Eclipse plugin development:How to open a file in external editor programmatically in eclipse plugin development

Question

I am opening a .xlsx file in eclipse .It opens internally in MS excel which again contain my excel plugin.Which do not work properly when eclipse open excel internally.

So how can i set ,eclipse always open .xlsx file externally.

Answer 1

You can define an editor for xlsx in your plugin using the org.eclipse.ui.editors extension point:

<extension
 point="org.eclipse.ui.editors">
 <editor
 extensions="xlsx" 
 id="myeditor.id"
 icon="icon path"
 launcher="myeditor.Launcher"
 name="XLSX editor">
 </editor>
 </extension>

This is using the launcher attribute to specify that a class to launch an external editor is to be used.

The Launcher class would be something like:

public class Launcher implements IEditorLauncher 
{
 public void open(IPath file)
 {
 File file = file.toFile();
 java.awt.Desktop.getDesktop().open(file);
 }
}

• archit jain: Where should i write this code ,means when i select a .xlsx file in project explorer and open it ,at that point this code should be called. So either their is some event called when we open a file or i have to override editor or something??
• greg-449: This code is only of use if it is your plugin that is opening the file. For project explorer I don't think there is a way to force just xlsx to open externally.
• archit jain: Yes i am creating a plugin .It will contain only .xlsx files,and i just want they should open externally.Am i misunderstanding?
• greg-449: I have revised the answer to include an editor definition and IEditorLauncher