Extending the Properties view

The Properties view can be extended according to the customization of the widget. So you can have the personalized Property Descriptor classes for the new widget properties. Perform the following steps to get the overall understanding of this function:

  1. In the Eclipse, create a new Plug-in Project.
  2. In the Extensions tab of the MANIFEST.MF, click Add to add com.ibm.btt.rcp.xui.editor.properties to the Extensions.
  3. Deselect the Show only extension points from the required plug-ins check box, and input the extension name in the Extension Point filter field as highlighted in the following figure.
    Screen capture shows the added extension
  4. Select com.ibm.btt.rcp.xui.editor.properties, and click Finish. If there is dependencies prompt popping out as shown in the following figure, click Yes.
    Screen capture shows the New plug-in dependency prompt
  5. Right click the extension name, and click New > property as shown in the following figure.
    Screen capture shows how to add the new widget
  6. Specify the name, icon, and class.
  7. Run the plug-in project as Eclipse Application, and the newly created property is displayed in the Properties view of widgets. A simple sample of extending the property is provided in the Reference section.