Eclipse training

I'm not sure yet, but I would like to do some Eclipse RCP course. I'm researching it and I would like my readers feedback about the available training companies. One friend recommends AvanSoft. They are member of the Eclipse Foundation and it seems they know a lot about Eclipse. This is one of the labs they are offering and I would like to take, at least the content is exactly what I want to dominate!

Eclipse is an open platform for tool integration built by an open community of tool providers. It is designed for building integrated development environments (IDEs) and Rich Client Platform (RCP) based applications that can be used to create applications as diverse as websites, embedded Java mechanism for discovering, integrating and running modules called plug-ins. This allows the Platform to be extended to work with new content types or to do new things with existing content Rich Client Platform (RCP), and the Workbench IDE. While the Eclipse types. Except for a small kernel known as the Platform Runtime, all of the Eclipse Platform's functionality is located in plug-ins which are coded in Java. This is an in-depth course on how to build Eclipse plug-ins of increasing complexity. Topics covered include: 1. Eclipse Plug-in architecture 2. Plug-in Development Environment 3. Eclipse RCP – Introduction and Concepts 4. Minimal RCP Application 5. The Standard Widget Toolkit (SWT) 6. Views 7. Adding Actions in Workbench window and Views 8. Editors 9. Dialogs (Preference Pages) 10. Wizards 11. Add help contribution and product customization 12. Add Feature, Branding and Updates 13. Eclipse Forms to create rich and powerful user interface 14. Multi-page form editor

Contents:

