Plug-ins and application classes
A plug-in is a structured component that describes itself to the Eclipse platform using an OSGi manifest (MANIFEST.MF) file and a plug-in manifest (plugin.xml) file. A ZIETrans rich client project is an Eclipse plug-in project that contains artifacts needed for generating a plug-in that runs in an Eclipse environment. Plug-in projects are developed using the Eclipse Plug-in Development Environment (PDE), which is a component of the Eclipse Software Development Kit (SDK).
One tool provided by the Eclipse PDE is the plug-in manifest editor. This editor is used to modify the files that describe the plug-in to the Eclipse environment where it is running. Plug-ins generally have two manifest files: plugin.xml and MANIFEST.MF (plugin.xml is optional if the plug-in is not extending another plug-in). If you open either file in the workbench, the same editor is opened, but fields in the editor are tied to different files. The plugin.xml describes how the plug-in extends the platform, what extensions it publishes itself, and how it implements its functionality. The MANIFEST.MF file indicates the ID, version, vendor, and the other plug-ins required by this plug-in.
- Overview
- Contains fields for modifying the base attributes of the plug-in, such as its plug-in identifier, or ID, and version.
- Dependencies
- Lists the plug-ins required by this plug-in. If you need to use a function available in another plug-in, use this tab to add a dependency on the plug-in.
- Runtime
- Displays the list of Java™ packages available for use by plug-ins that depend on this plug-in.
- Extensions
- Displays the extension points that are extended by this plug-in.
- Extension Points
- Displays the extension points defined by a ZIETrans rich client plug-in. By default, no extension points are defined in a ZIETrans rich client plug-in.
- Build
- Enables you to configure which files are included when this
plug-in is built during an export operation. If you add other files
to this plug-in, you might need to modify this
list.
Note:
- If you add non-Java source files to a plug-in project, you need to update the build.properties file for the plug-in. The build.properties file controls which files are included when a project is exported as a plug-in (first step of deployment). This file is located at the root of the plug-in project and can be edited using the plug-in manifest editor.
- If you create a new folder in a plug-in project, the new folder is not included when you export the plug-in unless you add the folder in the Build tab.
- MANIFEST.MF
- Shows the source view of the plug-in MANIFEST.MF file. You should use the Overview, Dependencies, and Runtime tabs to make changes to this file instead of editing the source directly.
- plugin.xml
- Shows the source view of the plugin.xml file. You should use the Extensions and Extension Points tabs to make changes to this file.
- build.properties
- Shows the source of the build.properties file. You should use the Build tab to make changes to this file.