RE: [eclipse-incubator-e4-dev] RCP in E4

["Jeff McAffer" <jeff@xxxxxxxxx>]

Absolutely.  These should be key elements of e4 IMO.  Thanks for summarizing them Kai.  Do you think it would make sense to add these to the e4 wiki and perhaps as an RCP discussion topic for the upcoming summit?

Jeff

> -----Original Message-----
> From: eclipse-incubator-e4-dev-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:eclipse-
> incubator-e4-dev-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Toedter, Kai (CT)
> Sent: Wednesday, April 16, 2008 3:27 AM
> To: E4 developer list
> Subject: [eclipse-incubator-e4-dev] RCP in E4
> 
> Hi All,
> 
> I followed all the discussion about modeling and new UI approaches with
> great interest. But there's another bunch of topics that I find very
> important for E4.
> 
> What is the future of RCP?
> 
> Here is a (non-complete) list of RCP-related topics that could be
> addressed with E4:
> 
> - Can we reduce the complexity?
>  o Right now, after one week of training, a RCP newbie
>    just touched the very basic things of RCP.
>    This is one reason why many big industry companies have problems
> adopting RCP.
>  o A less complex application model
>    and a UI presentation model might help here,
>    but clean, simple and concise Java APIs all over the place are also
> very important.
> 
> - Can we reduce the footprint?
>  o Do bundles like ICU (4.3MB) have to be part of the RCP core?
>  o Can we refactor the workbench bundle (3.7MB) and take optional
> things out of the RCP core?
> 
> - Can we focus on THE best practice of doing things?
>  o In the current RCP implementation there's very often more than one
> way how to archive the same goal.
>  o Can we integrate just the best practice into the core and provide an
> optional compatibility layer?
>  o Example: ActionSets vs. menu contributions (+commands & handlers)
> 
> - Can (and should) we provide a more customizable UI for the desktop?
>  o The ongoing discussions about a canvas based UI core are very
> interesting...
>  o For RCP UI customization currently we have the Presentation API,
>    custom SWT widgets, Equinox transformations etc.,
>    But besides that, current RCP applications look similar to the
> Eclipse IDE.
> 
> - Should we integrate authentication/authorization better in the RCP
> core?
>  o In the Equinox area there is some ongoing work to integrate these
> things  o A standard user/role with UI support concept would be very
> helpful (see bug 201052)
> 
> - Should we integrate provisioning better into the RCP core?
>  o Currently Equinox p2 is integrated into Eclipse 3.4M6, and I like
> the p2 approach.
>  o But as of today, it is not so easy to reuse p2 in a domain specific
> RCP application  o Some of the provisional p2 UIs could be part of the
> public API in the RCP update story
> 
> Best regards,
> 
> Kai
>