Eclipse Plug-in Architecture Eclipse Overview Plug-in architecture Plug-in, Extension Point, and Extension Plug-in manifest Eclipse overview Plug-in features and fragments Platform architecture Workspace Component Workspace and Resource API Incremental Project Builders SWT JFace Workbench, Editors, Views, Perspectives Debug component PDE Introduction Plug-in Development Environment (PDE) & Eclipse Plug-in Development (includes lab) Why PDE? Concepts RCP application file structure Run an RCP application Plug-in and Life cycle Overview and Application control flow Main application class and how it creates and run workbench WorkbenchAdvisor class and its lifecycle events Default (Initial) perspective Plug-in structure Work with PDE Configure PDE Create a new Plug-in project Plug-in manifest file and editor Dependencies Runtime Extensions and Extension points Running the plug-in Plug-in communication Plug-in fragments Eclipse RCP – Introduction and Concepts The Term – Rich Client Platform The Eclipse Rich Client Platform Buzzwords Uses of RCP Eclipse RCP Concepts Component Framework and a Community of Plug-ins Plug-ins - in a closer look Putting all together – The anatomy of an Eclipse installation The OSGi Framework The Runtime Standard Widget Toolkit (SWT) – A low-level graphics library JFace – A UI toolkit UI Workbench Minimal RCP Application (includes lab) About RCP Minimal RCP application (Physical artifacts) RCP application file structure Configuration directory and Configuration file - config.ini plugin directories and plugin's .jar file eclipse.exe startup.jar workspace Run an RCP application Minimal RCP application (runtime artifacts) Overview and Application control flow Main application class and how it creates and run workbench WorkbenchAdvisor class and its lifecycle events WorkbenchAdvisor WorkbenchWindowAdvisor ActionbarAdvisor Default (Initial) perspective Minimal RCP application (Development) Steps for developing RCP application Run application within eclipse Export the application and execute it outside of eclipse Customize the workbench Saving window location and size Setting workbench window title, status-line etc. SWT - The Standard Widget Toolkit (includes lab) About SWT Brief History and Goals The Basic Structure of an SWT Application - Display And Shell How to create a simple Shell Setting the Shell title text Setting the Shell icon SWT packages Relationship between Thread and Display SWT widgets and its lifecycle Useful widgets SWT events Menus Menu MenuItem Listeners Layout managers in SWT FillLayout RowLayout GridLayout and GridData FormLayout and FormData Resource Management - Colors, Fonts, Images Error handling SWT application at work Views (includes lab) Introduction JFace Viewer Framework – In details Views : The General-Purpose Workbench Part Behavior and Architecture Class diagram and Lifecycle How to create custom view View Declaration Adding the View to a Perspective Creating the View Class (View Part) Linking with the Properties View Providing content in the Properties View Adding Actions in Workbench window and Views (includes lab) Introduction Add a top-level menu and toolbar Create Top-level Menu Add standard File > Exit and Help > About actions Create a custom action and place the same in the toolbar and menu Customize Toolbar by adding separator System Tray Integration Add Application icon to the task tray Allow Application to minimize to the task tray Add the standard action to the context menu of the task tray item. Adding View Actions Defining a view context submenu Defining a view context menu action Defining a view toolbar action Defining a view pull-down submenu and action Filtering the View Sorting the View Add a view opened indicator to the status line Saving and Restoring View State Editors (includes lab) Introduction The difference between a View and an Editor Editor behavior and architecture Editor class diagram and its lifecycle How to create custom editor Editor declaration Creating Editor class (Editor Part) Editing – using Cell editors Handling the Saving of the Editor input Synchronizing the Model and the Editor Editor Actions Context menu Top-level Menu Toolbar buttons Keyboard actions undo / redo /cut /copy /paste Linking an Editor and the outline view Dialogs (includes lab) Introduction Eclipse packages for Dialogs Logical view of the Workspace Standard dialogs Preferences dialog (JFace) Structural view Preferences class Preference page at work Field editor preference page Field editor preferences classes Build a field editor preference page Common reusable dialogs Wizards (includes lab) Introduction Eclipse packages for Wizards Contributing Wizards Defining a Wizard Extension Implementing a Wizard Implementing a Wizard Page Customizing a Wizard Controlling Wizard Page Progression Enable/ disable Next , Previous and Finish buttons Finish Processing Displaying messages on the title of the wizard Reusable specialized wizard pages Add help contribution and product customization (includes lab) Introduction Getting the Help Plug-ins and It’s Configuration Add the Help Action and Content Help Content Structure Context-Sensitive Help (F1) Branding - Introduction Define Product Configuration Branding Window Images Program Launcher – Customizing the launcher Splash Screen About Dialog Packaging – Introduction Exporting an RCP Application Add Feature, Branding and Updates (includes lab) Introduction Add the Updates Manager Wizard (Help > Software Updates action) Eclipse packages for adding Updates Manager wizard Create eclipse Feature based product Feature Branding - Introduction Feature Branding About.ini About.properties About.mappings About.html Create eclipse Update-site project to host the product feature and plug-ins Exporting an RCP Application based on the Feature Eclipse Forms to create rich and powerful user interface (includes lab) Introduction Concept of forms (eclipse scrolled form) Use of Eclipse plug-ins to create forms Toolkit to manage colors, hyperlink groups and other aspects of a form, and serve as a factory for many SWT controls Create common controls Hyper link Image link Sections Expandable controls FormText Achieving a flat look using toolkit Use of Layout manager that lays out controls in a manner similar to an HTML table layout algorithm Concept of custom controls Exporting an RCP application Multi-page Form Editor (includes lab) Introduction Use of FormEditor to create eclipse multi-page editor Concept of Managed Forms Create FormPages with the concept of master-details block, nested tab etc Manage events like dirty state, saving, commit for FormPage Hands-on Labs: ExPDE: Develop a ReadDataPlugin using PDE in Eclipse ExMinimalRCP: Building a minimal standalone RCP application ExSWTRCP: Using SWT in an Application ExViewsRCP: a custom View using JFace viewer Framework ExActionsRCP: Adding Actions to Workbench Window and Views ExEditorRCP: Create customized Database Table Editor using JFace Framework ExDialogRCP: Set file name through Preference Page and view the data from the same ExWizardRCP: Wizard to create JDBC database access configuration ExHelpNBrandingRCP: Add help contribution and product customization ExUpdatesRCP: Add Feature, Branding and Updates ExFormUIRCP: Eclipse Forms to create rich and powerful user interface ExMultiPageEditorRCP: Multi-page form editor

Prerequisites:

Extensible Markup Language (XML), Strong knowledge of Java, design patterns, and GUI development experience. Prerequisites can be satisfied by taking AvantSoft courses: "Java Programming using Eclipse" and "XML for Java programmers using Eclipse".