Launch Shortcuts

org.eclipse.debug.ui.launchShortcuts

This extension point provides support for selection sensitive launching. Extensions register a shortcut which appears in the run and/or debug cascade menus to launch the workbench selection or active editor.

<!ELEMENT extension (shortcut*)>

<!ATTLIST extension

point CDATA #REQUIRED

id    CDATA #IMPLIED

name  CDATA #IMPLIED>


<!ELEMENT shortcut (perspective* , contextualLaunch? , enablement? , configurationType* , description*)>

<!ATTLIST shortcut

id            CDATA #REQUIRED

modes         CDATA #REQUIRED

class         CDATA #REQUIRED

label         CDATA #REQUIRED

icon          CDATA #IMPLIED

category      CDATA #IMPLIED

helpContextId CDATA #IMPLIED

path          CDATA #IMPLIED

description   CDATA #IMPLIED>


<!ELEMENT perspective EMPTY>

<!ATTLIST perspective

id CDATA #REQUIRED>

The perspective element has been deprecated in the 3.1 release. The top level Run/Debug/Profile cascade menus now support contextual (selection sensitive) launching, and clients should provide a contextualLaunch element instead.



<!ELEMENT contextualLaunch (contextLabel* , enablement?)>

Holds all descriptions for adding shortcuts to the selection sensitive Run/Debug/Profile cascade menus. Only objects that provide an org.eclipse.debug.ui.actions.ILaunchable adapter are considered for the cascade menus. The org.eclipse.debug.ui.actions.ILaunchable interface is simply used to tag objects that support contextual launching.



<!ELEMENT contextLabel EMPTY>

<!ATTLIST contextLabel

mode  (run|debug|profile)

label CDATA #REQUIRED>

Specify the label for a contextual launch mode.



<!ELEMENT configurationType EMPTY>

<!ATTLIST configurationType

id CDATA #IMPLIED>

This element allows more that one associated launch configuration type to be specified for this launch shortcut. This element was added in the 3.3 release.



<!ELEMENT description EMPTY>

<!ATTLIST description

mode        CDATA #REQUIRED

description CDATA #REQUIRED>

Provdies a mode specific desciption for this launch shortcut. This element was added in the 3.3. release.



<!ELEMENT enablement (not , and , or , instanceof , test , systemTest , equals , count , with , resolve , adapt , iterate , reference)*>

A generic root element. The element can be used inside an extension point to define its enablement expression. The children of an enablement expression are combined using the and operator.



<!ELEMENT not (not | and | or | instanceof | test | systemTest | equals | count | with | resolve | adapt | iterate | reference)>

This element represent a NOT operation on the result of evaluating it's sub-element expression.



<!ELEMENT and (not , and , or , instanceof , test , systemTest , equals , count , with , resolve , adapt , iterate , reference)*>

This element represent an AND operation on the result of evaluating all it's sub-elements expressions.



<!ELEMENT or (not , and , or , instanceof , test , systemTest , equals , count , with , resolve , adapt , iterate , reference)*>

This element represent an OR operation on the result of evaluating all it's sub-element expressions.



<!ELEMENT instanceof EMPTY>

<!ATTLIST instanceof

value CDATA #REQUIRED>

This element is used to perform an instanceof check of the object in focus. The expression returns EvaluationResult.TRUE if the object's type is a sub type of the type specified by the attribute value. Otherwise EvaluationResult.FALSE is returned.



<!ELEMENT test EMPTY>

<!ATTLIST test

property              CDATA #REQUIRED

args                  CDATA #IMPLIED

value                 CDATA #IMPLIED

forcePluginActivation (true | false) >

This element is used to evaluate the property state of the object in focus. The set of testable properties can be extended using the propery tester extension point. The test expression returns EvaluationResult.NOT_LOADED if the property tester doing the actual testing isn't loaded yet and the attribute forcePluginActivation is set to false. If forcePluginActivation is set to true and the evaluation context used to evaluate this expression support plug-in activation then evaluating the property will result in activating the plug-in defining the tester.



<!ELEMENT systemTest EMPTY>

<!ATTLIST systemTest

property CDATA #REQUIRED

value    CDATA #REQUIRED>

Tests a system property by calling the System.getProperty method and compares the result with the value specified through the value attribute.



<!ELEMENT equals EMPTY>

<!ATTLIST equals

value CDATA #REQUIRED>

This element is used to perform an equals check of the object in focus. The expression returns EvaluationResult.TRUE if the object is equal to the value provided by the attribute value. Otherwise EvaluationResult.FALSE is returned.



<!ELEMENT count EMPTY>

<!ATTLIST count

value CDATA #REQUIRED>

This element is used to test the number of elements in a collection.



<!ELEMENT with (not , and , or , instanceof , test , systemTest , equals , count , with , resolve , adapt , iterate , reference)*>

<!ATTLIST with

variable CDATA #REQUIRED>

This element changes the object to be inspected for all its child element to the object referenced by the given variable. If the variable can not be resolved then the expression will throw a ExpressionException when evaluating it. The children of a with expression are combined using the and operator.



<!ELEMENT resolve (not , and , or , instanceof , test , systemTest , equals , count , with , resolve , adapt , iterate , reference)*>

<!ATTLIST resolve

variable CDATA #REQUIRED

args     CDATA #IMPLIED>

This element changes the object to be inspected for all its child element to the object referenced by the given variable. If the variable can not be resolved then the expression will throw a ExpressionException when evaluating it. The children of a with expression are combined using the and operator.



