Skip to main content

Notice: this Wiki will be going read only early in 2024 and edits will no longer be possible. Please see: https://gitlab.eclipse.org/eclipsefdn/helpdesk/-/wikis/Wiki-shutdown-plan for the plan.

Jump to: navigation, search

Menu Contributions

Revision as of 12:02, 28 February 2007 by Pwebster.ca.ibm.com (Talk | contribs) (Example Matrix)

Placement examples that describe the proposed new way of placing menu items for 3.3. Please contribute comments and suggestions in the discussion area or on Bug 154130 -KeyBindings- Finish re-work of commands and key bindings.

Placement and visibility

The 4 extension points that deal with menus now org.eclipse.ui.actionSets, org.eclipse.ui.viewActions, org.eclipse.ui.editorActions, and org.eclipse.ui.popupMenus specify both menu placement and their visibility criteria. In the new menu mechanism they are separate concepts, placement and visibility.

Work

This is a work list Eric and I threw together.

Available in 3.3M4

The basic menu API will be available in 3.3M4. It includes both declarative org.eclipse.ui.menus extension point with core expression support for visibility, and a programmatic interface accessed through the IMenuService.


We support contributing to the main menu, and the view menu, view toolbar, and any IDed context menu. We support contributing to existing toolbars in the main coolbar, and contributing trim widgets.

Programmatically we support the following types of contributions:

  • MenuManager
  • CommandContributionItem
  • CompoundContributionItem
  • ControlContribution (in 3.3M5)
  • Separator
  • GroupMarker

There are some specific mappings of elements and attributes on Menus Extension Mapping.

Available in 3.3M5

There is an example of the RCP Mail application template updated for 3.3M5 and converted to use the org.eclipse.ui.menus extension point as much as possible at Contribution Example.


We also have action sets activating and de-activating contexts in 3.3M5, but we'll need to decide the proper action set story for 3.3M6

We are still working on the EditorActionBarContributor story. It seems like we might be able to deprecate it. Editor instances can instantiate handlers upon creation for each command they support.

Work still to be done

A list of behaviours not supported or shipped with the 3.3M5 API.

  • http://www.eclipse.org/eclipse/platform-core/images/small_progress.gif the editor action bar contributor solution
  • http://www.eclipse.org/eclipse/platform-core/images/small_progress.gif Attributes for <command/>: helpContextId, style to support radio buttons and check boxes, state for checkboxes and radio buttons
  • http://www.eclipse.org/eclipse/platform-core/images/small_progress.gif action sets as contexts
  • http://www.eclipse.org/eclipse/platform-core/images/small_progress.gif validate and possibly optimize the context menu population story and lifecycle. Many context menus set remove all when shown.
  • migrate Marker views
  • How do we give Trim widgets/toolbar widgets "focus" for command and handlers?
  • http://www.eclipse.org/eclipse/platform-core/images/glass.gif migrate standard workbench actions
  • Shortcuts to define reusable core expressions for <activeWhen/>, <enabledWhen/>, and <visibleWhen/>
  • Check enabled visibleWhen support
  • the mnemonic field for <command/> elements (decorating)
  • display any keybinding for <command/> elements (decorating)
  • Shortcuts placed on submenu items (like CTRL+N) (decorating)
  • ensure full visibleWhen support in the MenuManagers - i.e. should empty menus display (empty)
  • do we want to manage trim with a TrimContributionManager? This removes the coolbar, but has RCP implications.
  • the menu override capability - does this tie into the Customize Perspective dialog and action sets
  • A set of default programmatic core expressions. For example, ActionContextExpression or ActivePartExpression
  • toolbar <visibleWhen/> expressions
  • deprecate the 4 extension: actionSets, viewActions, editorActions, popupMenus
  • read old extensions in terms of new extension
  • convert platform UI extensions to new extension
  • migration guide - what are the most common migration paths for Action and IActionDelegate to Command/IHandler.
  • possibly provide an plugin.xml converter for actionSets to menus
  • possibly provide an Action -> Handler converter
  • ensure expressions can be reused
  • http://www.eclipse.org/eclipse/platform-core/images/small_x.gif status manager contributions


Legend:


Example Matrix

A (hopefully) growing list of menu contribution examples.

