Eclipse plugin with custom validation

Question

I'm new to Eclipse plugin development, but I've been able to cobble together a plugin that defines a content type and a corresponding editor. I've gotten custom content assist going, so I know the editor is coming up okay.

My problem is that I need to create some custom validation for files of this content type, and I've found scant information. The only example I could find that has java code is here: http://www.eclipse.org/webtools/wst/components/sse/tutorials/source-validation.html . Unfortunately, copying this technique yields no results. My validator class is never even invoked.

Here are the relevant parts of my plugin.xml:

        <extension point="org.eclipse.core.contenttype.contentTypes">
     <content-type base-type="org.eclipse.core.runtime.xml"
      file-extensions="xml"
      id="com.palantir.eclipse.kite.contenttype.kite"
      name="Kite File"
      priority="normal">

      <describer class="org.eclipse.core.runtime.content.XMLRootElementContentDescriber">
       <parameter name="element" value="kite"></parameter>
      </describer>
     </content-type>
    </extension>


       <extension point="org.eclipse.ui.editors">
      <editor name="Kite XML Editor"
            icon="icons/smalllogo.gif"
            contributorClass="org.eclipse.ui.texteditor.BasicTextEditorActionContributor"
            class="com.palantir.eclipse.kite.plugin.editor.KiteXmlEditor"
            id="com.palantir.eclipse.kite.plugin.editor.KiteXmlEditor">
          <contentTypeBinding contentTypeId="com.palantir.eclipse.kite.contenttype.kite">
          </contentTypeBinding>
      </editor>
   </extension>

       <extension point="org.eclipse.wst.sse.ui.sourcevalidation">
      <validator scope="total"
                 class="com.palantir.eclipse.kite.plugin.validator.KiteValidator"
                 id="com.palantir.eclipse.kite.plugin.validator.KiteValidator">
         <contentTypeIdentifier id="com.palantir.eclipse.kite.contenttype.kite">
            <partitionType id="org.eclipse.wst.sse.ST_DEFAULT" />
         </contentTypeIdentifier>
      </validator>
   </extension>

And the validator file:

package com.palantir.eclipse.kite.plugin.validator;

import org.eclipse.jface.text.IDocument;
import org.eclipse.jface.text.IRegion;
import org.eclipse.wst.sse.ui.internal.reconcile.validator.ISourceValidator;
import org.eclipse.wst.validation.internal.provisional.core.IReporter;
import org.eclipse.wst.validation.internal.provisional.core.IValidationContext;
import org.eclipse.wst.validation.internal.provisional.core.IValidator;

public class KiteValidator implements ISourceValidator, IValidator {
    public KiteValidator() {
     System.out.println("Initialized KiteValidator");
    }

    public void cleanup(IReporter reporter) {
     System.out.println("Inside KiteValidator");
    }

    public void validate(IValidationContext context, IReporter reporter) {
     System.out.println("Inside KiteValidator");
    }

    public void connect(IDocument document) {
     System.out.println("Inside KiteValidator");
    }

    public void disconnect(IDocument document) {
     System.out.println("Inside KiteValidator");
    }

    public void validate(IRegion region, IValidationContext context, IReporter reporter) {
     System.out.println("Inside KiteValidator");
    }
}

Answer 1

I would strongly recommend you look at xtext -- it'll take care of the edit, content assist, coloring, and provides a nice overriable framework for more detailed work.

See http://www.eclipse.org/Xtext/