To work with Eclipse 4 modeled applications, it is necessary to install the E4 tools to allow the application XMI to be edited through an editor. These are not shipped with the standard Eclipse distribution package, and must be installed separately.
These add the ability to edit both css
and e4xmi
files, and create Eclipse 4 applications by a wizard, which are used to create and render the user interface in Eclipse 4.
Installing the Eclipse E4 tools and E4 CSS spy provides a custom editor for e4xmi
files, as well as css
files. In addition, the CSS spy can be called with Alt + Shift + F5, or via the Quick Access search bar.
To run the CSS spy in a launched application, add org.eclipse.e4.tools.css.spy
to the required bundles in the launch configuration. (Don't add them to the product definition unless the product's end users need to be able to invoke the CSS spy.)
There is also a live EMF editor which can be called with Alt + Shift + F9. This is useful for exploring the Eclipse runtime, either in the IDE or in the launched application. To add the live EMF editor, add org.eclipse.e4.tools.emf.liveeditor
to the launch configuration.
Don't forget to click on Validate plug-ins and if necessary Add required plug-ins to ensure that the tools' dependencies are present in the launched product.