- FAQ 94: What is a plug-in?
- FAQ 95: Do I use plugin or plug-in?
- FAQ 96: What is the plug-in manifest file (plugin.xml)?
- FAQ 97: How do I make my plug-in connect to other plug-ins?
- FAQ 98: What are extensions and extension points?
- FAQ 99: What is an extension point schema?
- FAQ 100: How do I find out more about a certain extension point?
- FAQ 101: When does a plug-in get started?
- FAQ 102: Where do plug-ins store their state?
- FAQ 103: How do I find out the install location of a plug-in?
- FAQ 104: What is the classpath of a plug-in?
- FAQ 105: How do I add a library to the classpath of a plug-in?
- FAQ 106: How can I share a JAR among various plug-ins?
- FAQ 107: How do I use the context class loader in Eclipse?
- FAQ 108: Why doesnt Eclipse play well with Xerces?
- FAQ 109: What is a plug-in fragment?
- FAQ 110: Can fragments be used to patch a plug-in?
- FAQ 111: What is a configuration?
- FAQ 112: How do I find out whether the Eclipse Platform is running?
- FAQ 113: Where does System.out and System.err output go?
- FAQ 114: How do I locate the owner plug-in from a given class?
- FAQ 115: How does OSGi and the new runtime affect me?
- FAQ 116: What is a dynamic plug-in?
- FAQ 117: How do I make my plug-in dynamic enabled?
- FAQ 118: How do I make my plug-in dynamic aware?
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
FAQ 96: What is the plug-in manifest file (plugin.xml)?
The plug-in manifest file, plugin.xml, describes how the plug-in extends the platform, what extensions it publishes itself, and how it implements its functionality. The manifest file is written in XML and is parsed by the platform when the plug-in is loaded into the platform. All the information needed to display the plug-in in the UI, such as icons, menu items, and so on, is contained in the manifest file. The implementation code, found in a separate Java JAR file, is loaded when, and only when, the plug-in has to be run. This concept is referred to as lazy loading. Here is the manifest file for a simple plug-in:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<?eclipse version="3.0"?>
<plugin id="com.xyz.myplugin" name="My Plugin"
class="com.xyz.MyPlugin" version="1.0">
<runtime>
<library name="MyPlugin.jar"/>
</runtime>
<requires>
<import plugin="org.eclipse.core.runtime"/>
</requires>
</plugin>
The processing instructions at the beginning specify the XML version and character encoding and that this plug-in was built for version 3.0 of the Eclipse Platform. The plugin element specifies the basic information about the plug-in, including, in this case, the optional class attribute to specify an instance of the Plugin class associated with this plug-in. Because it contains a subclass of Plugin, this plug-in must include a runtime element that specifies the JAR file that contains the code and a requires element to import the org.eclipse.core.runtime plug-in where the superclass resides. The manifest may also specify extensions and extension points associated with the plug-in. Of all this, only the plugin element with the id, name, and version attributes are required.
Note
FAQ 94 What is a plug-in?
FAQ 98 What are extensions and extension points?
FAQ 101 When does a plug-in get started?