| <html><head><META http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"><link type="text/css" href="../../../../../../default_style.css" rel="stylesheet"><link type="text/css" href="../../../../../../webtools/wtp.css" rel="stylesheet"><title>WST Common Snippets subcomponent Overview</title></head><body><table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="5" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td align="left" width="60%"><font class="indextop">Snippets subcomponent</font><br><font class="indexsub">WST Common Snippets subcomponent Overview</font></td><td width="40%"><img src="../../../../../../webtools/images/wtplogosmall.jpg" align="middle" height="129" hspace="50" width="207" alt="WTP Logo" usemap="logomap"><map id="logomap" name="logomap"><area coords="0,0,207,129" href="/webtools/" alt="WTP Home"></map></td></tr></tbody></table><table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="5" width="100%"><col width="16"><col width="*"><tbody><tr><td align="right" valign="top"> | |
| | |
| </td><td valign="top"><p>Last modified April 13, 2005</p></td></tr><tr><td align="right" valign="top"> | |
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| </td><td valign="top"><p> | |
| <i> | |
| This document is a work in progress. It is an attempt to | |
| capture the key concepts of the WTP Snippets | |
| subcomponent. Note that the concepts presented here may | |
| differ from what is found in the currently released | |
| code. This document describes the architecture, or "end | |
| goal", of the Snippets subcomponent. Once finalized, the | |
| intent is to bring the code and its specifications into | |
| line with this document. | |
| </i> | |
| </p></td></tr><tr><td align="right" valign="top"> | |
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| </td><td valign="top"><p></p></td></tr><tr><td align="right" valign="top"><img src="../../../../../../images/Adarrow.gif" border="0" height="16" width="16"></td><td>Core Concepts</td></tr><tr><td align="right" valign="top"> | |
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| </td><td valign="top"><p> | |
| The Snippets subcomponent provides a simple way for users to | |
| drag and drop chunks of text into source editors. The | |
| snippets model refers to these insertable chunks as "Items" | |
| and their containers as "Category"s. The actual text being | |
| inserted can be affected by input from the user during the | |
| "drop" part of the drag-and-drop operation and users are | |
| free to create categories and items for themselves. Items | |
| contributed from plug-ins may also provide customized | |
| insertion behavior, for example substituting wizards and | |
| custom dialogs for the defaults that are provided. The user | |
| interacts with graphical representations of the snippet | |
| items directly, but any exposed APIs do not make specific | |
| references to the current UI implementation. | |
| </p></td></tr><tr><td align="right" valign="top"><img src="../../../../../../images/Adarrow.gif" border="0" height="16" width="16"></td><td>User Interface</td></tr><tr><td align="right" valign="top"> | |
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| </td><td valign="top"><p> | |
| The Snippets view is based on the GEF PaletteViewer, | |
| primarily because the Snippets view is a logical counterpart | |
| to the built-in palette found in many graphical editors. | |
| Snippet Items and Categories are shown as | |
| PaletteTemplateEntrys and PaletteDrawers, although this | |
| detail is hidden by the ISnippetItem and ISnippetCategory | |
| interfaces. | |
| </p></td></tr><tr><td align="right" valign="top"> | |
| | |
| </td><td valign="top"><p> | |
| The standard PaletteViewer user settings for appearance are | |
| available and supported. The user is also given the ability | |
| to show and hide individual PaletteDrawers as they wish. | |
| While the user has full editing abiities for | |
| PaletteTemplateEntrys and PaletteDrawers they created, those | |
| originating from plug-in contributions are otherwise | |
| unmodifiable. The user or a plug-in contributor may choose | |
| for a drawer to have its visibility automatically controlled | |
| according to the active editor part's input's platform | |
| content type. | |
| </p></td></tr><tr><td align="right" valign="top"><img src="../../../../../../images/Adarrow.gif" border="0" height="16" width="16"></td><td>Extension Points</td></tr><tr><td align="right" valign="top"> | |
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| </td><td valign="top"><h4>SnippetContributions</h4></td></tr><tr><td align="right" valign="top"> | |
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| </td><td valign="top"><p> | |
| The org.eclipse.wst.common.snippets.SnippetContributions | |
| extension point allows other plugins to provide new | |
| categories and items (made visible as entries and drawers) | |
| into the Snippets view. One keen notion to keep in mind is | |
| that contributions provide only the attributes for a snippet | |
| item or category, not its implementation. Similarly, the | |
| insertion class is contributed (as this is a key part of a | |
| snippet item's lifecycle) instead of insertion being | |
| directly implemented on a provided snippet item | |
| implementation. This arrangement was conceived to remove the | |
| need and ability for contributions to maintain any | |
| information between workbench sessions--the recording of a | |
| contributed drawer's visibility, for instance. | |
| </p></td></tr><tr><td align="right" valign="top"> | |
| | |
| </td><td valign="top"><p> | |
| For more information, see the reference document for this | |
| extension point. | |
| </p></td></tr></tbody></table></body></html> |