I really like it (maybe the Eclipse graphic could be a little lower to feel more centered but otherwise it is great).

The details are in the Bug report:

Bug: https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=341645

You can download the latest integration build of Eclipse 4.2 and get this new Splashscreen. See Eclipse 4 Tutorial for the details of installing Eclipse 4.

These are good times for Eclipse 4; the Splash Screen is what every IDE user will see, almost every day. Its great that it looks modern and attractive.

Eclipse 4 Services Tutorial

I hope this helps. I’m pretty excited about Eclipse 4, developing Eclipse 3.x plug-ins or RCP applications start to feel “outdated”.

	@Execute
	public void execute(EPartService partService, MApplication application,
			EModelService modelService) {
		MPart part = MBasicFactory.INSTANCE.createPart();
		part.setLabel("New Part");
		part.setContributionURI("platform:/plugin/de.vogella.e4.modelservice/de.vogella.e4.modelservice.part.NewPart");
		 List<MPartStack> stacks = modelService.findElements(application, null,
				MPartStack.class, null);
		 stacks.get(0).getChildren().add(part);
		 partService.showPart(part, PartState.ACTIVATE);
	}

The nice thing of this example is that it demonstrates how you can use the dynamic creating of application elements together with the part and the model service. Via the model service with use for a stack and this part is assigned to the first stack found.

You find more information in my Eclipse e4 tutorial.

The EModelService is pretty useful in my opinion as it allows you to access multiple model elements and you can use different filters, e.g. id, class name or tags. The following example is the implementation of a e4 handler. The first few statements will get get a few model elements and the last one will actually change the width of the first window to demonstrate that you can directly change model elements.

@Execute
	public void execute(MApplication application, EModelService service, Display display) {
		System.out.println("Got Model Service: " + (service != null));
		// Alternatively get the model service from the application
		EModelService modelService = (EModelService) application.getContext()
				.get(EModelService.class.getName());
		// both services are identical
		System.out.println("Got Model Service: " + (service != modelService));
		// Find objects by ID
		List<MPart> findElements = service.findElements(application, "mypart",
				MPart.class, null);
		System.out.println("Found part(s) : " + findElements.size());
		// Find objects by type
		List<MPart> parts = service.findElements(application, null,
				MPart.class, null);
		System.out.println("Found parts(s) : " + parts.size());
		// Find objects by tags
		List<String> tags = new ArrayList<String>();
		tags.add("justatag");
		List<MUIElement> elementsWithTags = modelService.findElements(application, null,
				null, tags);
		System.out.println("Found parts(s) : " + elementsWithTags.size());
		// Get the MWindow and change its size
		List<MWindow> windows = modelService.findElements(application, null, MWindow.class,
				 null);
		if (windows.size()>=1){
			 MWindow mWindow = windows.get(0);
			 System.out.println("Got the window");
			for (int i = mWindow.getWidth(); i >= mWindow.getWidth() - 100; i--) {
				while (!display.readAndDispatch()){
					mWindow.setWidth(i);
					wait10();
				}
			}
		}
	}
	private void wait10(){
		try {
			Thread.sleep(5);
		} catch (InterruptedException e) {
			e.printStackTrace();
		}
	}

As usually find more details about Eclipse e4 in my Eclipse e4 tutorial.

Another very nice thing about the renderer framework and the model is that the e4 application model can get extended and that you can define your own renderer for your own model element.

For example you can define a model element “GoogleMap” which will be renderered via your own renderer as a Google Map (using the SWT Browser widget).

Please find a complete description how to set this up in my Eclipse e4 renderer tutorial. You can also follow me on Twitter here if you want.

You can download it from http://download.eclipse.org/e4/sdk/drops/S-4.1M3-201010291118.

The e4 build provides a repo that can be used to install the source bundles for e4 UI and e4 UI CSS, as well as other e4 functionailty like the modeling tools, XWT, and SFS (resources). This has been a big problem for Eclipes 4.1 M2 and seems to be solved now. Congrats for providing the p2 update site!

Unfortunately the p2 update in Eclipse 4.1 M3 takes very, very, very, very long. So be patient if you try to install the e4 tooling.

In preparation of the Eclipse Summit Europe I have heavily extended my Eclipse e4 tutorial. Please give Eclipse 4.1 M3 a test drive and open bugs against Eclipse E4/UI (or appropriate component).

I added an example to my Eclipse 4.0 Tutorial how you could use a processor to remove certain model elements (in my case menu entries) and how to add a new one.

package de.vogella.e4.todo.contribute;

import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.List;

import javax.inject.Inject;
import javax.inject.Named;

import org.eclipse.e4.core.di.annotations.Execute;
import org.eclipse.e4.ui.model.application.ui.menu.MDirectMenuItem;
import org.eclipse.e4.ui.model.application.ui.menu.MMenu;
import org.eclipse.e4.ui.model.application.ui.menu.MMenuElement;
import org.eclipse.e4.ui.model.application.ui.menu.MMenuFactory;

public class MenuProcessor {
	// I get this via the parameter of the process definition
	@Inject
	@Named("de.vogella.e4.todo.filemenu")
	private MMenu menu;

	@Execute
	public void execute() {
		// Remove the old exit menu entry
		if (menu != null && menu.getChildren() != null) {
			List<MMenuElement> list = new ArrayList<MMenuElement>();
			for (MMenuElement element : menu.getChildren()) {
				if (element.getLabel().contains("Exit")) {
					list.add(element);
				}
			}
			menu.getChildren().removeAll(list);
		}

               // Add a new menu entry
		MDirectMenuItem menuItem = MMenuFactory.INSTANCE.createDirectMenuItem();
		menuItem.setLabel("Another Exit");
		menuItem.setContributionURI("platform:/plugin/de.vogella.e4.todo.contribute/de.vogella.e4.todo.contribute.handler.ExitHandlerWithCheck");
		menu.getChildren().add(menuItem);
	}
}

I hope this shows how simple the application model can be modified. For details check out Eclipse 4.0 Tutorial .

To make this work add a dependency to the plugin “org.eclipse.e4.ui.workbench.addons.swt” and add the Add-On “org.eclipse.e4.ui.workbench.addons.dndaddon.DnDAddon” to your “Application.e4xmi”. For example you could add it via the following:

I also updated my Eclipse e4 Tutorial.

Many thanks to Tom Schindl for the tip.

[Update] The D&D in the user interface creates additional containers. To get ride of them use the Add-On platform:/plugin/org.eclipse.e4.ui.workbench.addons.swt/org.eclipse.e4.ui.workbench.addons.cleanupaddon.CleanupAddon

Eclipse e4 has no ApplicationWorkbenchAdvisor class and the application model has no property to set this. Therefore you may assume that you cannot influence the e4 behavior.

But of course this is not true.

e4 has two command line options to get a similar behavior then in Eclipse 3.6. If you use the command line option “-clearPersistedState” then the user changes will be deleted.

I believe “-deltaRestore” is intended to work similar to setSaveAndRestore(true). Currently in Eclipse 4.1 M2 the state is always saved but I think that is a minor bug. See https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=313883 for details.

Many thanks to Remy Suen for the tip on these parameters.

Once the bug discussion has been finished I will update my Eclipse 4.0 Tutorial.

[UPDATE: The parameter is not called deltaIgnore instead of "deltaRestore".]

If so it would be great if you join my presentation about Eclipse 4.0 / Eclipse e4. The german title roughly translates into “the unexpected simplicity of developing Eclipse plugin and Eclipse RCP applications”.

The talk will be in German and details can be found on Saxony Website. I’m looking forward to meet you.