source Code.

    Manipulating Java Source Code.

    Where the JDT Extends Eclipse.

    Extending the JDT User Interface.

    Examples Summary.

    Chapter Summary.

    References.

V. EXTENSIBILITY SPECIAL TOPICS.

28. Serviceability.

    Plug-in Diagnostics: System and Configuration Information.

    Eclipse Status Objects: A Status Collector.

    Exception Handling: Error Detection.

    Error Dialogs: Providing Detailed Status in Error Messages.

    Runtime Tracing: A Runtime Diagnostic Tool.

    Using Tracing in a Production Environment.

    Diagnostics: A Comprehensive Error Log.

    Error Logging: Writing to the Workbench Error Log.

    Example Summary.

    Chapter Summary.

    Reference.

29. Implementing Responsiveness and Concurrency Using Jobs.

    Concurrency Framework.

    Using Jobs.

    User Interaction Options.

    Job Contention Management Options.

    Example Summary.

    Chapter Summary.

    References.

30. Using Capabilities to Manage Too Much of a Good Thing.

    Introducing Capabilities.

    The Capabilities Extension Point.

    Defining Primary Wizards.

    The Activities API.

    Defining Your Own Triggers.

    Example Summary.

    Chapter Summary.

    References.

31. Internationalization and Accessibility.

    What Does Internationalization Affect in Your Plug-in?

    Internationalization Steps.

    Accessibility.

    Example Summary.

    Chapter Summary.

    References.

32. Performance Tuning.

    Why Eclipse Should Start Quickly.

    Diagnosing Startup Problems Using the Runtime Spy.

    Case Study: Improving IBM WebSphere Studio's Startup.

    Avoiding Performance Regressions Using the Performance Monitor.

    Common Solutions to Eclipse-Specific Performance Problems.

    Chapter Summary.

    References.

33. Swing Interoperability.

    Embedding AWT and Swing in Views and Editors.

    Launch-and-Edit Integration.

    ABCEditor Example-In-Process Invocation.

    Example Summary.

    Chapter Summary.

    References.

34. OLE and ActiveX Interoperability.

    COM Support in Eclipse.

    COM Container Support.

    OLE Automation-Accessing Extended Behavior.

    Example Summary.

    Chapter Summary.

    Reference.

VI. EXERCISES.

Exercise 1: Using Eclipse.

    Section 1: Your First Eclipse Project.

    Section 2: Editors and Views.

    Section 3: Working with Resources.

    Section 4: Perspectives.

    Section 5: Using Multiple Eclipse Windows and Workspaces.

    Section 6: Getting Assistance.

    Exercise Activity Review.

    References.

Exercise 2: Using Java Development Tools.

    Section 1: Hello World.

    Section 2: Quick Fix.

    Section 3: Code Generation.

    Section 4: Refactoring.

    Exercise Activity Review.

    References.

Exercise 3: Running and Debugging Java.

    Section 1: Launch Configurations.

    Section 2: Debugging.

    Section 3: Debugging II.

    Section 4: Debugging Threads.

    Section 5: Remote Debugging.

    Exercise Activity Review.

    References.

Exercise 4: Developing a Simple Web Commerce Application with Eclipse.

    Exercise Setup.

    Section 1: Setting up the Runtime Environment.

    Section 2: Creating a Project for the Example.

    Section 3: Debugging the Example.

    Section 4: Deploying the Example.

    Exercise Activity Review.

    References.

Exercise 5: Working as a Team with CVS.

    Exercise Setup.

    Section 1: Getting Started.

    Section 2: Updating, Committing, and Resolving Conflicts.

    Section 3: Branching and Merging.

    Exercise Activity Review.

    Reference.

Exercise 6: Developing Your First Plug-in.

    Exercise Setup 954Section 1: "Hello, World" in Five Minutes or Less.

    Section 2: "Hello, World" with Detailed Step-by-Step Instructions.

    Section 3: Testing with the Runtime Workbench.

    Section 4: Debugging with the Runtime Workbench.

    Section 5: Defining a Feature to Support the Plug-in.

    Section 6: Deploying a Feature and Its Associated Plug-ins.

    Section 7: Exploring (and Sometimes Correcting) the Eclipse Platform Code.

    Section 8: Correcting Common Problems.

    Exercise Activity Review.

Exercise 7: Developing Your First Rich Client Application.

    Exercise Setup.

    Getting Started.

    Section 1: Creating an Application Extension.

    Section 2: Creating a Perspective Extension.

    Section 3: Creating a Workbench Advisor.

    Section 4: Implementing the Application's Main Program.

    Section 5: Running and Testing Your RCP Application.

    Section 6: Configuring Workbench Window User Interface Elements.

    Section 7: Adding Menu and Toolbar Actions.

     Section 8: Deploying Your Application.

    Section 9: Adding "Optional" Components.

    Exercise Activity Review.

Exercise 8: Developing a Rich Client Application with Dynamically Added Plug-ins.

    Exercise Setup.

    Section 1: Create Your RCP Application Launch Configuration.

    Section 2: Implement Your Plug-in Life Cycle start() Method.

    Section 3: Implement Your Configurator.

    Section 4: Develop a Simple Plug-in Discovery Mechanism.

    Section 5: Installing the Bonus Pack Dynamically.

    Exercise Activity Review.

Exercise 9: Deploying Your Product Using Features.

    Exercise Setup.

    Section 1: Tasks of a Feature Developer.

    Section 2: Tasks of an Eclipse User.

    Section 3: Tasks of a Product Developer.

    Section 4: Tasks for a Product Service Team-Implementing an Update Site.

    Section 5: Tasks of an Eclipse User-Redux.

    Exercise Activity Review.

Index.