Tigerstripe Generators Contribution

< To: Tigerstripe Extension Points

• Full name : org.eclipse.tigerstripe.workbench.base.contributedGenerator

Purpose : In most environments, Generators are fairly static and controlled by a central point. It is important that all users are on the same version, to ensure that generated output is aligned across multiple model projects. Use of this Extension Point allows for a generator to be wrapped into an eclipse plugin. This eclipse plugin can be downloaded as part of the build, or from an update site, making the task of maintaining consistency that much easier.

• Usage : There should only be one contribution of this extension point in any eclipse plugin. There can be multiple contributions.

The extension point has NO attributes. It is effectively a "tag" to say that this eclispe plugin contains a Generator. Note: The Ext point does not validate the generatyr itself, so this should be checked before contribution.

• Example :

<plugin>
  <extension
        point="org.eclipse.tigerstripe.workbench.base.contributedGenerator">
     <generator>
        generator body text
     </generator>
  </extension>
  ...
</plugin>

• Conversion :

To make an existing Tigerstripe Generator Project into an eclipse plugin that contributes to this point requires the following:

In the eclipse PDE perspective, select the Project, and right-click. Choose the option "Configure"->"Convert to Plug-in Projects". Open the plugin editor by clicking on the "MANIFEST.MF",and navigate to the "dependencies" tab. Add 'org.eclipse.tigerstripe.workbench.base' as a dependency. Navigate to the "Extensions" tab and add a contribution to the extension point as above.

• Some important notes :

If the generator has already been deployed in your eclipse environment, the tigerstripe base will pick up the LOCAL copy first -ie the "deployed" rather than "contributed" version. If you Un-deploy the LOCAL version, then the Contributed version will take its place. In this context the generators are considered to be the "same" if their name and versions match.

You cannot "Un-Deploy" contributed generators.

If you have the Generator eclispe plugins in a eclipse workspace, you can run them in "debug" mode and by doing so you can enter breakpoints in any java code that is in the plugin. This is the only way to run the java in a generator in debug mode.