About this Book - Eclipse Rich Client Platform: Designing, Coding, and Packaging Java Applications

About this Book

This book guides you, the would-be RCP developer, through all stages of developing and delivering an example RCP application called Hyperbola, an instant messaging chat client.

We develop Hyperbola from a blank workspace into a full-featured, branded RCP application. The choice of the instant messaging domain allowed us to plausibly touch a wide range of RCP issues from building pluggable and dynamically extensible systems to using third-party code libraries to packaging applications for a variety of environments. We cover scenarios ranging from PDAs to kiosks, to standalone desktops, to full integration with the Eclipse IDE. This book enables you to do the same with your applications.

Roughly speaking, the book is split in two. The first half, Parts I and II, sets the scene for RCP and presents a tutorial-style guide to building an RCP application. The tutorial incrementally builds Hyperbola into a functioning, branded chat client complete with Help, Update, and other advanced capabilities. The tutorial is written somewhat informally to evoke the feeling that we are there with you, working through the examples and problems. We share some of the pitfalls and mishaps that we experienced while developing the application and writing the tutorial.

The second half of the book looks at what it takes to "make it real." It's one thing to write a prototype and quite another to ship a product. Rather than leaving you hanging at the prototype stage, Parts III and IV are composed of chapters that dive into the details required to finish the jobnamely, the refining and refactoring of the first prototype, customizing the user interface, and building and delivering products to your customers. This part is written as more of a reference, but it still includes a liberal sprinkling of step-by-step examples and code samples. The goal is to cover most of the major stumbling blocks reported in the community and seen in our own development of professional products.

A final part, Part V, is pure reference. It covers the essential aspects of OSGi, the base execution framework for Eclipse, and touches on various functions available in the Eclipse Platform but not covered earlier in the book.

Since one book could not possibly cover everything about Eclipse, and there are many existing books that cover Eclipse and plug-in development, we focus on the areas directly related to RCP function, API, and development.