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L0001 - The Terminology of the Eclipse Platform
The document provides a comprehensive overview of the Eclipse platform, focusing on its architecture, terminology, and fundamental components such as plug-ins and extension points. It emphasizes the platform's flexibility in hosting third-party applications and integrating tools, while detailing the roles of various architectural elements, including OSGi and the workbench environment. Additionally, it outlines the system's organization through concepts like features and products, as well as the advantages and disadvantages of using extension points.
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L0001 - The Terminology of the Eclipse Platform
- 1. The Terminology ofthe Eclipse Platform This is a basic walk-through of all the central concepts of the Eclipse platform and how these fit together. The primary goal of this module is to establish a common terminology. Redistribution and other use of this material requires written permission from The RCP Company. L0001 - 2010-11-27
- 2. Eclipse Architecture Goals forthe Eclipse architecture Be able to host any number of 3rd party applications Scalability in terms of size and complexity of hosted applications Alignment with native UI look-n-feel Flexible architecture, structured around Plug-ins – the basic unit of functionality Extension points – the defined interfaces between plug-ins This architecture allows for Implementation of 3rd party applications on top of the basic platform (Eclipse RCP) Additional tools to be integrated in the platform Integrated tools to be further extended 2 L0001 - 2010-11-27
- 3. 3 JDT Team PDE Resources Eclipse RCP CVS Workspace Eclipse Platform Git Help Update CDT Apache SWT WTP JFace Eclipse Architectural Components File System Workbench DataTools Web Server BIRT Text Editor OSGi/Run-time SOA Intro PDP Preferences Navigator EMP Jobs Search ICU Commands Mylyn Registry L0001 - 2010-11-27
- 4. The Basic RCPComponents In Eclipse, everything is a plug-in, including the run-time platform itself It is a small kernel that represents the base of the platform Built on top of OSGi All subsystems built on the run-time platform follow the rules of plug-ins: They are plug-ins themselves Eclipse RCP Preferences Commands RCP includes: Registry Workbench Jobs ICU Component Management JFace Resources Management SWT OSGi/Run-time Preferences Workbench (include SWT and JFace) RCP does not include the following: Update Help This can be included from the Eclipse platform 4 L0001 - 2010-11-27
- 5. Base Authentication Data Model Communication Data Model Logging Base Logic Audit Your Typical RCP Application Add-on SWT Add-on JFace Workbench Add-on Eclipse RCP Add-on OSGi/Run-time Eclipse Platform Add-on Help Add-on Preferences Intro Add-on Jobs Update ICU Apache Commands Debug Tools Registry L0001 - 2010-11-27
- 6. Organizing the Platform AnEclipse system is based on a number of basic concepts 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 are 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 6 L0001 - 2010-11-27
- 7. Extension Points Describe additionalfunctionality that could be integrated with the platform External tools extend the platform to bring specific functionality Java Development Tooling (JDT) and Plug-in Development Environment (PDE) are external tools integrated with the platform Extension points are used to Add an implementation for a generic feature Extend the workbench Extend common object factory Advantages: Allows for late load and startup of plug-ins Provides a common “registry” for most extensions like views, perspectives, commands, etc Disadvantages: Makes it harder to understand flow of control ID Hell! Extension points may have corresponding API interface Describes what should be provided in the extension 7 L0001 - 2010-11-27
- 8. The Role ofRun-Time/OSGi Dynamic module system for Java based on the OSGi specification Solves many of the problems of big applications Late activation of code Multiple versions of the same library Eclipse is the reference implementation! Eclipse RCP Preferences Commands Registry Workbench Jobs ICU JFace SWT OSGi/Run-time 8 L0001 - 2010-11-27
- 9. Workbench Represents the desktopdevelopment environment It contains a set of tools for resource management It provides a common way of navigating through the resources Multiple workbench windows can be opened at the same time in individual frames Eclipse RCP Preferences Commands Registry Workbench Jobs ICU JFace SWT OSGi/Run-time 9 L0001 - 2010-11-27
- 10. More Information “EclipseRoadmap” http://www.eclipse.org/org/councils/roadmap_v2_0/index.php “Will It Go Round in Circles?” by Rick DeNatale http://talklikeaduck.denhaven2.com/2008/10/15/will-it-go-round-in- circles The basic Eclipse History from an insider “Eclipse: Behind the Name” http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Application-Development/Eclipse-Behind- the-Name/ Who “eclipse” who… “Swing/SWT Integration” http://www.eclipse.org/resources/resource.php?id=381 10 L0001 - 2010-11-27
Editor's Notes