Example comments
Menu Contributions/Problems View Example An example showing how the Problems View might be converted
Menu Contributions/Toggle Mark Occurrences Placing the toggle mark occurrences button
Menu Contributions/Search Menu Adding the Java Search options to the Search menu
Menu Contributions/IFile objectContribution A menu contribution for context menus when the selection is an IFile
Menu Contributions/TextEditor viewerContribution A menu contribution for the text editor context menu
Menu Contributions/Widget in a toolbar A menu contribution adding a control into the main toolbar
Menu Contributions/RCP removes the Project menu An RCP application removes the Project menu. Note: this will probably not be in 3.3

Menu XML

Declarative information ... this needs to be cleaned up.

Declarative menus - some constraints

Some constraints on the system:

  1. Identifiers (id) for <menu/> elements must be globally unique.
  2. Identifiers (id) for <command/> elements must be globally unique if they are specified.
  3. You can reference a <menu/> by id.
  4. If you are just creating menu items for your commands, you can leave them with only a command id. You don't have to specify an item id.
  5. You can reference an <command/> for placement options (after, before, etc) by id.
  6. <separator/> ids only have to be unique within that menu level. This is changed to name instead of id in 3.3M5.
  7. You can provide an <command/> label attribute. If none is provided, it will take the command name.
  8. In this design the item contains most of the same rendering information that <action/> did.
  9. <menu/> and <command/> can have <visibleWhen/> clauses. If a menu's <visibleWhen/> evaluates to false, we will never ask the items contained in that menu.
  10. All of the display-able attributes are translatable.
  11. The mnemonic is specified as you place your <command/> elements in their respective menus, since it is possible that the same command might need a different mnemonic depending on which menu it is placed. Also, when defaulting to command names they don't contain any mnemonic information.


Menus cannot be re-used, and so they have an intrinsic id value. Separators are unique within one menu level, so they also contain their name.


Menu URIs

For location placement we need a path and placement modifier, and to specify how the paths are built. First pass we are going to look at URIs.

  • <scheme>:<menu-id>[?<placement-modifier>]

scheme is about how to interpret the URI path. For example, menu, toolbar, popup, status (although status may be deprecated).


For menu: valid root ids will be any viewId for that view's menu, and org.eclipse.ui.main.menu for the main menu. Then specify the id of the menu this contribution applies to. The placement modifier helps position the menu contribution. ex: after=<id>, where <id> can be a separator name, menu id, or item id. An example of a path: menu:org.eclipse.search.menu?after=contextMenuActionsGroup

Since menu ids must be unique, you can specify your menu location relative to an existing id: menu:org.eclipse.search.menu?after=contextMenuActionsGroup

For toolbar: valid root ids will be any viewId for that view's toolbar, org.eclipse.ui.main.toolbar for the main toolbar, and any toolbar id that is contained in the main toolbar. Toolbars can support invisible separators. Toolbars in the main toolbar (technically a coolbar) can have ids as well as separators, but only one level. For example: toolbar:org.eclipse.ui.edit.text.actionSet.presentation?after=Presentation

In this example, Presentation is an invisible separator in the org.eclipse.ui.edit.text.actionSet.presentation toolbar.

The use of org.eclipse.ui.main.toolbar might change if all "main" toolbars have ids anyway, so the only options for interpretting the toolbar root is 1) the view toolbar or 2) an IDed main toolbar.


