Phurnace Blog for Shawn Spiars

The Eclipse Resources Plug-in

Shawn Spiars — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 01:00:00 +0100

The Eclipse Resources Plug-in (org.eclipse.core.resources) is one of the handiest Eclipse plug-ins that no one ever talks about. The Resources Plug-in is rarely talked about because it works behind-the-scenes to enable other plug-ins and APIs to function well. For example, it is the Resources Plug-in that enables the Resource Navigator view to expose a tree hierarchy of all the projects, folders, and files in your Eclipse workspace.

Before we get into the details of the Resources Plug-in [...]

There�s No Place Like Home

Shawn Spiars — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 01:00:00 +0100

The best part about a vacation get-away is the getting away from it all – away from work, away from household chores and getting out of the rat race. The next best thing is coming back home to familiarity – sleeping in your own bed, eating food you recognize, clean restrooms, etc. The “coming back home” experience can be really special when returning from another [...]

How-To Perform In-line Editing of SWT Table Cells

Shawn Spiars — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 01:00:00 +0100

From time to time I visit the Eclipse news groups to find a solution to a problem I am having with a particular area of Eclipse. Since Eclipse is such a huge platform with many projects there are many different news groups, each designed to cover a particular project or API (Application Programming Interface).

Some of my favorite Eclipse news groups are:

eclipse.platform
eclipse.platform.rcp
eclipse.platform.swt

Often while I am looking for answers in a news group [...]

UI Development and Code Generation Tools

Shawn Spiars — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 01:00:00 +0100

It seems like there are more visual GUI builder products available on the market today than ever before. Visual GUI builders propose an easier way to design and create user interface components. They usually consist of a palette from which you select and drag controls or widgets onto a window, frame, or dialog. Then they provide a table or list where you can manipulate the properties of your controls (size, font, color, coordinates, etc) without requiring the user to know the subtleties� o [...]

Is Equinox P2 Ready For Prime-Time?

Shawn Spiars — Tue, 20 May 2008 01:00:00 +0100

When I started working with Eclipse in 2003 I would just download the plug-ins I needed from the Eclipse website, unzip them into my plugins directory, and restart Eclipse. Sometime later, the Eclipse Update Manager was introduced to help you configure your Eclipse development environment providing the ability to update your existing features and plug-ins and search for new features. I have always found the Update Manager dialogs difficult to understand and use. Customizing the Update Manager [...]

What You See is What You Get � A Bit About Java GUI Toolkits

Shawn Spiars — Mon, 05 May 2008 01:00:00 +0100

There are quite a few toolkits available for Java developers. Let me help point you in some directions and maybe save you some research time.

Many of you will be familiar with the Abstract Windows Toolkit (AWT) that is available with every Java Runtime Environment (JRE). AWT is the original Java GUI toolkit developed by Sun Microsystems. AWT is a peer-based toolkit meaning that each AWT control is dependent upon a host operating system control. AWT usage is limited because it was designed [...]

"No Punks Allowed" - Thoughts on Developer Jobs

Shawn Spiars — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 01:00:00 +0100

As a software engineer I often find it entertaining reading the technology job postings. You can learn a lot about a company's values and culture by what they reveal in their job postings. I once had a job interview with a VP of Engineering who was bragging to me during the interview about how much money he saved his company by sending half of his development positions offshore. So I am thinking to myself "if I take this job just how long until my position goes offshore"?

On [...]

EclipseCon 2008

Shawn Spiars — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 01:00:00 +0100

Last week I attended the EclipseCon 2008 conference in Santa Clara, CA. This was my third EclipseCon and by far my best experience. This year there were a lot more technical sessions to choose from and overall the presentations seemed more professional than in the previous years. I also liked that the Monday tutorials [...]