11.1 All You Really Need Is plugin.xml

Creating a very simple plug-in is easy enough—all you need is a working plugin.xml. To show how this works, you can use a text editor to create a new plug-in manifest, plugin.xml, for a fictional plug-in named org.eclipsebook.first. In this case, we'll set the plug-in's name, ID, version number, and the name of its provider like this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<plugin
    id="org.eclipsebook.first"
    name="First Plug-in"
    version="1.0.0"
    provider-name="Steve">
</plugin>

Just store plugin.xml in plugins\org.eclipsebook.first_1.0.0 and restart Eclipse. You can find the new plug-in in the plug-in registry, which is where Eclipse holds data about all current plug-ins. To see that data, select Help About Eclipse Platform and click the Plug-in Details button, opening the About Eclipse Platform Plug-ins dialog you see in Figure 11-1.

Figure 11-1. The plug-in registry

You can see the new, fictional plug-in in the registry, near the bottom.

If an Eclipse project has a plug-in manifest, it's considered a plug-in project.

That's a nice exercise but it doesn't go very far in extending Eclipse. Developing a real plug-in involves creating multiple files, including multiple code files. The good news is that Eclipse has built-in wizards to help you out.