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 <h1>Eclipse platform plug-in manifest</h1>

 <p><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>Version 3.2 - Last revised May 9, 2006</span></p>

 <p>The manifest markup definitions below make use of various naming tokens and
 identifiers. To eliminate ambiguity, here are some production rules for these [are
 referenced in text below]. In general, all identifiers are case-sensitive. </p>

 <pre>SimpleToken := sequence of characters from ('a-z','A-Z','0-9','_')
 ComposedToken := SimpleToken | (SimpleToken '.' ComposedToken)
 QualifiedId := ComposedToken '.' SimpleToken
 ExtensionId := SimpleToken | QualifiedId
 ExtensionPointId := SimpleToken | QualifiedId
 ExtensionPointReference := SimpleToken | QualifiedId</pre>

 <p>The remainder of this section describes the plugin.xml file structure as a series
 of DTD fragments. File <a href="plugin_dtd.html">plugin.dtd</a> presents the DTD
 definition in its entirety. </p>

 <pre>&lt;?xml encoding=&quot;US-ASCII&quot;?&gt;
 &lt;?eclipse version=&quot;3.2&quot;?&gt;
 &lt;!ELEMENT plugin (extension-point*, extension*)&gt;
 </pre>

 <p>The &lt;plugin&gt; element defines the body of the manifest. It optionally contains
 declarations of any new extension points being introduced by the
 plug-in, as well as configuration of functional extensions (configured into
 extension points defined by other plug-ins, or introduced by this plug-in).</p>

 <p>The XML DTD construction rule <tt><i>element*</i></tt> means zero
 or more occurrences of the element; <tt><i>element?</i></tt> means zero or
 one occurrence of the element; and <tt><i>element+</i></tt> (used below) means one or more
 occurrences of the element. Based on the &lt;plugin&gt; definition above, this
 means, for example, that a plug-in containing no
 extension point declarations or extension configurations is valid (for example,
 common libraries that other plug-ins depend on). Similarly, a plug-in
 containing only extension configurations and no extension points of
 its own is also valid (for example, configuring classes delivered in other
 plug-ins into extension points declared in other plug-ins). </p>

 <p>The Eclipse architecture is based on the notion of configurable extension
 points. The platform itself predefines a set of extension points that cover the
 task of extending the platform and desktop (for example, adding menu actions,
 contributing embedded editor). In addition to the predefined extension points,
 each supplied plug-in can declare additional extension points. By declaring an
 extension point the plug-in is essentially advertising the ability to configure
 the plug-in function with externally supplied extensions. For example, the Page
 Builder plug-in may declare an extension point for adding new Design Time
 Controls (DTCs) into its builder palette. This means that the Page Builder has
 defined an architecture for what it means to be a DTC and has implemented the
 code that looks for DTC extensions that have been configured into the extension
 points. </p>

 <pre>&lt;!ELEMENT extension-point EMPTY&gt;
 &lt;!ATTLIST extension-point
   name               CDATA #REQUIRED
   id                 CDATA #REQUIRED
   schema             CDATA #IMPLIED
 &gt;</pre>

 <p>The &lt;extension-point&gt; element has the following attributes:</p>

 <ul>
  <li><b>name</b> - user-displayable (translatable) name for the extension point</li>
  <li><b>id</b> - Either a simple id token, or a fully qualified id. Simple id should be
  used unless there is an actual need to specify a fully qualified id.
  <ul>
   <li>Simple id token should be unique within this plug-in. The simple id token cannot contain dot (.) or
   whitespace</li>
   <li>Qualified id should uniquely identify this extension point among all Eclipse extension points</li>
   <li>[production rule: ExtensionPointId]</li>
  </ul>
  </li>
  <li><b>schema</b> - schema
      specification for this extension point. The exact details are being
      defined as part of the Plug-In Development Environment (PDE). The schema
      is currently not used at runtime. The reference is a file name relative to
      the plug-in installation location.</li>
 </ul>

 <p>Actual extensions are configured into extension points (predefined, or newly declared
 in this plug-in) in the &lt;extension&gt; section. The configuration
 information is specified as well-formed XML contained between the &lt;extension&gt;
 and &lt;/extension&gt; tags. The platform does not specify the actual form of
 the configuration markup (other than requiring it to be well-formed XML). The
 markup is defined by the supplier of the plug-in that declared the extension
 point. The platform does not actually interpret the configuration markup. It
 simply passes the configuration information to the plug-in as part of the
 extension point processing (at the time the extension point logic queries all
 of its configured extensions). </p>

 <pre>&lt;!ELEMENT extension ANY&gt;
 &lt;!ATTLIST extension
   point              CDATA #REQUIRED
   id                 CDATA #IMPLIED
   name               CDATA #IMPLIED
 &gt;</pre>

