RCP DtaQ Demo's "preferences" are hard-coded into Me.java. Remember that class from 101? The stuff which varies for each System i -- where the system name or IP address and data queue paths were defined? It would be nice if the user could change that instead of having the programmer modify and compile Me.java. A preference page would look like this:

Lets do it.

You can't use WDSCi 7 (Version 7 of Websphere Development Studio Client for System i) to develop RCP applications -- at least not without making compromises.

Close but no cigar. Maybe next time around.

This information is directly from IBM (the first two points), the result of two PMRs.

1. The javadocs for SWT and JFace are not included to save space.

2. The source for Eclipse is not included for legal reasons.

IBM / Rational doesn't knows what all the effects of leaving out the Eclipse source. For sure without the source the PDE is unable to generate XML code for the extension points. That was one of my PMRs. Anything that plugin development, or Eclipse, tries to build using the Eclipse source as a template is going to fail. There is no list of what is effected by the lack of Eclipse source code.

This is my conjecture

3. I am conjecturing that IBM / Rational does not test the functionality of of the Eclipse as WDSCi is developed. While the prespective "Eclipse Plug-In Development" is maintained, and plugin development is a install option, I don't see how it could have been fully tested and someone not notice the problems leaving the Eclipse source code out causes.

In fairness WDSCi is a huge product. Using WDSCi for Eclipse type development is probably not on the critical path. Perhaps the Eclipse source was left out in the final build and no one realized that would be a problem.

IBM / Rational provides a means to install WDSCi into your Eclipse and I haven't tried that.

My conclusion?

WDSCi is really super but I won't be using it to develop Eclipse RCP applications for the System i.

The Eclipse RCP wizards work and generate sample applications which work. When you to try to build on them the PDE problem comes into play. You can get around it by editing the XML of the plugin directly.

You can get around the lack of SWT and JFace documentation by linking to the Eclipse website.

I'll continue this blog using Eclipse 3.2.2 and borrowing from the iSeries toolbox and JTOpen as needed.

Elena Lower wrote an article published this month in System iNEWS, ProVip (May 2007), "5 Tips for Integrating Java with System i Resources". RCP DtaQ Demo project will benefit from the first tip, Connection to the System i. Lets apply it:

These changes give RCP DtaQ Demo a logon dialog consistent with the graphical appearance of the application and is more functional. The user can cancel the logon without ending the application and later call for the logon dialog through the file menu.

This is how it is done.

Typically a rich client does not have console output. The classes brought over from Java data queue 211 write their output to stdout. They were designed for a Java command line or console application. RCP DtaQ Demo will be modified to eliminate the console output and use the rich client user interface (UI) and log file. When finished the application would look like this:

- No console output
- The messages are written to the View (think subfile).
- The status line is used to alert the user (no alerts yet).
- Errors are written to the log file.

Notice the scroll bars at the bottom and the top. Those are automatically generated, they would disappear is the window were just a little larger.

This exercise builds an RCP application which monitor's the output data queue of the demonstration model. Eclipse RCP wizards are used to create an RCP application with a view that contains a table, the table shows a String[] with the values "One", "Two" and "Three." This blog entry shows how to run the wizards and modify the code generated by the wizards, and how to use the data queue classes created in Java data queues 211 blog entry.

The RCP application looks like when it first starts and determines the data queue key.

The console output of the key is a legacy of reusing classes from Java data queues 211. Future refinements will move this output to the user inferface and/or log file.

The is the RCP application after the CL view-controller on the System i puts the
- key "A80008",
- instruction "HELLO" and
- message "Bill Blalock"
in the demo model input data queue, the demo model has processed it and written to the output data queue.

Do you want to give it a try?