After 13 years, the Eclipse framework gets it second make-over. The new work is termed e4 and will be included in Eclipse 4.0. In the first make-over the run-time was replaced in Eclipse 3.0 with OSGi to get a better and more stable foundation for plug-ins. This time the user interface and contributions are modernized for use in Eclipse 4.0. In this session, we will see some of the insides of the new paradigms in e4.

1. PR0017 - 2009-09-29
Redistribution and other use of this material requires written permission from The RCP Company.
e4, the Next Generation Eclipse Platform
After 13 years, the Eclipse framework gets it second make-over. The new
work is termed e4 and will be included in Eclipse 4.0.
In the first make-over the run-time was replaced in Eclipse 3.0 with OSGi to
get a better and more stable foundation for plug-ins. This time the user
interface and contributions are modernized for use in Eclipse 4.0.
In this session, we will see some of the insides of the new paradigms in e4.

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Agenda
 Introduction
 Eclipse is… what exactly?
 A little about the general Eclipse architecture
 The goals and history of e4
 The guts of e4
 The timeline for Eclipse 4.0

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Who Are You?
 Who uses with Eclipse?
 Who have developed plug-ins for Eclipse?
 Who have al ready looked into e4?
 Who knows about Dependency Injection?

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About Me
 Tonny Madsen, Founder and Owner of The RCP Company
 20 years of experience in system development in major
companies
 Regnecentralen (now ICL)
 Digital (now HP)
 Anritsu (previously NetTest)
 9 years experience as the Systems Architect of an 20+ MLoC
project
 8 years of experience with Eclipse and Eclipse RCP
 Solutions Member of the Eclipse Foundation
 Chairman of Eclipse.dk
 Extern Lecturer at IT-University on Model Driven Development
and Domain Specific Languages
 Regular speaker at EclipseCon, Eclipse Summit, etc

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Eclipse is… what exactly?

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Eclipse – The Java IDE

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Eclipse – The Tools Platform

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Eclipse – The Application Platform
Nordea Banking Desktop

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IBM Lotus Notes
Version 8

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Eclipse
Platform
Resourc
esWorkspa
ceHelp
Update
Team
Web
Server
Filesyste
ms
Apache
Search
Navigato
r
Intro
Text
Editors
JDT
CVS
WTP
Datatools
VE
BIRT
Mylyn
PDE
Eclipse RCP
Run-time/OSGi
SWT
JFace
Workbench
Preferen
cesJobs
ICU
Comman
dsRegistry
CDT
A Little About
the General Eclipse Architecture

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Basically…
 We need an architecture that supports
distributed development over a large number
of autonomous development groups
 We need a component concept where
components are loosely coupled and can be
started (and stopped) independently
 We need a way to describe external
interfaces of components and dependencies
between components
 We need a way to only start the components
as they are needed – also known as late
activation
 We need all this to work over multiple
generations of components

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Eclipse
Platform
Resources
Workspace
Help
Update
Team
WebServer
Filesystems
Apache
Search
Navigator
Intro
TextEditors
Eclipse Architectural Components
JDT
CVS
WTP
Datatools
VE
BIRT
Mylyn
PDE
Eclipse RCP
Run-time/OSGi
SWT
JFace
Workbench
Preferences
Jobs
ICU
Commands
Registry
CDT

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Application
Platform
Comm.
Logging
Help
Update
Auth.
Auditing
Apache
Intro
Your Typical RCP Application
Base
Add-on
Add-on
Add-on
Add-on
DebugTools
DataModel
Eclipse RCP
Run-time/OSGi
SWT
JFace
Workbench
Preferences
Jobs
ICU
Commands
Registry
Add-on

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Organizing the Platform
 The software of an Eclipse system is based on the following terms:
 Plug-ins – a plug-in is the basic unit of software
 Fragments – a fragment is an add-on to an existing plug-in with
additional functionality
 Features – a feature is a number of plug-ins that is distributed and
updated as a whole
 Applications – an application is a Java class that implements a specific
interface and is declared as such in the plug-in
 Products – a product is a set of features or plug-ins along with the
appropriate branding

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The Short Story
 1994: IBM develops VisualAge for Smalltalk – programmed in Smalltalk
 1995: Java is released to a select group
 1996: IBM develops VisualAge for Java – still programmed in Smalltalk
 November 1998: OTI (Object Technology International – part of IBM)
commissioned to develop new development platform for Java
 7. November 2001: Eclipse 2.0 made Open Source
 25. June 2004: Eclipse 3.0 released introducing Eclipse RCP
 Framework make-over introducing OSGi
 2009: Eclipse 3.5 released – known as Galileo
 27. June 2010: Eclipse 3.6 will be released
 Also known as Helios
 June 2011: Eclipse 3.7 will be released
 June 2012: Eclipse 4.0 will be released

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The Goals and History of e4

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Why A New Eclipse Framework
 Simplify the Eclipse programming model
 This will reduce development and maintenance costs and enable a larger
developer community to leverage the platform in their own Eclipse-
based applications
 Enable the platform for use on emerging web-based runtime technologies
 This will ensure the platform remains a compelling and viable
application framework in a rapidly changing web technology landscape,
and it will allow e4-based applications to leverage web technologies,
while remaining insulated from specific technology choices that may
quickly become obsolete
 Broaden participation in development of the platform
 This reduces the risks associated with building on a platform largely
funded from a single source. Having a large and diverse group of
commercial backers, will ensure the platform remains vibrant and viable
over the long term

