View source for FAQ What support does the workspace have for team tools?

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Repository tools often need special control over how files in the workspace
are managed.  The workspace API includes special hooks that allow
repository tools to reimplement certain methods, validate and veto
file changes, and store synchronization state on resources. These
facilities are generally well described in the <i>Platform Plug-in Developer&#146;s
Guide</i>, but here is a quick tour of special repository integration support
in the workspace:

* <tt>IFileModificationValidator</tt>. This hook is called when a
file is about to be edited and immediately prior to a file being saved.
This gives repository providers a chance to check out 
the file being changed or to veto the modification. A repository provider
can supply a validator by overriding <tt>getFileModificationValidator</tt>
on <tt>RepositoryProvider</tt>.</li>
* <tt>IMoveDeleteHook</tt>. This hook allows repository providers
to reimplement the resource <tt>move</tt> and <tt>delete</tt> 
methods.  This is used both for validation prior to move and deletion 
and for transferring version history when a resource is moved. This 
hook is supplied by overriding <tt>getMoveDeleteHook</tt> on 
<tt>RepositoryProvider</tt>.</li>
* <tt>TeamHook</tt>. The workspace API developers realized that the
existing hook methods could not be extended without breaking API compatibility.
To avoid an explosion of specialized hook methods, the developers decided to consolidate
future team-integration hooks in a single place. This hook is currently 
used only for validating linked resource creation, but any future hooks that are
added for team plug-ins will appear here.
</li>
* <tt>ISynchronizer</tt>. This API associates synchronization information,
such as file timestamps, with a resource. The synchronization information
is   represented as arbitrary bytes, so you can store whatever information
you want, using the synchronizer. The workspace will take care of storing
and persisting this information across sessions and will broadcast resource
change notifications when this information changes.
</li>



Note that although these facilities were designed for use by repository tools,
sneaky plug-ins have been known to use them for other purposes. If you
have very specialized needs in your plug-in, it may be justifiable to use
some of these hooks yourself.  For example, the plug-in development tools
use these hooks for binary plug-in projects to prevent users from deleting
content that is linked back into your install directory. 
Keep in mind that 
in the case of the hook methods, a project can have only one hook implementation.  
Using these hooks for your plug-in will prevent other repositories
from being able to connect to those projects.


== See Also: ==

[[FAQ_What_APIs_exist_for_integrating_repository_clients_into_Eclipse%3F]]

<hr><font size=-2>This FAQ was originally published in [http://www.eclipsefaq.org Official Eclipse 3.0 FAQs]. Copyright 2004, Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. This text is made available here under the terms of the [http://www.eclipse.org/legal/epl-v10.html Eclipse Public License v1.0].</font>