 <p>The &lt;extension&gt; element has the following attributes: </p>
 <ul>
  <li><b>point</b> - reference to
      an extension point being configured. The extension point can be one
      defined in this plug-in or another plug-in
  <ul>
   <li>[production rule: ExtensionPointReference]</li>
  </ul>
  </li>
  <li><b>id</b> - optional identifier for this extension point configuration instance. This is used
      by extension points that need to uniquely identify (rather than just enumerate) the specific
      configured extensions. Can be specified as either a simple id token, or a fully qualified id
  <ul>
   <li>Simple id token should be unique within the definition of the declaring plug-in. The simple id
   token cannot contain dot (.) or whitespace.</li>
   <li>Qualified id should uniquely identify this extension among all Eclipse extensions</li>
   <li>[production rule: ExtensionId]</li>
  </ul>
  </li>
  <li><b>name</b> - user-displayable (translatable) name for the extension</li>
 </ul>

 <p><b>Important:</b>
 The content of the &lt;extension&gt; element is declared using the <tt>ANY</tt> rule.
 This means that any well-formed XML can be specified within the extension
 configuration section (between &lt;extension&gt; and &lt;/extension&gt; tags). </p>

 <h2>Fragments</h2>
 <p>Fragments are used to increase the scope of a plug-in.
 An example would be to incorporate data such as messages or labels in another language.</p>
 <pre>&lt;?xml encoding=&quot;US-ASCII&quot;?&gt;
 &lt;?eclipse version=&quot;3.2&quot;?&gt;
 &lt;!ELEMENT fragment (extension-point*, extension*)&gt;</pre>

 <p>The &lt;extension-point&gt;, and &lt;extension&gt; components of a fragment will be logically added to the hosting plug-in.
 </p>

 <h2>Note on the ExtensionId and ExtensionPointId</h2>
 <p> Special processing was added to support backward compatibility for ExtensionId and ExtensionPointId
 that used to contain dots ('.') prior to the version 3.2. Depending on the version specified in
 the &lt;?eclipse version?&gt; tag:</p>
 <ul>
 <li>If the version is below 3.2, then qualified name = PluginID '.' (ExtensionID | ExtensionPointID)</li>
 </ul>
 <p> This rule applies only to the ExtensionId and ExtensionPointId that contain dot ('.') character(s).</p>

 <hr>
 <p><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>Older versions of the plug-in manifest can be found here:</span></p>
 <ul>
   <li><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>Version <a href="plugin_manifest_30.html">3.0</a></span></li>
 </ul>

 </body>

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	<head>

	<meta name="copyright" content="Copyright (c) IBM Corporation and others 2000, 2011. This page is made available under license. For full details see the LEGAL in the documentation book that contains this page." >

	<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
	<link REL="STYLESHEET" HREF="../../book.css" CHARSET="ISO-8859-1" TYPE="text/css">
	<title>Plug-in manifest</title>
	</head>

	<body>

	<h1>Eclipse platform plug-in manifest</h1>

	<p><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>Version 3.2 - Last revised May 9, 2006</span></p>

	<p>The manifest markup definitions below make use of various naming tokens and
	identifiers. To eliminate ambiguity, here are some production rules for these [are
	referenced in text below]. In general, all identifiers are case-sensitive. </p>

	<pre>SimpleToken := sequence of characters from ('a-z','A-Z','0-9','_')
	ComposedToken := SimpleToken \| (SimpleToken '.' ComposedToken)
	QualifiedId := ComposedToken '.' SimpleToken
	ExtensionId := SimpleToken \| QualifiedId
	ExtensionPointId := SimpleToken \| QualifiedId
	ExtensionPointReference := SimpleToken \| QualifiedId</pre>

	<p>The remainder of this section describes the plugin.xml file structure as a series
	of DTD fragments. File <a href="plugin_dtd.html">plugin.dtd</a> presents the DTD
	definition in its entirety. </p>

	<pre><?xml encoding="US-ASCII"?>
	<?eclipse version="3.2"?>
	<!ELEMENT plugin (extension-point, extension)>
	</pre>

	<p>The <plugin> element defines the body of the manifest. It optionally contains
	declarations of any new extension points being introduced by the
	plug-in, as well as configuration of functional extensions (configured into
	extension points defined by other plug-ins, or introduced by this plug-in).</p>

	<p>The XML DTD construction rule <tt><i>element*</i></tt> means zero
	or more occurrences of the element; <tt><i>element?</i></tt> means zero or
	one occurrence of the element; and <tt><i>element+</i></tt> (used below) means one or more
	occurrences of the element. Based on the <plugin> definition above, this
	means, for example, that a plug-in containing no
	extension point declarations or extension configurations is valid (for example,
	common libraries that other plug-ins depend on). Similarly, a plug-in
	containing only extension configurations and no extension points of
	its own is also valid (for example, configuring classes delivered in other
	plug-ins into extension points declared in other plug-ins). </p>

