Advanced - EclipseME Feature Anatomy

Features and Plugins

The core EclipseME distribution is structured as a single Eclipse feature which groups together a set of 11 plugins. Together, these 11 plugins, provide the base functionality of EclipseME. The plugins are structured in a similar way to those in the base Eclipse project, providing a separation between the low level implementation and the user interface that works with that implementation.

It should be noted that all classes that reside in a package with the word "internal" within the package name are considered implementation that is internal to EclipseME and not meant to be derived from or otherwise called by external plugins. In addition, all classes can be considered interim API which can and will change for the foreseeable future. Developers that use any part of the EclipseME code at this point in time, need to be prepared for breaking changes.

The components that form the EclipseME functionality are structured as follows:

eclipseme.feature

This is the basic EclipseME feature. Under Eclipse, "features" provide ways of grouping a set of plugins together so that a user can easily load, manage and brand those plugins as a single unit.

eclipseme.feature.branding

This plugin provides a single location for all the branding information (About pages, Welcome pages, etc.)

eclipseme.core

The eclipseme.core plugin provides the low-level implementation of the EclipseME functionality. This functionality is provided through a model that represents a typical wireless toolkit and its component parts. The model is constructed as a set of Java interfaces with standard implementations. In addition, the core plugin provides an Eclipse extension point for contributing new wireless toolkit definitions to the core.

eclipseme.core.preverifier

The eclipseme.core.preverifier plugin provides an all-Java implementation of a preverifier. This was introduced in v1.2.0, and will eventually, we hope, eliminate the need to depend on the external preverifiers provided by the wireless toolkits. In particular, this preverifier provides much better feedback on potential issues than do the external ones.

eclipseme.docs

The eclipseme.docs plugin provides the user documentation. This documentation is available via the standard Eclipse help.

eclipseme.ui

The eclipseme.ui plugin provides the user interface componentry of the EclipseME feature. The user interface functionality rests on top of the functionality provided by the eclipseme.core plugin. All user interface functionality is currently considered internal functionality.

eclipseme.toolkit.motorola

The eclipseme.toolkit.motorola plugin provides the implementation support for the Motorola Wireless Toolkits. This plugin uses the Eclipse extension point defined by the eclipseme.core plugin to extend the functionality of the EclipseME Core.

eclipseme.toolkit.nokia

The eclipseme.toolkit.nokia plugin provides the implementation support for the Nokia Wireless Toolkits. This plugin uses the Eclipse extension point defined by the eclipseme.core plugin to extend the functionality of the EclipseME Core.

eclipseme.toolkit.siemens

The eclipseme.toolkit.siemens plugin provides the implementation support for the Siemens Wireless Toolkits. This plugin uses the Eclipse extension point defined by the eclipseme.core plugin to extend the functionality of the EclipseME Core.

eclipseme.toolkit.sonyericsson

The eclipseme.toolkit.sonyericsson plugin provides the implementation support for the Sony Ericsson Wireless Toolkits. This plugin uses the Eclipse extension point defined by the eclipseme.core plugin to extend the functionality of the EclipseME Core.

eclipseme.toolkit.sprint

The eclipseme.toolkit.sprint plugin provides the implementation support for the Sprint Wireless Toolkits. This plugin uses the Eclipse extension point defined by the eclipseme.core plugin to extend the functionality of the EclipseME Core.

eclipseme.toolkit.sun

The eclipseme.toolkit.sun plugin provides the implementation support for the Sun Wireless Toolkits. This plugin uses the Eclipse extension point defined by the eclipseme.core plugin to extend the functionality of the EclipseME Core.

Additional projects

In addition to the features and plugins described above, the EclipseME CVS archive contains the projects listed below. These are not part of the EclipseME distribution itself, but are related.

eclipseme-web

This project contains the pages that make up the eclipseme.org web site. For themost part, the files in this project are not hand-generated. Instead, they are built from the files in the eclipseme.docs project, using tools in the eclipseme-tools project. This approach saves having to edit everything twice, and also guarantees that the documentation on the web and in the distribution are consistent with one another.

eclipseme-tools

This project contains tools that are used to help build EclipseME.

Work in progress

In addition to the projects described above, you may find other projects in the EclipseME CVS archives. These are generally "works in progress" that are either in the experimental stages, or not yet released. Feel free to browse, but don't assume that just because you see something in CVS that it's going to see the light of day soon.