For popup: valid root ids are any registered context id (which defaults to the part id if no context menu id was given at registration time) and org.eclipse.ui.popup.any for all registered context menus. For example, to add to the default Text Editor context menu: popup:#TextEditorContext?after=additions

Popup submenus are treated like menu submenus, except the form continues to be popup:submenuId.

There will be constants defined for the ids that the eclipse workbench provides.

Menu - JSR198

Note: for novelty purposes only.

For comparison, there is a JSR describing how IDEs can contribute menus. Below is a sample for 2 items:

  • org.eclipse.ui.views.problems.sorting.item from menu:org.eclipse.ui.views.ProblemView
  • org.eclipse.ui.views.problems.resolveMarker.item from popup:org.eclipse.ui.views.ProblemView
 <menu-hook>
   <actions>
     <action id="org.eclipse.ui.views.problems.sorting.item">
       <label>Sorting...</label>
       <mnemonic>S</mnemonic>
       <tooltip>Change the Sort order</tooltip>
       <invoke-class>org.eclipse.ui.views.problems.sorting</invoke-class>
     </action>
     <action id="org.eclipse.ui.views.problems.resolveMarker.item">
       <label>Quick Fix</label>
       <mnemonic>Q</mnemonic>
       <iconpath>$nl$/icons/full/elcl16/smartmode_co.gif</iconpath>
       <invoke-class>org.eclipse.jdt.ui.edit.text.java.correction.assist.proposals</invoke-class>
       <update-class>org.eclipse.jdt.ui.edit.text.java.correction.assist.proposals</update-class>
     </action>
   </actions>
   <menus>
     <menubar id="org.eclipse.ui.views.ProblemView">
       <menu id="org.eclipse.ui.views.ProblemView">
         <section id="problem.view.section">
           <command action-ref="org.eclipse.ui.views.problems.sorting.item" />
           <menu id="org.eclipse.ui.views.problems.groupBy.menu">
             <label>Group By</label>
             <mnemonic>G</mnemonic>
           </menu>
         </section>
       </menu>
     </menubar>
     <popup id="org.eclipse.ui.views.ProblemView">
       <section id="group.resolve">
         <command action-ref="org.eclipse.ui.views.problems.resolveMarker.item" />
       </section>
     </popup>
   </menus>
 </menu-hook>

Some thoughts:

  • the actions can only specify one icon
  • the actions can't *quite* link to our commands
  • the menus can't specify dynamic submenus

Menu - XUL

Note: for novelty purposes only.


For comparison, with Mozilla everywhere there is the probability eclipse will include xulrunner. Menu definitions that are consistent with XUL look like:

 <keyset>
   <key id="paste-key" modifiers="accel" key="V" />
 </keyset>
 <menubar id="org.eclipse.ui.views.ProblemView">
   <menupopup id="org.eclipse.ui.views.ProblemView">
     <menuitem id="org.eclipse.ui.views.problems.sorting.item"
               accesskey="S"
               key="paste-key"
               label="Sorting..."
               oncommand="invokeCommand('org.eclipse.ui.views.problems.sorting')" />
     <menu id="org.eclipse.ui.views.problems.groupBy.menu"
           label="Group By"
           accesskey="G">
       <menupopup id="groupby.popup">
       </menupopup>
     </menu>
   </menupopup>
 </menubar>


XUL supports everything as a flavour of a DOM, and javascripting can drive your buttons to perform commands. I suspect the scripting would allow you to dynamically update menus (dynamic menus) on popup, depending on what events the DOM would report to you.


Expression Sidebar

You can see that the <activeWhen/>, <enabledWhen/>, and probably the <visibleWhen/> are likely to be replicated over and over again. A possible option is some kind of expression template markup ... either in its own extension or supported by our UI extensions that can use core expressions.

Here's an example of using expression templates in its own extension point.

