Adapters help to display information about objects in view without having to adjust the existing views. In this example we will create a small view which allows to select objects and use the properties view to display them.

Adapters are used on several places for example you can use an adapter to display your data in the outline view. See Outline View Example for an example how to do this.

We will simple use an adapter to show our data in the property view. Create a new plugin project "de.vogella.plugin.adapter". Use the "Plug-in with a view" template with the following settings.

Add the dependency "org.eclipse.ui.views" in tab dependencies of plugin.xml.

Create the following data model.

				
package de.vogella.plugin.adapter.model;

public class Todo {
	private String summary;
	private String description;
	public String getSummary() {
		return summary;
	}
	public void setSummary(String summary) {
		this.summary = summary;
	}
	public String getDescription() {
		return description;
	}
	public void setDescription(String description) {
		this.description = description;
	}

}

			

Change the code of SampleView.java to the following. After this change you should be able to run your project, open your view and see your todo items.

				
package de.vogella.plugin.adapter.views;

import org.eclipse.jface.viewers.IStructuredContentProvider;
import org.eclipse.jface.viewers.ITableLabelProvider;
import org.eclipse.jface.viewers.LabelProvider;
import org.eclipse.jface.viewers.TableViewer;
import org.eclipse.jface.viewers.Viewer;
import org.eclipse.swt.SWT;
import org.eclipse.swt.graphics.Image;
import org.eclipse.swt.widgets.Composite;
import org.eclipse.ui.ISharedImages;
import org.eclipse.ui.PlatformUI;
import org.eclipse.ui.part.ViewPart;

import de.vogella.plugin.adapter.model.Todo;


public class SampleView extends ViewPart {
	public static final String ID = "de.vogella.plugin.adapter.views.SampleView";

	private TableViewer viewer;

	class ViewContentProvider implements IStructuredContentProvider {
		private Todo[] todos;
		public void inputChanged(Viewer v, Object oldInput, Object newInput) {
			todos = (Todo[]) newInput;
		}

		public void dispose() {
		}

		@Override
		public Object[] getElements(Object inputElement) {
			return todos;
		}

	}

	class ViewLabelProvider extends LabelProvider implements
			ITableLabelProvider {
		public String getColumnText(Object obj, int index) {
			Todo todo = (Todo) obj;
			return todo.getSummary();
		}

		public Image getColumnImage(Object obj, int index) {
			return getImage(obj);
		}

		public Image getImage(Object obj) {
			return PlatformUI.getWorkbench().getSharedImages().getImage(
					ISharedImages.IMG_OBJ_ELEMENT);
		}
	}

	/**
	 * This is a callback that will allow us to create the viewer and initialize
	 * it.
	 */
	public void createPartControl(Composite parent) {
		viewer = new TableViewer(parent, SWT.MULTI | SWT.H_SCROLL
				| SWT.V_SCROLL);
		viewer.setContentProvider(new ViewContentProvider());
		viewer.setLabelProvider(new ViewLabelProvider());
		getSite().setSelectionProvider(viewer);
		viewer.setInput(getElements());

	}

	/**
	 * Passing the focus request to the viewer's control.
	 */
	public void setFocus() {
		viewer.getControl().setFocus();
	}
	
	// Build up a simple data model
	private Todo[] getElements() {
		Todo[] todos = new Todo[2];
		Todo todo = new Todo();
		todo.setSummary("First Todo");
		todo.setDescription("A very good description");
		todos[0] = todo;
		todo = new Todo();
		todo.setSummary("Second Todo");
		todo.setDescription("Second super description");
		todos[1] = todo;
		return todos;
	}
}

			

To displays its values in the property view, add the extension point "org.eclipse.core.runtime.adapters" to your project. The data of the extension point should be like the following.

				
<extension
         point="org.eclipse.core.runtime.adapters">
      <factory
            adaptableType="de.vogella.plugin.adapter.model.Todo"
            class="de.vogella.plugin.adapter.TodoAdapterFactory">
         <adapter
               type="org.eclipse.ui.views.properties.IPropertySource">
         </adapter>
      </factory>
</extension>

			

Implement the factory and the new class "TodoPropertySource" which implements "IPropertySource".

				
package de.vogella.plugin.adapter;

import org.eclipse.core.runtime.IAdapterFactory;
import org.eclipse.ui.views.properties.IPropertySource;

import de.vogella.plugin.adapter.model.Todo;

public class TodoAdapterFactory implements IAdapterFactory {

	@Override
	public Object getAdapter(Object adaptableObject, Class adapterType) {
		if (adapterType== IPropertySource.class && adaptableObject instanceof Todo){
			return new TodoPropertySource((Todo) adaptableObject);
		}
		return null;
	}

	@Override
	public Class[] getAdapterList() {
		return new Class[] { IPropertySource.class };
	}

}

			

				
package de.vogella.plugin.adapter;

import org.eclipse.ui.views.properties.IPropertyDescriptor;
import org.eclipse.ui.views.properties.IPropertySource;
import org.eclipse.ui.views.properties.TextPropertyDescriptor;

import de.vogella.plugin.adapter.model.Todo;

public class TodoPropertySource implements IPropertySource {

	private final Todo todo;

	public TodoPropertySource(Todo todo) {
		this.todo = todo;
	}


	@Override
	public boolean isPropertySet(Object id) {
		return false;
	}

	@Override
	public Object getEditableValue() {
		return this;
	}

	@Override
	public IPropertyDescriptor[] getPropertyDescriptors() {

		return new IPropertyDescriptor[] {
				new TextPropertyDescriptor("summary", "Summary"),
				new TextPropertyDescriptor("description", "Description") };
	}

	@Override
	public Object getPropertyValue(Object id) {
		if (id.equals("summary")) {
			return todo.getSummary();
		}
		if (id.equals("description")) {
			return todo.getDescription();
		}
		return null;
	}

	@Override
	public void resetPropertyValue(Object id) {

	}

	@Override
	public void setPropertyValue(Object id, Object value) {
		String s = (String) value;
		if (id.equals("summary")) {
			todo.setSummary(s);
		}
		if (id.equals("description")) {
			todo.setDescription(s);
		}
	}

}

			

If you run your workbench and open your View via Windows -> Show View -> Others -> Sample Category -> Sample View and the property view you should be able to view your data.