Question

I am developing an Eclipse plugin which will operate in plugin-only mode – mainly special context menus for certain project natures. Is there a way to deploy the plugin into the current Eclipse runtime, so I can immediately test it there?
If no, how are developers supposed to test plugins which use Eclipse’s file explorer?

Answer 1

In your Eclipse IDE, open “Run > Run Configurations…” Select Eclipse Application and create a new run configuration.

Then on the “Main” tab there will be a “Program to Run” section. Select the radio button “Run an application:”

Then in it’s drop down menu, select “org.eclipse.ui.ide.workbench“

Now switch to the tab labeled “Plug-ins“. Make sure the plug-in that you are building and want to test is selected. You may have to use the drop down labeled “Launch with:” and select “plug-ins selected below only” in order for the UI to let you select the plug-in your building.

Now, just to make sure this is all going to launch correctly, select the button, “Validate Plug-ins” If there are errors, close the message box and select the button, “Add Required Plug-ins” This will auto select all dependent plugins for this run configuration.

Now select the button “Run” and a new instance of Eclipse will launch with your plug-in installed in it.