Abstract

This chapter looks at the process of developing Eclipse plug-ins. Eclipse is built on the notion of plug-ins that define its functionality beyond the base platform. So in order to extend Eclipse's functionality, a user needs to create one or more additional plug-ins. Perhaps not surprisingly, Eclipse provides a powerful, easy-to-use tool, the Plug-in Development Environment (PDE), to assist in creating new plug-ins. PDE hides many of the excruciating details of plug-in development. Eclipse defines some 200 extension points where the basic platform can be enhanced by plugging in extensions. The role of a plug-in, then, is to implement extensions. Normal plug-ins execute as extensions of the Eclipse workbench. The Rich Client Platform (RCP), first introduced in version 3.0, is basically a refactoring of the fundamental parts of the Eclipse UI that allows it to be used for non-IDE applications. It provides a mechanism that allows you to use the same plug-in development environment to build stand-alone Java applications that utilize Eclipse UI features. Another project, the embedded Rich Client Platform (eRCP), brings the same capability to embedded devices.

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