Eclipse Extension Generator

Annotate your Eclipse extensions and automatically generate plugin.xml files.

Supported Extensions:

• @Application - Extension of org.eclipse.core.runtime.applications
• @Perspective - Extension of org.eclipse.ui.perspective
• @View - Extension of org.eclipse.ui.views
• @Editor - Extension of org.eclipse.ui.editors

The Eclipse Extension Generator API is designed to be easily integrated into build tools like SBuild.

The Eclipse Extension Generator processes class files, and can therefore work on classes generated by various JVM languages, including Java and Scala and possible others. Let us know, If you can confirm support of your favorite JVM language.

License

Apache License Version 2.0

Annotating your Extensions

Simply add the annotation to your class implementing an Extension Point, e.g. to implement an Application (Java example):

@Application(name = "My RCP Application")
public class RcpApplication implements IApplication {
...

Generating a plugin.xml

Scan all class files in "target/classes" and generate the content of the plugin.xml (Scala example):

import de.tototec.eclipse.extensiongenerator._
val pluginXml = new PluginXmlBuilder(scanDirs = Seq(Path("target/classes"))).build
// write into file, e.g. when used in a SBuild build file
AntEcho(file = Path("target/classes/plugin.xml"), message = pluginXml)

Dependencies

The annotations are written in Java and have no dependencies besides an Java 5.

The generator needs the following dependencies on its classpath:

• Scala 2.10
• Javassist 3.16

The annotations in de.tototec.eclipse.extensiongenerator.annotation package have the class retention policy, which means they are retained in the class files but are not needed at runtime. So, at runtime you will not have to add them to the classpath.

Unfortunatelly, older and current (2.10.0) Scala compilers have a bug and those annotations end up effectively with runtime retention. Here is the ticket: SI-4788. Vote for it or even better, fix it, if that is not acceptable for you.

Downloads

In its current state, there are no binary releases. After some stabilzation and the addition of some more extension points as annotations, Eclipse Extension Generator will be release to Maven Central repository.

The Annotations:

<dependency>
  <groupId>de.tototec</groupId>
  <artifactId>de.tototec.eclipse.extensiongenerator.annotation</artifactId>
  <version>${eegVersion}</version>
</dependency>

The Generator:

<dependency>
  <groupId>de.tototec</groupId>
  <artifactId>de.tototec.eclipse.extensiongenerator</artifactId>
  <version>${eegVersion}</version>
</dependency>