The platform approach has been a major boost for the success of Eclipse. This is mainly due to two key attributes: (more…)

Eclipse-based applications targeted at developers’ tasks and needs are proliferating. But what does Eclipse have to offer to other user groups, to be more precise non-technical user groups in particular in combination with Rich Client Platform applications?
Just take a closer look at your daily work, and you may probably realize that the greater part of your working routine is spent doing the research and gathering information required for your job - no matter how this information is structured. (more…)

With the development of the RCP Framework a new and elegant possibility to develop client applications was created. The Eclipse licensing model allows you to create commercial applications based on the RCP Platform. However, the question must to be asked under which conditions and with which requirements a computer-based solution based on RCP is the best option. (more…)

The implementation of the “Ctrl+3″ popup was an undisputed enhancement for more usability. It enables a much faster navigation through all the browsable items you may have in your Workbench. A much more interesting topic is how to adopt this widget in order to be extended, restricted and customized. This is especially usefull for RCP Development to hide and add elements. However, there is currently no way to customize the contents of the quick access popup.
The following article provides instructions for an implementation of a fully customizable popup with the known behaviour. The content is contributed using an extra Extension-Point (no bundle-activation required). (more…)

Because I have already read many reviews that dealt with Eclipse 3.3 as a tool or IDE, I want to take up the the aspects of RCP Development with Eclipse 3.3. It is to notice that I am using Eclipse 3.3 since the M5 Release because of the Eclipse UI Form enhancements. (more…)

The Eclipse Update Mechanism is an essential feature for RCP development. Without the possibility to update content or business logic or to fix a bug after you have distributed your product, the RCP Framework wouldn’t be interesting. But the problem is the basic concept of Eclipse itself. It is developed as an open platform where you can plug into everything you want. For RCP-Development this is not practicable in the majority of the cases. You need a restricted management of updates where the user has no choices and no possibility to customize any parameter of an update. Unfortunately Eclipse’s Update-Manager can not be restricted out-of-the-box. In the following I will share my experience with modifying the org.eclipse.update.ui-Plugin. (more…)

If you are attending a fair there are a lots of exhibitors providing you with a CD-ROM containing a small program for company- or product-marketing. Sometimes the exhibitor also wants to distribute documents, PDF-Documents for example, in a nice wrapper. So why not use the Eclipse RCP to build such an application? - The following article will describe how to embed a Derby database and configure your product in a way that will make it possible to execute it from a CD-ROM. (more…)

The presentation framework provided by Eclipse gives you the possibility to customize the UI and the behavior of graphical elements. A good example for UI-customization is the Lotus Nodes Client “Hannover”. But what do you do If you don’t have the budget, time or the skill set to implement such an excessive UI-customization like the guys from “Hannover”? Especially for small RCP applications with a handful views and the wish that your product should not look like a “typical Eclipse Client” it is probably better to use alternative possibilities to create an individual looking RCP. The following article will give an example how to customize your UI easily without using any special framework or extension-point. (more…)

If you want to write a RCP that makes complex data-structure editable, the TableViewer with a CellEditor might becomes your first choice. It has the advantage to make a direct edit in the ui-component in which it is presented. Especially the ComboBoxCellEditor is the preferred way to select a value from a given list of items. But the use of ComboBoxCellEditors should be kept within a limit. If your application makes excessive use of this CellEditor with a heavy amount of items that can be chosen, CellEditors become a usability-nightmare. The following article describes a way how to use existing concepts in the eclipse sdk to avoid user-frustration and improve the usability of your application at the same time. (more…)

Since Eclipse 3.2 JFace provides a possibility to decorate your Controls. That means you can add small icons and messages to your control to give the user a feedback of the expected input. Especially for applications that are designed for a wide range of end-users with different skills, it’s an elegant way holding the users hand while guiding him through different forms. The additional capability of field-assists makes it very easy to improve the handling of your application. In this article an example is shown how to decorate a text-control and adding a simple filed assist. (more…)