 <extension point="org.eclipse.core.expression.templates">
   <expression id="isPartActive">
     <parameter id="partId" />
     <with variable="activePartId">
       <equals value="$partId" />
     </with>
   </expression>
   <expression id="isActionSetActive">
     <parameter id="actionSetId" />
     <with variable="activeContexts">
       <iterator operator="or">
         <equals value="$actionSetId" />
       </iterator>
     </with>
   </expression>
   <expression id="isContextActive">
     <parameter id="contextId" />
     <with variable="activeContexts">
       <iterator operator="or">
         <equals value="$contextId" />
       </iterator>
     </with>
   </expression>
   <expression id="isSelectionAvailable">
     <not>
       <count value="0" />
     </not>
   </expression>
 </extension>


This could be used to simplify the handler definitions:

 <extension point="org.eclipse.ui.handlers">
   <handler commandId="org.eclipse.ui.edit.copy"
            class="org.eclipse.ui.views.markers.internal.CopyMarkerHandler">
     <enabledWhen>
       <evaluate ref="isSelectionAvailable" />
     </enabledWhen>
     <activeWhen>
       <evaluate ref="isPartActive">
         <parameter id="partId" value="org.eclipse.ui.views.ProblemView" />
       </evaluate>
     </activeWhen>
   </handler>
 </extension>


If we allow recursive template definitions, that would allow you to specify the concrete expression once and then reference it throughout your view.

 <extension point="org.eclipse.core.expression.templates">
   <expression id="isProblemViewActive">
     <evaluate ref="isPartActive">
       <parameter id="partId" value="org.eclipse.ui.views.ProblemView" />
     </evaluate>
   </expression>
 </extension>
 <extension point="org.eclipse.ui.handlers">
   <handler commandId="org.eclipse.ui.edit.copy"
            class="org.eclipse.ui.views.markers.internal.CopyMarkerHandler">
     <enabledWhen>
       <evaluate ref="isSelectionAvailable" />
     </enabledWhen>
     <activeWhen>
       <evaluate ref="isProblemViewActive" />
     </activeWhen>
   </handler>
 </extension>


This reduces the handler definition even more.


A similar option to reuse expressions as much as possible without turning them into their own procedural language would be to allow global definitions and then reuse them. No parameters and no expression composition:

 <extension point="org.eclipse.core.expression.templates">
   <expression id="isProblemViewActive">
     <with variable="activePartId">
       <equals value="org.eclipse.ui.views.ProblemView" />
     </with>
   </expression>
   <expression id="isSelectionAvailable">
     <not>
       <count value="0" />
     </not>
   </expression>
 </extension>
 <extension point="org.eclipse.ui.handlers">
   <handler commandId="org.eclipse.ui.edit.copy"
            class="org.eclipse.ui.views.markers.internal.CopyMarkerHandler">
     <enabledWhen ref="isSelectionAvailable" />
     <activeWhen ref="isProblemViewActive" />
   </handler>
 </extension>

Another Alternative: Specify Context at Extension Level

Since enabledWhen and activeWhen specify context and the simple way to specify context in XML is enclosure, how about scoping context to the extension point rather than the handler:

 <extension point="org.eclipse.ui.handlers">
     <enabledWhen>  
       <not>
         <count value="0" />
       </not>
     </enabledWhen>
     <activeWhen>
       <with variable="activePartId">
         <equals value="org.eclipse.ui.views.ProblemView" />
       </with>
     </activeWhen>
     <handler commandId="org.eclipse.ui.edit.copy"
            class="org.eclipse.ui.views.markers.internal.CopyMarkerHandler" />
     <handler commandId="org.eclipse.ui.edit.paste"
            class="org.eclipse.ui.views.markers.internal.PasteMarkerHandler" />
     <handler commandId="org.eclipse.ui.edit.delete"
            class="org.eclipse.ui.views.markers.internal.RemoveMarkerHandler" />
     <handler commandId="org.eclipse.jdt.ui.edit.text.java.correction.assist.proposals"
            class="org.eclipse.ui.views.markers.internal.ResolveMarkerHandler" />
     <handler commandId="org.eclipse.ui.edit.selectAll"
            class="org.eclipse.ui.views.markers.internal.SelectAllMarkersHandler" />
     <handler commandId="org.eclipse.ui.file.properties"
            class="org.eclipse.ui.views.markers.internal.ProblemPropertiesHandler" />
 </extension>

This gives compact markup without inventing a new language. Elements nested in the handler element could override the extension-wide settings.

