One issue that developers new to RCP face is whether to add UI elements programmatically or declaratively. In my experience, most initially choose the programmatic approach because it seems more familiar. You know, why mess with extension points when you can just code it up and be done with it. But it’s almost always better… Continue reading Perspective Layouts – Programmatic vs Declarative
Category: Rich Client Platform
Eclipse RCP Trends
I’ve been having some fun today with Google Insights for Search, and of course my first thought was to examine trends relating to the Eclipse Rich Client Platform. And what did I find? Here is a chart showing historical data beginning in 2004 for the search “eclipse rcp”. First, this is just awesome data! You can… Continue reading Eclipse RCP Trends
Updated PDE Build and Test Example
I’ve just spent some time updating my example showing how to set up PDE Build and the Eclipse Testing Framework. I’ve generally cleaned things up and I’m now creating the test environment in the correct way. As a special bonus, I’ve also thrown in coverage analysis using EMMA. And before people ask, yes I have… Continue reading Updated PDE Build and Test Example
Running Unit Tests for RCP and OSGi Applications
Eclipse provides great tools for testing RCP and OSGi applications using JUnit, but there a few areas that are problematic. It’s not easy to run all the tests in a set of plug-ins. The test launcher allows you to run all the tests in a single project, but RCP and OSGi developers are usually working… Continue reading Running Unit Tests for RCP and OSGi Applications
RCP Target Platform Tips
Setting up a target platform for an Eclipse Rich Client Platform application is fairly simple. You simply download the RCP SDK, extract it to a directory, and then use the Target platform preferences page to point to the new directory. But managing target platforms over time can be more complicated, and I’d like to pass… Continue reading RCP Target Platform Tips
Why create a custom target platform?
One of the most important tips I have for beginning RCP developers is to please, please, please set up a custom target platform for your applications. As a trainer, it’s one of the first things I have students do. This is because target platforms are central to many other things we do as RCP developers,… Continue reading Why create a custom target platform?
Using FormEditor with a single page
I tried to think of a snazzier title for this post, but I’m in a literal mood I guess. So have you ever faced this problem? You want to use the FormEditor class (or it’s new subclass SharedHeaderFormEditor), but you only have a single page. Sure, you can use FormEditor with a single page, but… Continue reading Using FormEditor with a single page
Running Automated Tests with PDE Build
In a previous post, I provided a set of projects that you could use to get a sample build running quickly. The idea was that getting your first build running is half the battle. From that point on, you can make small, incremental changes to accomplish what you like. A common request I’ve received, though,… Continue reading Running Automated Tests with PDE Build
RCP Obfuscation and File Sizes
In response to my last post on obfuscation, Jeff McAffer asked if I had seen any space savings in the obfuscated code. Well l thought it would be an interesting exercise to run the numbers, and the results were surprising. What follows is the list of plug-ins being obfuscated in my Market Contours application. A… Continue reading RCP Obfuscation and File Sizes
Obfuscating an RCP Application
In this article I’m going to take you on a tour of the process I use to build a large-scale RCP application. Obfuscating an RCP application can seem like a big challenge, but it’s really not so bad.