An action's enablement and/or visibility can be defined using the elements enablement and visibility respectively. These two elements contain a boolean expression that is evaluated to determine the enablement and/or visibility.
The syntax is the same for the enablement and visibility elements. Both contain only one boolean expression sub-element. In the simplest case, this will be an objectClass, objectState, pluginState, or systemProperty element. In the more complex case, the and, or, and not elements can be combined to form a boolean expression. Both the and, and or elements must contain 2 sub-elements. The not element must contain only 1 sub-element.
<!ELEMENT extension (actionSet+)>
<!ATTLIST extension
point CDATA #REQUIRED
id CDATA #IMPLIED
name CDATA #IMPLIED>
<!ELEMENT actionSet (menu* , action*)>
<!ATTLIST actionSet
id CDATA #REQUIRED
label CDATA #REQUIRED
visible (true | false)
description CDATA #IMPLIED>
This element is used to define a group of actions and/or menus.
<!ELEMENT action (selection* | enablement?)>
<!ATTLIST action
id CDATA #REQUIRED
label CDATA #REQUIRED
accelerator CDATA #IMPLIED
definitionId CDATA #IMPLIED
menubarPath CDATA #IMPLIED
toolbarPath CDATA #IMPLIED
icon CDATA #IMPLIED
disabledIcon CDATA #IMPLIED
hoverIcon CDATA #IMPLIED
tooltip CDATA #IMPLIED
helpContextId CDATA #IMPLIED
style (push|radio|toggle|pulldown) "push"
state (true | false)
pulldown (true | false)
class CDATA #IMPLIED
retarget (true | false)
allowLabelUpdate (true | false)
enablesFor CDATA #IMPLIED>
This element defines an action that the user can invoke in the UI.
push | - as a regular menu item or tool item. | |
radio | - as a radio style menu item or tool item. Actions with the radio style within the same menu or toolbar group behave as a radio set. The initial value is specified by the state attribute. | |
toggle | - as a checked style menu item or as a toggle tool item. The initial value is specified by the state attribute. | |
pulldown | - as a cascading style menu item or as a drop down menu beside the tool item. |
! | - 0 items selected | |
? | - 0 or 1 items selected | |
+ | - 1 or more items selected | |
multiple, 2+ | - 2 or more items selected | |
n | - a precise number of items selected.a precise number of items selected. For example: enablesFor=" 4" enables the action only when 4 items are selected | |
* | - any number of items selected |
<!ELEMENT menu (separator+ , groupMarker*)>
<!ATTLIST menu
id CDATA #REQUIRED
label CDATA #REQUIRED
path CDATA #IMPLIED>
This element is used to defined a new menu.
<!ELEMENT separator EMPTY>
<!ATTLIST separator
name CDATA #REQUIRED>
This element is used to create a menu separator in the new menu.
<!ELEMENT groupMarker EMPTY>
<!ATTLIST groupMarker
name CDATA #REQUIRED>
This element is used to create a named group in the new menu. It has no visual representation in the new menu, unlike the separator element.
<!ELEMENT selection EMPTY>
<!ATTLIST selection
class CDATA #REQUIRED
name CDATA #IMPLIED>
This element is used to help determine the action enablement based on the current selection. Ignored if the enablement element is specified.
<!ELEMENT enablement (and | or | not | objectClass | objectState | pluginState | systemProperty)>
This element is used to define the enablement for the extension.
<!ELEMENT visibility (and | or | not | objectClass | objectState | pluginState | systemProperty)>
This element is used to define the visibility for the extension.
<!ELEMENT and (and | or | not | objectClass | objectState | pluginState | systemProperty)>
This element represent a boolean AND operation on the result of evaluating its two sub-element expressions.
<!ELEMENT or (and | or | not | objectClass | objectState | pluginState | systemProperty)>
This element represent a boolean OR operation on the result of evaluating its two sub-element expressions.
<!ELEMENT not (and | or | not | objectClass | objectState | pluginState | systemProperty)>
This element represent a boolean NOT operation on the result of evaluating its sub-element expressions.
<!ELEMENT objectClass EMPTY>
<!ATTLIST objectClass
name CDATA #REQUIRED>
This element is used to evaluate the class or interface of each object in the current selection. If each object in the selection implements the specified class or interface, the expression is evaluated as true.
<!ELEMENT objectState EMPTY>
<!ATTLIST objectState
name CDATA #REQUIRED
value CDATA #REQUIRED>
This element is used to evaluate the attribute state of each object in the current selection. If each object in the selection has the specified attribute state, the expression is evaluated as true. To evaluate this type of expression, each object in the selection must implement, or adapt to, org.eclipse.ui.IActionFilter interface.
<!ELEMENT pluginState EMPTY>
<!ATTLIST pluginState
id CDATA #REQUIRED
value (installed|activated) "installed">
This element is used to evaluate the state of a plug-in. The state of the plug-in may be one of the following: installed (equivalent to the OSGi concept of "resolved") or activated (equivalent to the OSGi concept of "active").