Updating the menu and toolbar appearance

It was suggested in 3.2 that state on the command could be used to implement the old contribution story behaviours:

  1. changing label text and tooltips
  2. changing icons
  3. changing enablement
  4. setting the item state (like checked state)

In 3.3 the enablement is tied to the command, and for the other behaviours we've decided to go with option 1.

Option 1:

The command service keeps a list of registered UI elements, which can be updated by the active handler. The checked state can be updated through UIElement#setChecked(boolean);

private boolean isChecked() {
	return getStore().getBoolean(
			PreferenceConstants.EDITOR_MARK_OCCURRENCES);
}

public void updateElement(UIElement element, Map parameters) {
	element.setChecked(isChecked());
}

When the toggle handler runs, it can request that any UI elements have their appearance updated from its execute(*) method:

	ICommandService service = (ICommandService) serviceLocator
			.getService(ICommandService.class);
	service.refreshElements(
			IJavaEditorActionDefinitionIds.TOGGLE_MARK_OCCURRENCES,
			null);


Option 2:

First define the toggle mark occurrences command. Pretty straight forward, although it needs a "STYLE" state since it can be toggled. To allow handlers to update the label for the menu/toolbar items, we also add the "NAME" state.

 <extension point="org.eclipse.ui.commands">
   <command categoryId="org.eclipse.jdt.ui.category.source"
            description="%jdt.ui.ToggleMarkOccurrences.description"
            id="org.eclipse.jdt.ui.edit.text.java.toggleMarkOccurrences"
            name="%jdt.ui.ToggleMarkOccurrences.name">
     <state id="NAME" class="org.eclipse.jface.menus.TextState" />
     <state id="STYLE" class="org.eclipse.jface.commands.ToggleState:true" />
   </command>
 </extension>





Widget in the main toolbar

You can use the extension point to contribute a control to the toolbar. You use the <control/> element instead of the <command/> element.

 <extension point="org.eclipse.ui.menus">
   <menuContribution locationURI="toolbar:org.eclipse.search.toolbar">
     <control id="org.eclipse.ui.examples.menus.searchBar"
             class="org.eclipse.ui.examples.menus.internal.SearchBar">
       <visibleWhen>
         <with variable="activeContexts">
           <iterator operator="or">
             <equals value="org.eclipse.jdt.ui.SearchActionSet" />
           </iterator>
         </with>
       </visibleWhen>
     </control>
   </menuContribution>
 </extension>


The control class must implement WorkbenchWindowControlContribution as of 3.3M5.


I'm not sure how far to go with IWorkbenchWidget. We already use this interface for adding controls to the trim, and there are open bug requests about adding arbitrary controls to the toolbars. It looks like we'll deprecate it in favour of WorkbenchWindowControlContribution.

Also, there are risks associated with this like eager plugin activation. Maybe we allow widget activation but restrict it to programmatic API only (after the plugin has been instantiated) or still allow declarative contributions but only with certain types of <visibleWhen/> clauses.

--Hudsonr.us.ibm.com 09:02, 13 February 2007 (EST) There are two separate reasons to use an extension point to contribute to the toolbar. One reason is to defer plug-in activation. But the other, is to allow a plug-in to contribute to another plug-in even though it depends on that plug-in, or it ships as additional, add-on function. In either case, the plug-in owning the toolbar can not depend on the contributing plug-in. While in general, one wants plug-in activation to occur as late as possible, there are cases where you just don't care. It's great to see that I can now contribute anything I want to another plug-in's toolbar.

