http://www.richclient2.eu/2007_04_16/customizing-the-ui-in-small-rcp-projects/The
presentation framework
provided by Eclipse gives you the possibility to customize the UI and
the behavior of graphical elements. A good example for UI-customization
is the Lotus Nodes Client “Hannover”. But what do you do If you don’t
have the budget, time or the skill set to implement such an excessive
UI-customization like the guys from “Hannover”? Especially for small
RCP applications with a handful views and the wish that your product
should not look like a “typical Eclipse Client” it is probably better
to use alternative possibilities to create an individual looking RCP.
The following article will give an example how to customize your UI
easily without using any special framework or extension-point.
Product branding with Eclipse RCP
Since it is possible to build RCP applications with Eclipse, the
possibilities to give your application a more personal touch through
the PDE have also increased. Typical elements are for example
splash-screens, program-icons or welcome-screens. But in the most cases
that is not enough. The customer often has a corporate identity with
logos, special colors, fonts,etc. which must be also integrated within
the application.
Step 1: Implementing a banner with integrated Toolbar
An often required UI-element is a banner on top of your views with a
company logo or the name of your product and a toolbar where the key
features of the application are accessible. This is possible if your
overwrite the method WorkbenchWindowAdvisor#createWindowContents(Shell
shell). Eclipse layouts and creates typical elements of your workbench
like the Coolbar, MenuBar and the Statusline. If you overwrite this
method you have the freedom to arrange the content of your window but
you also have to care for the correct initialization of all UI-elements
needed. This step is very effective and your application looks much
more personalized (see picture).
Part of the banner with a two-buttons toolbar
Step 2: Implement your own Viewpart-Title Area
The most characteristic element to indicate a “typical
Eclipse application” is the look of a viewpart with the curved title
and the appended action bar.
With the form enhancements
in Eclipse 3.3M5 and the features with custom titles a new and
interesting possibility is provided to use this feature also as title
in your viewparts. You just have to add the views as standalone views
to your perspective layout and implement the title in your viewpart.
With the ability to customize the colors (see
org.eclipse.ui.forms.FormColors) you can show up views that nobody
would associate with a “typical Eclipse application” (see Image).
Viewparts with Form-Headings and Actionbar (on the right: with Subheader)
Step 3: Move your Progress Indicator
This is an optional step, depending on your
requirements. In nearly every application you have jobs for
background-processes where you need a progress indicator to give the
user a feedback about the job-status. The default-location of the
progress indicator is on the bottom of your application window outside
the page contents. It doesn’t make sense in small applications, that
this little, but important widget needs the whole bottom of your
workbench-window, especially if you don’t have a status-bar. So why not
place the progress-bar somewhere else, e.g. in a viewpart?- In spite of
the “Discouraged Access Warning” you can implement the org.eclipse.ui.internal.progress.ProgressRegion wherever you want (see picture).
Progress Region in a viewpart
Example
I have implemented a small RCP application, which uses
the mentioned UI-customizations (see picture). Check it out (or
download) to see, how easyily an individual UI can be implemented. But
remember: The discussed issues can be realized only for a special type
of RCPs. If you have to customize your “Next generation IDE” with 100
views and editors, please use the presentation framework.
The example application
Conclusion
There are many ways to customize your Eclipse RCP Application. Based on the special requirements of your personal application you have to choose the best toolkit to reach your goal.
Maybe you also have a simple way to customize your RCP product. Let me know.
Downloads
Download the UI Customization Example as RCP (Source included - 11 Mbyte)
CVS-Checkout (more info)