Eclipse: Building Commercial-Quality Plug-Ins

by Eric Clayberg and Dan Rubel

Build commercial-grade extensions to Eclipse and WebSphere Studio WorkbenchThis is the first definitive, start-to-finish guide to building commercial-quality extensions for both Eclipse and IBM's... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0321228472
• ISBN13: 9780321228475
• Release Date: January 2004
• Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional
• Length: 821 Pages
• Weight: 2.56 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 7.0" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

An excellent book on Eclipse 3.1/3.2 with lots of tips and detailed diagrams

I read the first edition two years ago and it was the best book at the time on Eclipse 3.0. I learned so much from the first edition, that I got the second edition for Eclipse 3.1 and 3.2 as soon as it was available. I was pleased to see that the authors had completely updated the book to cover the latest versions of Eclipse. All of the negative comments that I see appear to be about the first edition (which is for Eclipse 3.0 and is now out of date) rather than the newer second edition. That really is unfortunate as there is no better book on Eclipse plugin development available. Period. This book is well organized and very easy to read. It is a very clear and practical guide for how to build and package a complete Eclipse-based product. The book includes dozens of detailed diagrams showing how various elements fit together. Many of the best diagrams were actually printed up in poster form at this year's EclipseCon. The book goes into great detail on all of the topics necessary to build a "commercial quality plug-in". Some of the material is available on the web, but not nearly in as much detail or with such comprehensive examples. The authors provide dozens and dozens of useful tips and go into detail on various Eclipse best practices such as those required for "Ready for Rational" certification. All the source code referenced in the book is conveniently available from the book's web site. That makes it easy to try all of the examples without needing to type any of the code in. All of the example code uses pure Eclipse 3.1/3.2 APIs, so there are no deprecated code references (as there would be in the examples from the first edition). The authors have also provided some very useful tools on their web site to make it easier to build plugins. Their free Reference Project tool was particularly invaluable and saved me a tremendous amount of time. In short, this is an excellent book and I recommend it without reservation. Just make sure to get the second edition and not the older first edition.

A very good book

This is a very good book because: 1. It doesn't contain cheap fillers such as JavaDoc References, and repeating things endless etc. For people new to Eclipse chapter 1 gives an introduction to Eclipse: it's very to-the-point. 2. It's very comprehensive. From testing (PDE JUnit) to creating your preferences pages. It's well organized. 3. The length of the code snippets is ok (not too long (filler), not too short). A lot of code is supported by screenshots to explain the code/text. 4. It's just complete! ONE WARNING: This book covers a pre-release of Eclipse 3.0 and NOT Eclipse 3.1. A reprint of this book is expected in april 2006 (according to the publisher's website). If you can't wait: just buy this book. It's really good. If you can wait wait for the 3.1 edition because some things are changed in Ecllipse 3.1.

Before you start developing your plug-in -- read this

I bought this book and it has been a tremendous help for me in developing an Eclipse plug-in at my work. I am new to Eclipse much less developing plug-ins for it; but this book goes step by step with plenty of examples. I like how the authors shared various tips and techniques to help you save time. The book is nicely details on all aspect of Eclipse workbench, wizards, views, and perspectives. It has everything that I need to get started on developing plug-ins. I wish I had this book before I started researching about this topic on my own with the Eclipse help files. Use this book as a references or your guide - just use it. It saved me at least two weeks of trying to research it on my own. The other part that I like about this book, is that, it dives directly into the topic with necessary details and examples; rather than sugar coat it with boring information that will make you get another cup of coffee before you start coding. You can litterally pick up this book and start coding your plug-ins. Also, the author developed some useful tools to help you with your plugins, such as, the "SWT Spy" and "Part Info View" tools. I wouldn't even know where I can get these type of information without these tools.

An indispensable tool for plug-in developers

With the updates in the second edition, this book has just gotten even more valuable. Not only have the authors updated the material to explain how things work in Eclipse 3.1 and 3.2, but they also provide a heads-up for many possible changes in the future. If you are relatively new to plug-in development, this book is a must. It covers the most important topics in plug-in development in an easy to follow style. Each topic begins with a description of the basics, then progresses into more complex issues, making it possible to get started quickly, then come back and expand your knowledge as needed. The book as a whole follows the same approach, beginning with an introduction to Eclipse and the plug-in architecture and progressing into individual topics. If you are an experienced plug-in developer, this book is not only an excellent source of reference material, it also covers many of the issues critical to turning an ordinary plug-in into a first-class plug-in. Discussions range from how to seamlessly integrate with Eclipse to how to make your plug-in extensible and how the Ready for Rational Software requirements impact your design and implementation. It is a must for serious plug-in developers, especially those building commercial applications. Even if you purchased the first edition, the updates in the second edition make it a valuable reference guide when updating your code to run under Eclipse 3.1 and 3.2. There were a lot of changes in Eclipse and this book will help you make sense of them.

The Best Book Available on Developing for Eclipse

If you own any book about Eclipse, but not this one, you're insane. It is, by far, the best available for plug-in designers and developers.The style of the book is perfect. It walks you through the creation of a relatively simple, yet extremely thorough plug-in. Along the way, you get a comprehensive summary of how to utilize just about every facility that Eclipse provides. The code examples are explained with illuminating elegance. ("Ureka! Now I understand all of this!") Rich with screenshot examples. A wealth of tips on use of the IDE itself including fresh insight into version 3.0.Can a person actually have fun with a technical reference? My copy (only a week old) is already ratted, dog-eared, and soiled with coffee stains. Now, I feel like an Eclipse guru. I never write book reviews, but felt compelled to assure my fellow geeks that this one is a solid investment. It is the definitive "Master's Handbook" for the software world's coolest tool.