Using the Eclipse Properties View with a GLSP Diagram

[Ginxss]

Hello,

I have a project which is based on the java-emf-eclipse project template (https://github.com/eclipse-glsp/glsp-examples/tree/master/project-templates/java-emf-eclipse).

When I select an element (a task in the example project), I want the Properties View in Eclipse to be populated with properties (e.g. the name of the task).

I found this tutorial quite helpful to give me a rough understanding of how it works: https://www.eclipse.org/articles/Article-Properties-View/properties-view.html

However, I just can't put the pieces together to make it work with my GLSP diagram. I am assuming there is an easy way to achieve what I'm looking for, since properties are an integral part of many diagrams.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[martin-fleck-at]

Hi @Ginxss,

Currently there is no default integration with the Eclipse Properties View but I think the general workflow would be something like this:

1. Ensure that you can retrieve the selection from your GLSP diagram. You have several options to do this: Register a custom action handler for the SelectAction that then sends the selection to the server using a new ServerSelectAction, listen to the existing selection service and then send the new custom action or override the selection service to achieve the same result. Probably having a custom action handler is the least intrusive for this but maybe you already have a customization in your project.

2. On the server side, register a ServerSelectActionhandler that publishes the selection (or an object based on it) to the ISelectionService of Eclipse. The Properties View listens to selection changes and aims to convert the selected object to an IPropertySource either by having the object already implemented the interface or adapt it to an IPropertySource or IPropertySourceProvider. So if the selection you provide fulfills these requirements, you should see something in the Property View.

I hope this gets you started.

[Ginxss]

@martin-fleck-at Thanks for your help!
This was actually the problem, and it works perfectly now with the custom editor implementation.

[Ginxss]

@martin-fleck-at Sorry to bother you again, but there is actually one more problem that I encountered.

When I update the properties of my model elements using the properties view, the model itself gets modified correctly, but in the diagram editor, nothing changes. Basically, the GModel is not rebuilt.
In order to update my visual diagram, I need to close and re-open the file.

This happens both when I use modelElement.eSet(...) or modelState.execute(command).

Is there some update function I can call on my editor or modelState to notify it that it has changed and that it should rebuild the GModel?

[martin-fleck-at]

@Ginxss You should be able to use the ModelSubmissionHandler for this. It has two methods to send an update to the client-side model where the submitModel method also re-generates the GModel. Typically the submission handler is used when the model is first requested, during undo/redo or when operations are invoked. Maybe the changing of the properties is not an Operation? Operations typically execute the command on the model state and submit the new model without you having to take care of it. If this does not work for you, you can try to submit it yourself through the ModelSubmissionHandler.

[Ginxss]

@martin-fleck-at Yes, the changing of the properties is currently being done directly in the setPropertyValue method from the IPropertySource object, and therefore is not an operation.
I instead tried using the DefaultActionDispatcher to send a new operation to the server. This works, but it gives me the warning "Discouraged Access". What would be the preferred way of dispatching operations?

[martin-fleck-at]

How are you retrieving the DefaultActionDispatcher? The DefaultActionDispatcher is defined in an internal package so if you inject the value, you should probably be using the interface ActionDispatcher.