	<p>The Eclipse architecture is based on the notion of configurable extension
	points. The platform itself predefines a set of extension points that cover the
	task of extending the platform and desktop (for example, adding menu actions,
	contributing embedded editor). In addition to the predefined extension points,
	each supplied plug-in can declare additional extension points. By declaring an
	extension point the plug-in is essentially advertising the ability to configure
	the plug-in function with externally supplied extensions. For example, the Page
	Builder plug-in may declare an extension point for adding new Design Time
	Controls (DTCs) into its builder palette. This means that the Page Builder has
	defined an architecture for what it means to be a DTC and has implemented the
	code that looks for DTC extensions that have been configured into the extension
	points. </p>

	<pre><!ELEMENT extension-point EMPTY>
	<!ATTLIST extension-point
	name CDATA #REQUIRED
	id CDATA #REQUIRED
	schema CDATA #IMPLIED
	></pre>

	<p>The <extension-point> element has the following attributes:</p>

	<ul>
	<li><b>name</b> - user-displayable (translatable) name for the extension point</li>
	<li><b>id</b> - Either a simple id token, or a fully qualified id. Simple id should be
	used unless there is an actual need to specify a fully qualified id.
	<ul>
	<li>Simple id token should be unique within this plug-in. The simple id token cannot contain dot (.) or
	whitespace</li>
	<li>Qualified id should uniquely identify this extension point among all Eclipse extension points</li>
	<li>[production rule: ExtensionPointId]</li>
	</ul>
	</li>
	<li><b>schema</b> - schema
	specification for this extension point. The exact details are being
	defined as part of the Plug-In Development Environment (PDE). The schema
	is currently not used at runtime. The reference is a file name relative to
	the plug-in installation location.</li>
	</ul>

	<p>Actual extensions are configured into extension points (predefined, or newly declared
	in this plug-in) in the <extension> section. The configuration
	information is specified as well-formed XML contained between the <extension>
	and </extension> tags. The platform does not specify the actual form of
	the configuration markup (other than requiring it to be well-formed XML). The
	markup is defined by the supplier of the plug-in that declared the extension
	point. The platform does not actually interpret the configuration markup. It
	simply passes the configuration information to the plug-in as part of the
	extension point processing (at the time the extension point logic queries all
	of its configured extensions). </p>

	<pre><!ELEMENT extension ANY>
	<!ATTLIST extension
	point CDATA #REQUIRED
	id CDATA #IMPLIED
	name CDATA #IMPLIED
	></pre>

	<p>The <extension> element has the following attributes: </p>
	<ul>
	<li><b>point</b> - reference to
	an extension point being configured. The extension point can be one
	defined in this plug-in or another plug-in
	<ul>
	<li>[production rule: ExtensionPointReference]</li>
	</ul>
	</li>
	<li><b>id</b> - optional identifier for this extension point configuration instance. This is used
	by extension points that need to uniquely identify (rather than just enumerate) the specific
	configured extensions. Can be specified as either a simple id token, or a fully qualified id
	<ul>
	<li>Simple id token should be unique within the definition of the declaring plug-in. The simple id
	token cannot contain dot (.) or whitespace.</li>
	<li>Qualified id should uniquely identify this extension among all Eclipse extensions</li>
	<li>[production rule: ExtensionId]</li>
	</ul>
	</li>
	<li><b>name</b> - user-displayable (translatable) name for the extension</li>
	</ul>

	<p><b>Important:</b>
	The content of the <extension> element is declared using the <tt>ANY</tt> rule.
	This means that any well-formed XML can be specified within the extension
	configuration section (between <extension> and </extension> tags). </p>

	<h2>Fragments</h2>
	<p>Fragments are used to increase the scope of a plug-in.
	An example would be to incorporate data such as messages or labels in another language.</p>
	<pre><?xml encoding="US-ASCII"?>
	<?eclipse version="3.2"?>
	<!ELEMENT fragment (extension-point, extension)></pre>

	<p>The <extension-point>, and <extension> components of a fragment will be logically added to the hosting plug-in.
	</p>

	<h2>Note on the ExtensionId and ExtensionPointId</h2>
	<p> Special processing was added to support backward compatibility for ExtensionId and ExtensionPointId
	that used to contain dots ('.') prior to the version 3.2. Depending on the version specified in
	the <?eclipse version?> tag:</p>
	<ul>
	<li>If the version is below 3.2, then qualified name = PluginID '.' (ExtensionID \| ExtensionPointID)</li>
	</ul>
	<p> This rule applies only to the ExtensionId and ExtensionPointId that contain dot ('.') character(s).</p>

	<hr>
	<p><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>Older versions of the plug-in manifest can be found here:</span></p>
	<ul>
	<li><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>Version <a href="plugin_manifest_30.html">3.0</a></span></li>
	</ul>

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	</html>