Why do I need RCP Quickstart?

The Eclipse Rich Client Platform is a framework for creating modular user interfaces based on OSGi. But while this framework is extremely powerful, it has a fairly steep learning curve. There are a variety of reasons for this:

• RCP is less a coherent framework than an aggregation of related technologies (SWT, JFace, OSGi, Eclipse Platform).
• Because RCP is based on OSGi, a person new to RCP needs to understand this technology as well.
• For historical reasons, RCP often provides many ways to accomplish the same thing. It can be difficult to figure out how to do things the right way.

This 3-day course has been created with these issues in mind, and is designed to help you scale the RCP learning curve as quickly as possible. For a more in-depth explanation of why Eclipse RCP training is important and how quickly the RCP Quickstart course can pay for itself, check out this post on my blog. 

Note that this course has been updated for Eclipse 3.5.

What makes RCP Quickstart unique?

I've developed this course not only to teach the facts of the Eclipse Rich Client Platform but also the hard-won experiences of those who've been working with this technology for years. Also, I take a personal interest in the success of my students and stay in contact with them long after the course is finished. I spend part of every day answer the questions of former students, and I'm happy to do it.

RCP Quickstart Outline

This 3-day course is divided into 6 sessions, one to be held in the morning and one in the afternoon. Each session lasts about 3 hours and includes both lecture and labs.

Morning Day 1 - Plug-ins and the PDE 

•     Introduction to the Rich Client Platform
•     Plug-in model
•     Anatomy of a single plug-in
•     Creating a plug-in with the PDE
•     Plug-in manifests
•     Plug-in dependencies
•     Plug-in encapsulation
•     Extensions and extension points
•     Features
•     Fragments
•     Running your code

Afternoon Day 1 - SWT and JFace

•     SWT Overview
•     Widgets and controls
•     Composites and groups
•     Layout managers
•     Events and listeners
•     JFace viewer framework 
•     Dialogs
•     Data binding

Morning Day 2 - RCP Basics

•     Workbench structure and services
•     Selection service
•     Workbench life-cycle
•     Perspectives and perspective layouts
•     Views and mementos
•     Target platforms
•     Products and branding
•     Creating an application with the PDE

Afternoon Day 2 - Menus and wizards

•     Workbench menus
•     Actions and ActionBars
•     Commands, handlers and menus
•     Wizard framework
•     Integrating wizards into the workbench

Morning Day 3 - Editors and Forms API

•     Editor construction
•     Editor inputs
•     Editor life-cycle management
•     Forms API
•     Forms editor framework
•     File system integration

Afternoon Day 3 - Preferences, Concurrency and more

•     Preferences API
•     Creating preference pages
•     Creating extension points
•     Jobs API
•     Incorporating help content

Logistics

This course will be held online using the GoToMeeting service. The PDF manual and lab materials will be delivered as an encrypted archive available a few days before the course begins.

The timing of the course is meant to be convenient for students throughout North America, though you're welcome to take the course from anywhere in the world. The specific course times for the North American time zones are as follows:

• Eastern: 11am - 6pm
• Central: 10am - 5pm
• Mountain: 9am - 4pm
• Pacific: 8am - 3pm

Prerequisites

This course assumes that students will have a moderate to advanced understanding of Java. Some familiarity with the Eclipse IDE will be helpful but is not required.

Cancellations/Refund Policy

Cancellations can be made up to one week before the course start date. After that point, substitutions are allowed but not cancellations. If you wish to substitute, please inform me before the course begins.