17.6. RFRS Considerations

The "Extension Point" section of the RFRS Requirements includes five itemsthree requirements and two best practicesdealing with defining new extension points.

17.6.1. Document extension points (RFRS 3.10.5)

Requirement #1 states:

For each extension point that you define that is considered public, you must supply an extension point schema file. By describing your extension point with an extension point schema, it allows the plugin.xml editor to validate the extensions, it offers assistance during creation of the extension and it allows the editor to provide assistance for settings values to attributes that require Java syntax by interacting with Java platform features. In addition, you must also include documentation in the extension point schema file that describes how to implement this extension point.

For this test, attempt to implement the Favorites extension point. Add the extension via the Extensions page of the plugin.xml editor and verify that the editor is providing assistance to the elements that should be added to the extension. Also verify that you are able to open an html page for the Favorites extension point that provides documentation on how to implement it properly.

17.6.2. Log errors (RFRS 5.3.10.1)

Best Practice #2 states:

The registry processing code must log any errors that it detects in the plug-in log.

Show that the registry processing code handles any errors in the specification of extensions to your plug-in's extension points. For the Favorites extension point, create an extension that was missing the name attribute. This would create an entry in the Eclipse Error Log view (see Figure 17-10).

Figure 17-10. Error Log showing error in extension specification.

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