I found this really great article at Hidden Clause called Writing an Eclipse Plug-in (Part 2): Creating a custom project in Eclipse – Adding to the New Project Wizard. My only problem with it is that I am using a newer version of Eclipse, and I really needed screenshots to understand what it was talking about. So, here’s my experience at walking through that tutorial…
Getting Setup
First, I created my own separate Workspace for this task. I’ll probably delete it later, and my hope is to create an Android Kitchen project, but we’ll see how that goes.
So, I entered my path for the new Workspace in the first dialog:
To check the version of Eclipse, I went to Help > About Eclipse. I can see that I have version 4.2:
Just for reference, I checked the version of Java that I had installed:
skp@chestnut:~$ java -version java version "1.7.0_10" Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.7.0_10-b18) Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 23.6-b04, mixed mode)
Also, just for reference, I looked in Window Preferences to see that I had the Oracle Java 7 configured as the JRE to use:
Creating the Project
So, to begin, I need a new project. File > New Project will do the trick:
I chose Plug-in Project.
I just gave the project a name.
I accepted the defaults on the second screen:
I unchecked the option to use a template on the second page of the wizard.
When I hit finish, it offered to open the Plug-in Perspective:
The only Java class that it created was the Activator:
Fix
I ran across this error while trying to add the Wizard. On the top it said:
No schema found for the ‘org.eclipse.ui.newWizards’ extension point
When I tried to add the category, it wasn’t an option:
The fix was to install the SDK. I went to Help > Install New Software:
After that, the message was gone, and I could add the new wizard.
Adding the Project Wizard
In the Project properties, I went to the Extensions tab:
Then, I hit “Add” and chose the newWizards option:
Then, I right clicked on the new extension, and chose to add a new category:
Next, I filled in the ID and Name properties:
Then, I right clicked again on the new wizard extension and added a wizard:
Then, I set the following properties:
- id: skpPluginProject.wizard.new.custom
- name: Custom Project
- class: skppluginproject.wizards.CustomProjectNewWizard
- category: skpPluginProject.category.wizards
Then, don’t forget to save.
Adding a dependency
You will need to add a dependency in order to use the WizardNewProjectCreationPage class. So, we’ll go ahead and add that now. Click on the dependencies tab at the bottom:
Click add and select the org.eclipse.ui.ide plugin:
Now, it should show up in the list. Don’t forget to save.
Creating the Wizard Class
Go back to the extensions tab and click the label for the Class:
This opens the New Class Wizard, and it had everything filled in. So, I could just click finish.
Then, it created the new class:
First Test
According to the article, we are ready to give it a whirl. Select Run As > Eclipse application:
So, this launched a new instance of Eclipse that was pretty much blank:
Then, select File > New > Other
My new “Custom Project” was in the list:
It doesn’t do anything after this. So, we’ll have to close the Eclipse, and we’ll add the next step.
Adding the Page
Now it’s time to add a page. First step is to declare a variable for the page. I copied this code:
private WizardNewProjectCreationPage _pageOne;
If you notice the red line, it’s because the class was not imported. Hitting Ctrl+Shift+O will fix that problem. Next, I copied the addPages() method and added it to my class:
@Override
public void addPages() {
super.addPages();
_pageOne = new WizardNewProjectCreationPage("From Scratch Project Wizard");
_pageOne.setTitle("From Scratch Project");
_pageOne.setDescription("Creating something from scratch");
addPage(_pageOne);
}
I updated the performFinish() method to return true:
Then, I changed the constructor to call the setWindowTitle() function.
Testing a Second Time
Now, I ran the plug-in again. In the new instance of Eclipse, I hit Ctrl+N, and chose the Custom Wizard:
Now, when I click Next, it gives me the new Project page.
But, when I click Finish, it still doesn’t do anything.
Creating a Navigator
Next, I tried to follow-on and create a navigator. I want back to the project’s properties and clicked Add on the extensions tab. This time, I went to the Extension Wizards tab and chose Common Navigator View.
I just used the same View ID and name as Hidden Clause:
I hit yes on the Save dialog:
Making it a New Project Extension
I found that I could set the Project property for the extension to true. Then, it would show the Wizard in the New Project list.
Now, I can do New > Project…
… and, it shows in the list:
Conclusion
This answered many of my questions, but it still doesn’t actually create the project. I need to dig through some of the other posts and figure that out. I’ll save that for a follow up or part 2.