Chapter 6.  Adding Actions - Eclipse Rich Client Platform: Designing, Coding, and Packaging Java Applications

Chapter 6. Adding Actions

In Eclipse, the term action is used to describe a visible element in an application that allows users to initiate a unit of work. You may notice several terms in Eclipse documentation used to describe units of work: operations, actions, action delegates, commands, and jobs. However, actions figure most prominently in RCP applications. The key concept is that when you click a menu, toolbar, or invoke a key sequence, an action is run. It's that simple.

As you can imagine, actions are essential for most applications. Hyperbola doesn't have any actions yet, so it's difficult to see how the real product will look and feel. In this chapter, we show you how to:

• Add a top-level menu and toolbar.

• Add the standard File > Exit and Help > About actions.

• Create an action to add a contact, and place the action in the toolbar and menu.

• Add the Hyperbola icon to the task tray.

• Allow Hyperbola to minimize to the task tray.

• Add a connection and presence indicator to the status line.

Figure 6-1 gives a peek at Hyperbola after that work is completed.