Description: This extension point is used to add element factories to the workbench. An element factory is used to recreate IAdaptable objects which are persisted during workbench shutdown.
As an example, the element factory is used to persist editor input. The input for an editor must implement org.eclipse.ui.IEditorInput. The lifecycle of an IEditorInput within an editor has a number of phases.
<!ELEMENT factory EMPTY>
<!ATTLIST factory
id CDATA
#REQUIRED
class
CDATA #REQUIRED
>
The following is an example of an element factory extension:
<extension
point = "org.eclipse.ui.elementFactories">
<factory
id
="com.xyz.ElementFactory"
class="com.xyz.ElementFactory">
</factory>
</extension>
API Information: The value of the class attribute must be a fully qualified name of a class that implements org.eclipse.ui.IElementFactory. An instance of this class must create an IAdaptable object from a workbench memento.
Supplied Implementation: The workbench provides an IResource factory. Additional factories should be added to recreate other IAdaptable types commonly found in other object models, such as the Java model.