Package org.eclipse.ui

Class PlatformUI

java.lang.Object
org.eclipse.ui.PlatformUI
public final class PlatformUI extends Object
The central class for access to the Eclipse Platform User Interface. This class cannot be instantiated; all functionality is provided by static methods. Features provided:
  • creation of the workbench.
  • access to the workbench.
See Also:

  • Field Details

  • Method Details

    • getWorkbench

      public static IWorkbench getWorkbench()
      Returns the workbench. Fails if the workbench has not been created yet.
      Returns:
      the workbench

    • isWorkbenchRunning

      public static boolean isWorkbenchRunning()
      Returns whether createAndRunWorkbench has been called to create the workbench, and the workbench has yet to terminate.

      Note that this method may return true while the workbench is still being initialized, so it may not be safe to call workbench API methods even if this method returns true. See bug 49316 for details.

      Returns:
      true if the workbench has been created and is still running, and false if the workbench has not yet been created or has completed
      Since:
      3.0

    • createAndRunWorkbench

      public static int createAndRunWorkbench(Display display, WorkbenchAdvisor advisor)
      Creates the workbench and associates it with the given display and workbench advisor, and runs the workbench UI. This entails processing and dispatching events until the workbench is closed or restarted.

      This method is intended to be called by the main class (the "application"). Fails if the workbench UI has already been created.

      Use createDisplay to create the display to pass in.

      Note that this method is intended to be called by the application. It must be called exactly once, and early on before anyone else asks getWorkbench() for the workbench.

      Parameters:
      display - the display to be used for all UI interactions with the workbench
      advisor - the application-specific advisor that configures and specializes the workbench
      Returns:
      return code RETURN_OK for normal exit; RETURN_RESTART if the workbench was terminated with a call to IWorkbench.restart; RETURN_UNSTARTABLE if the workbench could not be started; RETURN_EMERGENCY_CLOSE if the UI quit because of an emergency; other values reserved for future use
      Since:
      3.0

    • createDisplay

      public static Display createDisplay()
      Creates the Display to be used by the workbench. It is the caller's responsibility to dispose the resulting Display, not the workbench's.
      Returns:
      the display
      Since:
      3.0

    • getTestableObject

      public static TestableObject getTestableObject()
      Returns the testable object facade, for use by the test harness.

      IMPORTANT: This method is only for use by the test harness. Applications and regular plug-ins should not call this method.

      To avoid depending on the the Workbench a TestableObject can be obtained via OSGi service.

      Returns:
      the testable object facade
      Since:
      3.0

    • getPreferenceStore

      public static IPreferenceStore getPreferenceStore()
      Returns the preference store used for publicly settable workbench preferences. Constants for these preferences are defined on IWorkbenchPreferenceConstants.
      Returns:
      the workbench public preference store
      Since:
      3.0

    • getDialogSettingsProvider

      public static IDialogSettingsProvider getDialogSettingsProvider(Bundle bundle)
      Returns the dialog settings provider for the passed bundle. The dialog settings is used to hold persistent state data for the various wizards and dialogs of the bundle in the context of a workbench.

      If an error occurs reading the dialog store, an empty one is quietly created and returned (errors are logged).

      Parameters:
      bundle - the bundle for which the dialog settings are to be returned
      Returns:
      the dialog settings provider
      Since:
      3.122

    • createPreferenceStore

      public static IPreferenceStore createPreferenceStore(Class<?> clazz)
      Creates a IPreferenceStore store for the bundle that loaded that class
      Parameters:
      clazz - the class to use for determining the responsible bundle
      Returns:
      the instance scoped preference store for the given class
      Since:
      3.117

    • getApplication

      public static Optional<MApplication> getApplication()
      This methods allows code of eclipse.ui to gracefully migrate to E4 as it has the following properties:
      1. It does not throw an exception but returns an empty optional if something is not ready (yet or anymore) so code can choose how to handle this (e.g. use Optional.orElseThrow() if required or Optional.orElse(Object) if a fallback exits.
      2. If this is is actually a (ui) Workbench running, this is returned and could be used
      3. If not the service registry is searched for an org.eclipse.e4.ui.workbench.IWorkbench so code can run inside a pure E4 (e.g. RCP) application as well.
      4. With the Application at hand, it is possible to get access to the IEclipseContext (see MContext.getContext() to further interact with the plain E4 Application Model.
      The following example fails if run inside an E4 Application:

      PlatformUI.getWorkbench().getExtensionTracker()

      and could be rewritten as:

      PlatformUI.getApplication().map(MApplication::getContext).map(ctx -> ctx.get(IExtensionTracker.class)).orElseThrow(PlatformUI.NO_WORKBENCH);

      Returns:
      a reference to the MApplication running the Workbench or an empty optional if currently no Workbench is available.
      Since:
      3.126

    • setHelp

      public static void setHelp(Composite control, String helpContextId)
      Sets the given help id on the given control in a way that works both for E3/E4 applications
      Parameters:
      control - the control on which to register the id
      helpContextId - the id to use when F1 help is invoked
      Since:
      3.131