[platform-ant-dev] Re-using the launch config framework

["Darin Wright" <Darin_Wright@xxxxxxx>]

As previously posted on the ant mailing list, the External Tools and Ant components of the Eclipse SDK intend to re-use the launch configuration framework. External tools and Ant scripts will be presented in a specialized version of the launch configuration dialog (called the "External Tools" dialog). The user will be able to create and configure external tools in a similar way they create/edit launch configurations.

To support this type of extension of the launch configuration framework, a "category" attribute has been added to launch configuration type definitions. By default, existing launch cofiguration types have an unspecified (null) category. External tool launch configurations will have a "category" of "external tools". The Debug UI will only display launch configurations (in the dialog, histories, etc.), that have an unspecified category (to support backwards compatibility). An API has been added to allow clients to open the launch configuration dialog with a special title, message, image, and filter applied to the launch configuration tree. The external tools framework will use this API to display its specialized version of the dialog.

A first cut of this new API has been released to HEAD. The changes are non-breaking - existing launch configurations will work as they did before.

Darin