Recipe 12.11 Automatically Adding a Plug-in to a Perspective

12.11.1 Problem

You don't want users to have to explicitly add your plug-in to a perspective by customizing it.

12.11.2 Solution

Use the extension point org.eclipse.ui.perspectiveExtensions in plugin.xml to add the plug-in to the perspective automatically.

12.11.3 Discussion

To automatically add a plug-in to a perspective, use the extension point org.eclipse.ui.perspectiveExtensions in plugin.xml. You can make this just by editing the XML in plugin.xml. Here's how to automatically add the plug-in developed over the previous few recipes to the Java perspective in plugin.xml:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<plugin
   id="org.cookbook.ch12.MenuPlugInFromScratch"
   name="MenuPlugInFromScratch Plug-in"
   version="1.0.0"
   provider-name="Eclipse Cookbook"
   class="org.cookbook.ch12.MenuPlugInFromScratch.MenuPlugInFromScratchPlugin">

   <runtime>
      <library name="MenuPlugInFromScratch.jar"/>
   </runtime>
   <requires>
      <import plugin="org.eclipse.core.resources"/>
      <import plugin="org.eclipse.ui"/>
   </requires>

   <extension
         point="org.eclipse.ui.actionSets">
      <actionSet
            label="Action Set 1"
            visible="true"
            id="org.cookbook.ch12.MenuPlugInFromScratch.actionSet1">
         <menu
               label="Menu 1"
               id="Menu1">
            <separator
                  name="Group1">
            </separator>
         </menu>
         <action
               label="Action 1"
               class="org.cookbook.ch12.MenuPlugInFromScratch.Action1"
               tooltip="This action is functional."
               menubarPath="Menu1/Group1"
               toolbarPath="Group1"
               id="Action1">
         </action>
      </actionSet>
   </extension>
   <extension 
      point = "org.eclipse.ui.perspectiveExtensions">
      <perspectiveExtension
          targetID="org.eclipse.ui.javaPerspective">
         <actionSet
             id="org.cookbook.ch12.MenuPlugInFromScratch.actionSet1">
         </actionSet>
      </perspectiveExtension>
   </extension>
</plugin>

Save plugin.xml after editing it, and restart the Run-time Workbench. When you do, the new plug-in should appear on startup.

Other perspectives can be reached using similar nomenclature. For example, to add a plug-in to the Resource perspective, use org.eclipse.ui.resourcePerspective.