<!ELEMENT systemProperty EMPTY>
<!ATTLIST systemProperty
name CDATA #REQUIRED
value CDATA #REQUIRED>
This element is used to evaluate the state of some system property. The property value is retrieved from the java.lang.System.
<extension point =
"org.eclipse.ui.actionSets"
>
<actionSet id=
"com.xyz.actionSet"
label=
"My Actions"
>
<menu id=
"com.xyz.xyzMenu"
label=
"XYZ Menu"
path=
"additions"
>
<separator name=
"group1"
/>
<separator name=
"option1"
/>
</menu>
<action id=
"com.xyz.runXYZ"
label=
"&Run XYZ Tool"
style=
"toggle"
state=
"false"
menubarPath=
"com.xyz.xyzMenu/group1"
icon=
"icons/runXYZ.gif"
tooltip=
"Run XYZ Tool"
helpContextId=
"com.xyz.run_action_context"
class=
"com.xyz.actions.RunXYZ"
enablesFor=
"1"
>
<selection class=
"org.eclipse.core.resources.IFile"
name=
"*.java"
/>
</action>
<action id=
"com.xyz.runABC"
label=
"&Run ABC Tool"
style=
"push"
menubarPath=
"com.xyz.xyzMenu/group1"
toolbarPath=
"Normal/XYZ"
icon=
"icons/runABC.gif"
tooltip=
"Run ABC Tool"
helpContextId=
"com.xyz.run_abc_action_context"
retarget=
"true"
allowLabelUpdate=
"true"
>
<enablement>
<and>
<objectClass name=
"org.eclipse.core.resources.IFile"
/>
<not>
<objectState name=
"extension"
value=
"java"
/>
</not>
</and>
</enablement>
</action>
<action id=
"com.xyz.runDEF"
label=
"&Run DEF Tool"
style=
"radio"
state=
"true"
menubarPath=
"com.xyz.xyzMenu/option1"
icon=
"icons/runDEF.gif"
tooltip=
"Run DEF Tool"
class=
"com.xyz.actions.RunDEF"
helpContextId=
"com.xyz.run_def_action_context"
>
</action>
<action id=
"com.xyz.runGHI"
label=
"&Run GHI Tool"
style=
"radio"
state=
"false"
menubarPath=
"com.xyz.xyzMenu/option1"
icon=
"icons/runGHI.gif"
tooltip=
"Run GHI Tool"
class=
"com.xyz.actions.RunGHI"
helpContextId=
"com.xyz.run_ghi_action_context"
>
</action>
<action id=
"com.xyz.runJKL"
label=
"&Run JKL Tool"
style=
"radio"
state=
"false"
menubarPath=
"com.xyz.xyzMenu/option1"
icon=
"icons/runJKL.gif"
tooltip=
"Run JKL Tool"
class=
"com.xyz.actions.RunJKL"
helpContextId=
"com.xyz.run_jkl_action_context"
>
</action>
</actionSet>
</extension>
In the example above, the specified action set, named "My Actions", is not initially visible within each perspective because the visible attribute is not specified.
The XYZ action will appear as a check box menu item, initially not checked. It is enabled only if the selection count is 1 and if the selection contains a Java file resource.
The ABC action will appear both in the menu and on the toolbar. It is enabled only if the selection does not contain any Java file resources. Note also this is a label retarget action therefore it does not supply a class attribute.
The actions DEF, GHI, and JKL appear as radio button menu items. They are enabled all the time, independent of the current selection state.
The enablement criteria for an action extension is initially defined by enablesFor, and also either selection or enablement. However, once the action delegate has been instantiated, it may control the action enable state directly within its selectionChanged method.
It is important to note that the workbench does not generate menus on a plug-in's behalf. Menu paths must reference menus that already exist.
Action and menu labels may contain special characters that encode mnemonics using the following rules:
The selection and enablement elements are mutually exclusive. The enablement element can replace the selection element using the sub-elements objectClass and objectState. For example, the following:
can be expressed using:<selection class=
"org.eclipse.core.resources.IFile"
name=
"*.java"
>
</selection>
<enablement>
<and>
<objectClass name=
"org.eclipse.core.resources.IFile"
/>
<objectState name=
"extension"
value=
"java"
/>
</and>
</enablement>
Top level menus are created by using the following values for the path attribute:
The default groups in a workbench window are defined in the IWorkbenchActionConstants interface. These constants can be used in code for dynamic contribution. The values can also be copied into an XML file for fine grained integration with the existing workbench menus and toolbar.
Various menu and toolbar items within the workbench window are defined algorithmically. In these cases a separate mechanism must be used to extend the window. For example, adding a new workbench view results in a new menu item appearing in the Perspective menu. Import, Export, and New Wizards extensions are also added automatically to the window.
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All rights reserved. This program and the accompanying materials are made
available under the terms of the Eclipse Public License v1.0 which accompanies
this distribution, and is available at http://www.eclipse.org/legal/epl-v10.html