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- #3 The basic goals for the Eclipse architecture mean – among other things – that the complete platform must be equally accessible for all parties. So all parts of the basic platform must be\n Free of charge\n Fully documented\n No licensing attached to any of the software apart from the basic EPL – Eclipse Public License\nThe basic unit of functionality in Eclipse is the plug-in. A single plug-in can encompass a complete application, but it can also be a functional independent part of an application.\nThe interfaces between plug-ins is defined via extension points  Extension points are well-defined places in the system where other plug-ins can contribute functionality.\nEach major subsystem in Eclipse IDE and Eclipse RCP is itself structured as a set of plug-ins that implement some key function and define extension points.  The Eclipse system itself is built by contributing to the same extension points that third party plug-in providers can use.  Plug-ins can define their own extension points or simply add extensions to the extension points of other plug-ins.\nNote that the concepts of plug-ins and extension points run very deep in the Eclipse platform; even the very basic parts of the platform are organized as plug-ins with extension points. The only Eclipse RCP plug-in that does not provide or use extensions is SWT.\n
- #4 Eclipse products are built in layers.\n At the bottom there are Eclipse RCP with the bare necessities. The RCP subsystems typically add visible features to the platform and provide APIs for extending their functionality. Some of these components supply additional class libraries that do not directly relate to an extension point, but can be used to implement extensions. For example, the workbench UI supplies the JFace UI framework and the SWT widget toolkit. \n The platform layer adds the generic features needed for an Integrated Development Environment (IDE).\n The different language support sits on top of the platform. The basic IDE features (known under the misleading name Eclipse SDK) includes two major tools that are useful for plug-in development. The Java development tooling (JDT) implements a full-featured Java development environment. The Plug-in Developer Environment (PDE) adds specialized tools that streamline the development of plug-ins and extensions.\nLikewise for the many features of Calisto, Europa and now Ganymede. They are also layered to provide a set of basic features that are used by other features to provide better and more specialized tools.\nThe Resources, Workspace and Update components shown above are not really part of the very basic RCP component set. They are used very often in RCP applications.\n
- #5 The platform run-time core implements the run-time engine that starts the platform base and dynamically discovers plug-ins. A plug-in is a structured component that describes itself to the system using a manifest (plugin.xml) file. The platform maintains a registry of installed plug-ins and the functions they provide.\nFunctionality is added to the system using a common extension model. Extension points are well-defined function points in the system that can be extended by plug-ins. When a plug-in contributes an implementation for an extension point, we say that it adds an extension to the platform. Plug-ins can define their own extension points, so that other plug-ins can integrate tightly with them.\nThe extension mechanisms are the only means of adding function to the platform and other plug-ins. All plug-ins use the same mechanisms.  Plug-ins provided with the Eclipse SDK do not use any private mechanisms in their implementation.\nExtensions are typically written in Java using the platform APIs. However, some extension points accommodate extensions provided as platform executables, ActiveX components, or developed in scripting languages. In general, only a subset of the full platform function is available to non-Java extensions. \nA general goal of the run-time is that the end user should not pay a memory or performance penalty for plug-ins that are installed, but not used. A plug-in can be installed and added to the registry, but the plug-in will not be activated unless a function provided by the plug-in has been requested according to the user's activity.\n
- #6 Using Eclipse RCP in an application is typically done the very same way as when used in Eclipse IDE.\n At the bottom there are Eclipse RCP with the bare necessities.\n The platform layer adds the generic features needed for any application in the specific environment.\n The application itself is then placed at the top.\n
- #7 The terms listed above are central to an Eclipse system and it is rather important to understand them in order to implement a big Eclipse application.\n
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- #9 There are two parallel JSR projects which both look at OSGi, but with totally different results!\n JSR 291, “Dynamic Component Support for Java SE”, aims to use OSGi directly in standard Java SE\n JSR 277, “Java Module System”, aims to implement a completely new module system. In this case “OSGi is not good enough”.\n OSGi: The OSGi Alliance used to be known as the Open Services Gateway Initiative. Go to: http://www.osgi.org\n
- #10 The term Workbench refers to the desktop development environment. The Workbench aims to achieve seamless tool integration and controlled openness by providing a common paradigm for the creation, management, and navigation of Workbench resources.\nEach Workbench window contains one or more perspectives.  Perspectives contain views and editors and control what appears in certain menus and tool bars.  More than one Workbench window can exist on the desktop at any given time.\n
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