[news.eclipse.platform.rcp] Re: Action set, Editor input

[Geri Broser <gerold.broser@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Krishna,

Thanks for your quick response.

Q1: Where am I wrong?

-> To check this problem, you may want to take a look at the log file. 
There might be some exception which might be logged there. This I guess 
may be because the application is not able to find some classes during 
its runtime. I hope seeing the log should be helpful.

>> Thanks for the hint. Yes, the log file shows:

!MESSAGE Could not create action delegate for id: myPackage.myAction
!MESSAGE The Plug-in myPackage.myPlugin could not create an instance of 
class myPackage.myActionClass
java.lang.InstantiationException: myPackage.myAction

And now? Now I know what can NOT be done. Don't have a clue what CAN be 
done. The class is there. In this package. Spelling is correct. It 
extends Action and implements IWorkbenchWindowActionDelegate (I read in 
an other thread that this is necessary, isn't it?)

(And, if one of the appropriate developers comes by eventually: A note 
like "See <path>/.log for details." displayed together with the message 
would be helpful.)


Q2: Would it be better to add the actions via an editorContribution 
(like in 
http://www.eclipse.org/articles/Article-action-contribution/index.html)? 
With the advantage of disabled menu items, unless an editor window is 
opened? But, as extension to WHICH editor? There are three used in the 
text editor example above: AbstractTextEditor, SimpleEditor, XMLEditor.

-> As you said the advantage of using editorContribustion is that you 
will be able to see the menu and tool items only when they are accessed. 
I am not sure if you can group editors for these items, (it would be 
good though if it possible :)). I am also trying for a similar feature, 
maybe your thread will be helpful in this regard :) .

>> I tested implementing editorContributions with the following results:

1.3) Yes. One has to define all actions for each and every editor - 
SimpleEditor and XMLEditor in my case. That's odd, since in my case the 
process is the same, no matter of the contents of the editor.

1.4) The menu and toolbar items are only shown, if an instance of the 
appropriate editor is open. This leads to an empty menu and to an empty 
toolbar unless an editor window is opened --> not very sexy. I'd rather 
would like to have disabled ("grayed out") menu/toolbar items.

1.5) The result when selecting menu/toolbar item is the same: "The 
chosen operation is not currently available."


2) When I add Sign and Verify via ApplicationActionBarAdvisor, the 
proper classes are accessed, of course. The disadvantage is that this 
seems only to be useful for menu items. When I add actions to the 
toolbar there, labels are displayed, not icons. And the items are active 
even if there's nothing to do (no editor has been opened).

-> I am not sure why this problem is arising. I have done this thing of 
adding the actions in toolbar but haven't faced such problem. Have you 
added the icon information for the actions in plugin.xml? Also, have you 
added the export information for the icons folder in build.properties?

>> You don't need actions/-sets in plugin.xml if you add them in 
ApplicationActionBarAdvisor, do you? Anyway, had a wrong file name at 
setImageDescriptor(Activator.getImageDescriptor("/icons/sign.gif")); in 
the action class' constructor.


Q3: How do I get the contents of the currently active editor?

-> What information form the active editor do you require? If it is the 
current editor input you can get it from getEditorInput().

>> Yes, i've read about getEditorInput(). But the question is how to 
get the proper editor (the one which is currently active) first, to be 
able to get its content via getEditorInput().


Q4: How do I open an empty editor and fill it with contents (to display, 
and optionally save, changed data without harming the original file)?

-> I don't get your question. Save the file optionally without harming 
the original file?

>> I would like to open a file. Process it somehow. Put the results of 
this process into a new editor. Optionally save the contents of this new 
editor to a new file. Thus, the contents if the original file do not change.


Geri