Adding a status line

13.1. Setup Status line

Create a new RCP project "de.vogella.rcp.intro.statusline". Use the "Hello RCP" as the template. Open the class "ApplicationWorkbenchWindowAdvisor" and change method preWindowOpen(). The relevant line in the coding is: "configurer.setShowStatusLine(true);"

    
package de.vogella.rcp.intro.statusline;

import org.eclipse.swt.graphics.Point;
import org.eclipse.ui.application.ActionBarAdvisor;
import org.eclipse.ui.application.IActionBarConfigurer;
import org.eclipse.ui.application.IWorkbenchWindowConfigurer;
import org.eclipse.ui.application.WorkbenchWindowAdvisor;

public class ApplicationWorkbenchWindowAdvisor extends WorkbenchWindowAdvisor {

   public ApplicationWorkbenchWindowAdvisor(IWorkbenchWindowConfigurer configurer) {
       super(configurer);
   }

   public ActionBarAdvisor createActionBarAdvisor(IActionBarConfigurer configurer) {
       return new ApplicationActionBarAdvisor(configurer);
   }
  
   @Override
   public void preWindowOpen() {
       IWorkbenchWindowConfigurer configurer = getWindowConfigurer();
       configurer.setInitialSize(new Point(400, 300));
       configurer.setShowCoolBar(false);
       configurer.setShowStatusLine(false);
       configurer.setTitle("Status Line Example");
       configurer.setShowStatusLine(true);
   }
}

   

If you run the application you should already see a status line. At this point the status line does not contain text.

13.2. Shared Status Line

The shared message area can be used by all parts of the application to write messages to this area.

Tip

Whole RCP application has access to the information in the shared status line therefore the information in the shared status line might be overwritten.

The following write a text to the status line.

    
package de.vogella.rcp.intro.statusline;

import org.eclipse.jface.action.IStatusLineManager;
import org.eclipse.swt.graphics.Point;
import org.eclipse.ui.application.ActionBarAdvisor;
import org.eclipse.ui.application.IActionBarConfigurer;
import org.eclipse.ui.application.IWorkbenchWindowConfigurer;
import org.eclipse.ui.application.WorkbenchWindowAdvisor;

public class ApplicationWorkbenchWindowAdvisor extends WorkbenchWindowAdvisor {

   public ApplicationWorkbenchWindowAdvisor(IWorkbenchWindowConfigurer configurer) {
       super(configurer);
   }

   public ActionBarAdvisor createActionBarAdvisor(IActionBarConfigurer configurer) {
       return new ApplicationActionBarAdvisor(configurer);
   }
  
   @Override
   public void preWindowOpen() {
       IWorkbenchWindowConfigurer configurer = getWindowConfigurer();
       configurer.setInitialSize(new Point(400, 300));
       configurer.setShowCoolBar(false);
       configurer.setShowStatusLine(false);
       configurer.setTitle("Status Line Example");
       configurer.setShowStatusLine(true);
   }
  
// This is the new method
 @Override
 public void postWindowOpen() {
  IStatusLineManager statusline = getWindowConfigurer()
    .getActionBarConfigurer().getStatusLineManager();
  statusline.setMessage(null, "Status line is ready");
 }
}

   

Run your application. You should now see the following.

Add a view with the ID "de.vogella.rcp.intro.statusline.View1" and the implementation class "de.vogella.rcp.intro.statusline.ViewPart1" to your application. This view contains a button to set the status line.

    
package de.vogella.rcp.intro.statusline;

import org.eclipse.swt.SWT;
import org.eclipse.swt.events.SelectionAdapter;
import org.eclipse.swt.events.SelectionEvent;
import org.eclipse.swt.widgets.Button;
import org.eclipse.swt.widgets.Composite;
import org.eclipse.ui.IActionBars;
import org.eclipse.ui.part.ViewPart;

public class ViewPart1 extends ViewPart {

 boolean pressed = false;

 @Override
 public void createPartControl(Composite parent) {
  Button setStatusLine = new Button(parent, SWT.PUSH);
  setStatusLine.setText("Set Statusline ");

  setStatusLine.addSelectionListener(new SelectionAdapter() {
   public void widgetSelected(SelectionEvent e) {

    String message = "I would like to say hello to you.";
    if (pressed) {
     message = "Thank you for using me";
    }
    setStatusLine(message);
    pressed = !pressed;
   }
  });
 }

 private void setStatusLine(String message) {
  // Get the status line and set the text
  IActionBars bars = getViewSite().getActionBars();
  bars.getStatusLineManager().setMessage(message);
 }

 @Override
 public void setFocus() {
 }

}

   

If you run it the result should look like the following.

Tip

From an editor you can access the status line via the following:

     
IEditorPart.getEditorSite().getActionBars();