Stylevision Entry Points in Eclipse
The following entry points in Eclipse can be used to access StyleVision functionality:
•StyleVision Perspective, which provides StyleVision's GUI features within the Eclipse GUI.
StyleVision Perspective
In Eclipse, a perspective is a configured GUI view with functionality from various applications. When the StyleVision Plugin for Eclipse is integrated in Eclipse, a default StyleVision perspective is automatically created. This perspective is a GUI that includes StyleVision's GUI elements: its editing views, menus, entry helpers, and other sidebars.
When a file having a filetype associated with StyleVision is opened (.sps, for example), this file can be edited in the StyleVision perspective. Similarly, a file of another filetype can be opened in another perspective in Eclipse. Additionally, for any active file, you can switch the perspective, thus allowing you to edit or process that file in another environment. There are therefore two main advantage of perspectives:
1.Being able to quickly change the working environment of the active file, and
2.Being able to switch between files without having to open a new development environment (the associated environment is available in a perspective)
Working with the StyleVision perspective involves the following:
•Switching to the StyleVision perspective.
•Setting preferences for the StyleVision perspective.
•Customizing the StyleVision perspective.
Switching to the StyleVision perspective
In Eclipse, select the command Window | Perspective | Open Perspective | Other. In the dialog that pops up (screenshot below), select StyleVision, and click Open.
The empty window or the active document will now have the StyleVision perspective. This is how the user switches the perspective via the menu. To access a perspective faster from another perspective, the required perspective can be listed in the Open Perspective submenu, above the Other item; this setting is in the customization dialog (see further below).
Perspectives can also be switched when a file is opened or made active. The perspective of the application associated with a file's filetype will be automatically opened when that file is opened for the first time. Before the perspective is switched, a dialog appears asking whether you wish to have the default perspective automatically associated with this filetype (screenshot below).
Check the Do Not Ask Again option if you wish to associate the perspective with the filetype without having to be prompted each time a file of this filetype is opened and then click OK.
Setting preferences for the StyleVision perspective
The preferences of a perspective include: (i) a setting to automatically change the perspective when a file of an associated filetype is opened (see above), and (ii) options for including or excluding individual StyleVision toolbars. To access the Preferences dialog (screenshot below), select the command Window | Preferences.
In the list of perspectives in the left pane, select StyleVision, then select the required preferences. Finish by clicking OK.
Customizing the StyleVision perspective
The customization options enable you to determine what shortcuts and commands are included in the perspective. To access the Customize Perspective dialog of a perspective (screenshot below shows dialog for the StyleVision perspective), make the perspective active (in this case the StyleVision perspective), and select the command Window | Perspective | Customize Perspective.
In the Tool Bar Visibility and Menu Visibility tabs, you can specify which toolbars and menus are to be displayed. In the Action Set Availability tab, you can add action sets to their parent menus and to the toolbar. If you wish to enable an action group, check its check box. In the Shortcuts tab of the Customize Perspective dialog, you can set shortcuts for submenus. Select the required submenu in the Submenus combo box. Then select a shortcut category, and check the shortcuts you wish to include for the perspective. Click Apply & Close to complete the customization and for the changes to take effect.
StyleVision menu and toolbar
The StyleVision menu contains commands that are relevant to StyleVision. In the standalone version of StyleVision, some of these commands are in the File menu. The StyleVision toolbar contains the following buttons (screenshot below).
These are for, from left: (i) opening the StyleVision Help, and (ii) accessing StyleVision commands (as an alternative to accessing them from the StyleVision menu).