In Eclipse, the notion of a tool disappears. In its place, is the idea of a universal tool platform - an open, extensible IDE - where tool plug-ins are added to extend the capabilities of the platform. These plug-ins "teach" Eclipse how to work with things - java files, web content, graphics, video - almost anything you can imagine. At an implementation level, these plug-ins communicate using resources (projects, folders, and files). The resource is the common medium for integration between plugins and external tools.
The resource concept was developed for a number of reasons:
-
Integration between a plug-in from one vendor, and a plug-in from another, is possible only if there is a common, well known data abstraction.
-
Integration with external tools is possible only if everything, at some level, is a file.
Resources are also important at the UI level.
If an object command, decorator, or property page contribution is made to an IResource,
the platform will ensure that this contribution is visible in any view or editor where the resource appears.
For instance, a .java file will be visible in the Navigator, the Hierarchy view, and the Packages view.
To the user, the .java file is the same object, regardless of the view where it appears,
so the object appearance, context menu, and properties should be consistent in each view.
In some cases, the implementation of a particular view or editor may wrap a resource within another object, for presentation purposes. If the wrapper is equivalent to a resource, it is important to expose this equivalence to the platform. If the resource is exposed, the platform may apply resource contributions to the resource equivalent object. This ensures presentation consistency for an object in the platform.
The underlying resource for an object is exposed by implementing IAdaptable on the model object,
and answering an IContributorResourceAdapter.
For more information on the implementation of an IContributorResourceAdapter,
refer to the Eclipse Help Pages.