Plug-in development 101, Part 2: Introducing Rich-Client Applications

Branding

The Branding tab (see Figure 13) allows you to do three things: customize window images, create a custom about dialog, and create an optional welcome page. Window images are simply the images associated with your application shell windows. For example, when you launch Eclipse, the title bar has a little 16x16 Eclipse icon. These are the types of icons you can customize. Most software applications have some form of an about dialog to list things like licenses, authorship, and version information. The product configuration editor lets you reuse the existing Eclipse about dialog, but customize it with your own images and information.

The welcome page is something you can create to aid your users in learning your application. For example, to see the default Eclipse Welcome page, simply select the Help > Welcome menu item. If you desire something similar for your application, you can start the process in the Welcome Page section of the Branding tab. Since creating a welcome page is outside the scope of this article, to learn more, please consult Resources to discover more information about Eclipse user-assistance technologies.

Figure 13. Branding

Resources

Learn

• Pluginbuilder.org helps automate the construction of Eclipse plug-ins.
  
  
• The OSGi Alliance created the plug-in standard used by Eclipse.
  
  
• Learn more about Eclipse Plug-in Versioning at the Eclipse Foundation wiki.
  
  
• See the Eclipse EE guide at the Eclipse Foundation wiki.
  
  
• To learn more about the Eclipse Rich Client Platform, visit Eclipse.org.
  
  
• To learn more about the Eclipse SDK, see the Eclipse Foundation documentation titled "Platform Extension Points."
  
  
• Need help creating a welcome page for your RCP application? Read "Get to know Eclipse User Assistance."
  
  
• Need help debugging in Eclipse? Read "Debugging with the Eclipse Platform."
  
  
• Good background information on internationalizing plug-ins can be found in the Eclipse Foundation's articles "How to Internationalize your Eclipse Plug-In" and "How to Test Your Internationalized Eclipse Plug-In."
  
  
• Check out the "Recommended Eclipse reading list."
  
  
• Browse all the Eclipse content on developerWorks.
  
  
• New to Eclipse? Read the developerWorks article "Get started with Eclipse Platform" to learn its origin and architecture, and how to extend Eclipse with plug-ins.
  
  
• Expand your Eclipse skills by checking out IBM developerWorks' Eclipse project resources.
  

Get products and technologies

• Download an Eclipse distribution containing the Plug-in Development Environment (PDE) from Eclipse.org.
  
  
• The first stop to make when seeking plug-ins is the Eclipse Foundation's project list.
  
  
• The second stop to make when seeking plug-ins is Eclipse Plug-in Central (EPIC).
  
  
• Check out the latest Eclipse technology downloads at IBM alphaWorks.
  
  
• Download Eclipse Platform and other projects from the Eclipse Foundation.
  
  
  Discuss
  
• The Eclipse Platform newsgroups should be your first stop to discuss questions regarding Eclipse. (Selecting this will launch your default Usenet news reader application and open eclipse.platform.)
  
  
• The Eclipse newsgroups has many resources for people interested in using and extending Eclipse.