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Main Technical Differences between Eclipse 3.x and e4
 Application Model in EMF
 Complete live model for the application – changes are reflected
immediately in the application
 Rendering the Application
 Maps the model to the UI
 Allows for a completely new look and feel without touching the internals
 Allows support for different widget sets – even Adobe Flash or Microsoft
Silverlight
 Context
 Contains the context/environment for all contributions
 Brokers interaction with the framework: service lookup, service
registration
 Dependency Injection
 Allows for POJOs for all contributions

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Basic e4 Workbench Model
Application
Command
Handler Binding
Window
Part
Menu
Part Description
Toolbar

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Basic Eclipse 3.x Workbench Model
Workbench Window
Workbench Page
Editors Views
PerspectiveTop-level menu
Top-level toolbar
Status line
Perspective switcher
Drop-down menuLocal toolbar
Workbench
0..n
1..n
0..n0..n

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Application Model

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Rendering the Application
 Provides the mapping of the model to a specific UI Widget Set
 SWT
 xWT
 GWT
 Adobe Flash
 Macrosoft Silverlight
 For some of the mappings, the concrete look can be customized using CSS
 A render
 Creates the needed widgets for the model element
 Binds the widget and model element

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The Current Context - IEclipseContext
 Contains the current context for contributions
 Name/Value pairs
 Value can be POJO or IComputedValue objects
 Created in a hierarchy
 Children inherits all values from parent
 Child contexts are used to override values locally
 Used for all contributions
 Views
 Handlers
 Wizards
 Dialogs
 etc
 Supports
 IClipseContext.runAndTrack – allows you to track changes in the values you
use
 IComputedValue – allows for late creation of objects and common behavior
 Used as the base data store for Dependency Injection

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Dependency Injection
 Popular solution to the singleton problem:
 PicoContainer
 Spring
 Google Guice
 OSGi declarative services
 Injection supported for all class members:
 Fields, Constructors and Methods
 Need not be public or protected
 Marked with @Inject

Possibly @Optional
 Value based on type of argument or field

Finds matching value from IEclipseContext

Possibly marked @Named(“name”)
 Used with static methods on ContextInjectionFactory:
 Object inject(Object object, IEclipseContext context)
 Object make(Class clazz, IEclipseContext context)
 Object invoke(Object object, String methodName, IEclipseContext context,
Object defaultValue)

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Code for Parts
 The code that provides the “parts” of the application is ordinary POJO
 No special inheritance – e.g. IViewPart or IWizardPage
public class Preview {
public Preview(Composite parent, Realm workspace) {
// Create UI ...
}
@Inject
private MUILabel uiItem;
@Inject
public void setSelection(@Optional @Named(IServiceConstants.SELECTION) IFile input) {
// React on Selection Changes
}
}

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Adding Parts to the Application Model

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Open Social Gadgets
 What are OpenSocialGadgets
 Gadgets are web-based software components based on HTML, CSS, and
JavaScript.
 Open Eclipse for a new set of developers
 Examples
 Remember the Milk http://www.rememberthemilk.com
 Twitter Gadget
 …

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The e4 Story
 First presented at EclipseCon ’08
 20. May 2008: Mail to e4-dev „A radical approach to explore new paths for
e4“
 Platform designed from Scratch
 Based upon an EMF-Application-Model
 No statics, no singletons, usage of Dependency Injection
 Based on OSGi-Services
 14. January 2010: 1.0M3 released
 27. June 2010: 1.0 will be released

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If You Want to Know More about Eclipse
 The foundation:
 http://eclipse.org
 The Danish User Group:
 http://eclipse.dk
 The training:
 http://www.eclipse.org/community/training/classes.php
 Resources on Eclipse:
 http://www.eclipse.org/resources/
 Consolidated Blog:
 http://planeteclipse.org/

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If You Want to Know More about e4
 The Project:
 http://www.eclipse.org/e4/
 Downloading e4:
 http://download.eclipse.org/e4/downloads/
 The Wiki:
 http://wiki.eclipse.org/E4
 The training:
 Not yet, but coming after the Summer
 Tutorials on e4:
 http://www.vogella.de/articles/EclipseE4/article.html

A “create an application” tutorial from Lars Vogel

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Q & A

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Eclipse.dk – The Danish Eclipse Society
 Eclipse.dk was created in Marts 2007 as a meeting place for everyone
interested in the Eclipse (www.eclipse.org) platform.
 The purpose of Eclipse.dk is as follows:
 To promote the knowledge of Eclipse in Denmark.
 To create networks amongst danish Eclipse-users and developers.
 To build knowledge on Eclipse in Denmark, especially

In danish institutes of higher education.

Between danish companies developing applications based on Eclipse.
 Create and maintain a web site on Eclipse for danish users – eclipse.dk.
 Strengthen the relations between danish and international Eclipse-users and
organizations.
 The eclipse.dk society has members representing not only vendors of
Eclipse-based products and services, but also users of the platform and
representatives from institutions of higher education.