Writing Eclipse plugin to modify Editor Preferences

Question

I\'d like to develop a plugin (tool bar buttons) for Eclipse CDT where users can easily switch between 8 and 4 spaces tabs and turn on/off soft tabs. (Why bother you asked?

Answer 1

Thanks @nonty for suggestion. It works well. For benefits of others, here's my full code to change tab settings in CDT editor.

    public void run(IAction action) {
    if(action.isChecked())
    {
        IPreferenceStore ps = new ScopedPreferenceStore(new InstanceScope(), "org.eclipse.cdt.core");
        ps.setValue("org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.tabulation.size",  8);
        ps.setValue("org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.indentation.size", 8);
        ps.setValue("org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.use_tabs_only_for_leading_indentations", true);
        ps.setValue("org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.tabulation.char", "tab"); //=mixed/space/tab

        // To check if the value
        // int tabWidth = ps.getInt("org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.tabulation.size");
        // String tabFormat = ps.getString("org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.tabulation.char");
        // MessageDialog.openInformation(null, "CDT Tab Width", "CDT tab width: " + tabWidth + " format: " + tabFormat);
    }
}

Now all I need to do is make sure each Editor tab remembers it's Tab settings and automatically switch back when tab changes. Where do I start... doh!

Answer 2

You should try installing and using the AnyEdit Tools which does the job -- one of the most popular eclipse plugins.

Answer 3

You can use code similar to the following to get and set preferences in any plugin.

IPreferenceStore s = new ScopedPreferenceStore(new InstanceScope(), "org.eclipse.ui");
ss.setValue("SHOW_MEMORY_MONITOR", true);