I think this flexibility needs to be supported. Isn't it possible for a bundle to specify exceptions that would prevent the bundle from being started even though the contribution's classes are loaded to create the Control?

While we're still looking at this in 3.3M6 the preliminary implementation will probably be our standard proxy pattern. That means that contributing a control to the main toolbar will just start the contributing plugin (so we'll just ask people to be careful :-). But as an aside, I'm pretty sure that an exception that prevents a bundle from being started will also prevent us from getting the plugin control contribution from IConfigurationElement#createExecutableExtension(*)
--Pwebster.ca.ibm.com 10:34, 13 February 2007 (EST)

Edit->Undo relabel action

The active handler can update any UI elements registered against the its command. It does this by requesting the ICommandService to refresh any registered UIElements.

Like the Undo action, sometimes menu items would want to allow their label to be updated. The active handler can update the menu item.

<extension
      point="org.eclipse.ui.commands">
 <extension point="org.eclipse.ui.menus">
   <menuContribution locationURI="menu:edit?after=undo.ext">
     <command commandId="org.eclipse.ui.examples.menus.targettedUndo"
           mnemonic="%TargettedUndo.mnemonic" />
   </menuContribution>
 </extension>

As a handler becomes active and implement IElementUpdater like org.eclipse.ui.tests.menus.ToggleContextHandler, the command service calls public void updateElement(UIElement element, Map parameters) for every UIElement registered against the command.

public class ToggleContextHandler extends AbstractHandler implements
	IElementUpdater {
private static final String TOGGLE_ID = "toggleContext.contextId";
// ...
public void updateElement(UIElement element, Map parameters) {
	// the checked state depends on if we have an activation for that
	// context ID or not
	String contextId = (String) parameters.get(TOGGLE_ID);
	element.setChecked(contextActivations.get(contextId) != null);
}
}


Adding programmatic menus and handlers tied to an editor

In 3.3M6 we'll be investigating deprecating EditorActionBarContributors. The command and menu contributions are declared (and the handler can be as well).

But each editor could instantiate handlers with specific editor instance knowledge and activate them through the part site handler service. This would take care of activating them and cleaning them up when the part goes away.


Add a dynamic submenu to the ProblemView menu

In Add ProblemView menus we added 2 dynamic menus. You then have to implement CompoundContributionItem in your provided class.

     <menu id="org.eclipse.ui.views.problems.groupBy.menu"
           label="%ProblemView.GroupBy.label"
           mnemonic="%ProblemView.GroupBy.mnemonic">
       <dynamic class="org.eclipse.ui.views.markers.internal.GroupByItems"
                id="org.eclipse.ui.views.problems.groupBy.items"/>
     </menu>


When your menu is populated, you'll have your getContributionItems() method called:


protected IContributionItem[] getContributionItems() {
     IContributionItem[] list = new IContributionItem[2];
     Map parms = new HashMap();
     parms.put("groupBy", "Severity");
     list[0] = new CommandContributionItem(null,
             "org.eclipse.ui.views.problems.grouping",
             parms, null, null, null, "Severity", null,
             null, CommandContributionItem.STYLE_PUSH);

     parms = new HashMap();
     parms.put("groupBy", "None");
     list[1] = new CommandContributionItem(null,
             "org.eclipse.ui.views.problems.grouping",
             parms, null, null, null, "None", null, null,
             CommandContributionItem.STYLE_PUSH);
     return list;
}


Dynamic item replacement

See Add_a_dynamic_submenu_to_the_ProblemView_menu

A dynamic contribution item is expanded in place. It disposes the provided IContributionItems and requests new ones on every show.

Example Matrix

This will be updated later.

Example Location visible when enabled when defined by placed by handled by comments
Add ProblemView menus view menu always always ViewPart & IActionBars ViewPart & IActionBars SampleViewAction

Back to the top