<!ELEMENT adapt (not , and , or , instanceof , test , systemTest , equals , count , with , resolve , adapt , iterate , reference)*>

<!ATTLIST adapt

type CDATA #REQUIRED>

This element is used to adapt the object in focus to the type specified by the attribute type. The expression returns not loaded if either the adapter or the type referenced isn't loaded yet. It throws a ExpressionException during evaluation if the type name doesn't exist at all. The children of an adapt expression are combined using the and operator.



<!ELEMENT iterate (not , and , or , instanceof , test , systemTest , equals , count , with , resolve , adapt , iterate , reference)*>

<!ATTLIST iterate

operator (or|and)

ifEmpty  (true | false) >

This element is used to iterate over a variable that is of type java.util.Collection. If the object in focus is not of type java.util.Collection then an ExpressionException will be thrown while evaluating the expression.



<!ELEMENT reference EMPTY>

<!ATTLIST reference

definitionId CDATA #REQUIRED>

This element is used to reference an expression from the org.eclipse.core.expressions.definitions extension point. The expression definition will be evaluated within the current expression element using the current evaluation context.



The following is an example of the Java Application launch shortcut contribution with an enablement expression, an associated launch configuration type id and descriptions for run and debug mode:

 

<extension point=

"org.eclipse.debug.ui.launchShortcuts"

>

<shortcut label=

"Java Application"

icon=

"$nl$/icons/full/etool16/java_app.gif"

helpContextId=

"org.eclipse.jdt.debug.ui.shortcut_local_java_application"

modes=

"run, debug"

class=

"org.eclipse.jdt.internal.debug.ui.launcher.JavaApplicationLaunchShortcut"

description=

"Launch a local Java application"

id=

"org.eclipse.jdt.debug.ui.localJavaShortcut"

>

<description description=

"Runs a local Java application"

mode=

"run"

>

</description>

<description description=

"Debugs a local Java application"

mode=

"debug"

>

</description>

<contextualLaunch>

<enablement>

<with variable=

"selection"

>

<count value=

"1"

/>

<iterate>

<or>

<test property=

"org.eclipse.jdt.launching.hasMain"

/>

<and>

<test property=

"org.eclipse.jdt.launching.isContainer"

/>

<test property=

"org.eclipse.jdt.launching.hasProjectNature"

args=

"org.eclipse.jdt.core.javanature"

/>

</and>

</or>

</iterate>

</with>

</enablement>

</contextualLaunch>

<configurationType id=

"org.eclipse.jdt.launching.localJavaApplication"

>

</configurationType>

</shortcut>

</extension>

In the above example, a launch shortcut will be shown in the run and debug cascade menus with the label "Java Application". Furthermore, the shortcut will only appear if the selected item contains a main method or is a Java project, and has an org.eclipse.debug.ui.actions.ILaunchable adapter.

For more information on property testers see org.eclipse.core.expressions.PropertyTester

Value of the attribute class must be a fully qualified name of a Java class that implements the interface org.eclipse.debug.ui.ILaunchShortcut.

Since 3.1, the debug platform registers a command handler for each launch shortcut and its applicable modes to allow clients to define key-bindings for a launch shortcut. The command id for a handler is generated as the launch shortcut id attribute, followed by a dot and the applicable launch mode. For example, the command id for the above launch shortcut example would be com.example.ExampleLaunchShortcutId.debug for launching in debug mode. A command and key binding could be defined as follows, to bind "ALT-SHIFT-D, E" to the launch shortcut.

   

<extension point=

"org.eclipse.ui.commands"

>

<command name=

"Debug Example Launch"

description=

"Debug Example Launch"

categoryId=

"org.eclipse.debug.ui.category.run"

id=

"com.example.ExampleLaunchShortcutId.debug"

>

</command>

<keyBinding keySequence=

"M3+M2+D E"

contextId=

"org.eclipse.ui.globalScope"

commandId=

"com.example.ExampleLaunchShortcutId.debug"

keyConfigurationId=

"org.eclipse.ui.defaultAcceleratorConfiguration"

>

</keyBinding>

</extension>

Since 3.3, launch shortcuts can now indicate what kind of launch configuration(s) they will create using the configurationType element. In the event that a given launch shortcut can create more than one type of launch configuration, more than one type can be specified using this element.
Example:

 

<extension point=

"org.eclipse.debug.ui.launchShortcuts"

>

<shortcut class=

"MyShortcut"

description=

"Launches a simple program"

id=

"myShortcut"

label=

"My Shortcut"

modes=

"run"

>

<configurationType id=

"mylaunchtypes"

>

</configurationType>

</shortcut>

</extension>

Since 3.3, launch shortcuts can provdie a human readable description. This is used to aid novice users during the context launching process when they are presented with a listing of launch shortcuts to choose from.
Descriptions can be provided in one of two ways:

  1. A general description can be provided for the shortcut, which will apply to all modes that the shortcut supports
  2. Each description can be specified for a specific mode
Example of general description which applies to run and debug modes:
 

<shortcut class=

"MyShortcut"

description=

"Launches a simple program"

id=

"myShortcut"

label=

"My Shortcut"

modes=

"run, debug"

>

</shortcut>

</extension>

Example of a description for the run mode only:
 

<extension point=

"org.eclipse.debug.ui.launchShortcuts"

>

<shortcut class=

"MyShortcut"

id=

"myShortcut"

label=

"My Shortcut"

modes=

"run, debug"

>

<description description=

"Runs a simple program"

mode=

"run"

>

</description>

</shortcut>

</extension>