Wizards - RCP - ViewPart

Subclasses of the Eclipse RCP ViewPart class can be created using the RCP ViewPart wizard. The wizard can be selected from the drop down Designer wizard menu or from the Eclipse New wizard. To use the wizard, select the project source folder and package to contain the class. Then enter the class name and view name and hit the Finish button.

The wizard generates the following code.

import org.eclipse.jface.action.IMenuManager;

import org.eclipse.jface.action.IToolBarManager;

import org.eclipse.swt.SWT;

import org.eclipse.swt.widgets.Composite;

import org.eclipse.ui.part.ViewPart;

public static final String ID = "sample.rcp.EclipseViewPartTest";

public class EclipseViewPartTest extends ViewPart {

    public void createPartControl(Composite parent) {

        Composite container = new Composite(parent, SWT.NONE);

        createActions();

        initializeToolBar();

        initializeMenu();

    }

    private void createActions() {

    }

    private void initializeToolBar() {

        IToolBarManager tbm =

            getViewSite().getActionBars().getToolBarManager();

    }

    private void initializeMenu() {

        IMenuManager manager =

           getViewSite().getActionBars().getMenuManager();

    }

    public void setFocus() {

    }

}

If the ViewPart is created in an existing plugin project, the plugin.xml file is also updated with the appropriate view declaration.

When editing ViewParts, Designer presents two tabs in the design area, one for laying out the contents of the view (using any widgets or layout managersr) and a second for defining actions and assigning them to the view's toolbar and menu.

On the Actions tab, the first column, Actions, is used to define new actions (which are created as inner classes of the current class). New actions may be created using the Add button (plus icon) above the column, existing actions may be added using the Open button (folder icon),  and existing actions may be deleted using the Delete button (minus) icon. Selecting an action allows you to edit its icons, label and tool tip text within the property pane. 

The second column, Toolbar, is used to define the contents of the view's toolbar. Actions and separators may be dragged from the Actions column and dropped in the Toolbar column. Toolbar actions may be rearranged using the Move Up and Move Down buttons and deleted using the Delete button above the column. The order of individual items may also be rearranged via drag and drop.

The third column, Menu, is used to define the contents of the view's menu. Actions, separators and menu managers may be dragged from the Actions column and dropped in the Menu column. Menus may be expanded and collapse using the Expand All and Collapse All buttons and deleted using the Delete button above the column. The order of individual items may also be rearranged via drag and drop.

When the ViewPart itself is selected in the property pane, its icon, category and title may be edited. New categories may also be created.