Re: [e4-dev] Some random thoughts after browsing the e4 code base

[Jeff McAffer <jeff@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> 1. Why is e4 still using an (empty) Activator in almost every project?
> Shouldn't it be a good OSGi citizen and use the
> FramworkUtil.getBundle(Class) whenever the current Bundle/ 
> BundleContext
> is needed? Also the Activator.ID is error prone to refactoring, thats
> why I never use it in my own projects.
> A similar problem has the NLS feature of Eclipse PDE, when it  
> creates the Messages class and puts the BUNDLE into a string rather  
> to have
> NLS.initialize(Messages.class.getPackage().getName() + ".messages",
> Messages.class)

Yes, setting up good OSGi programming practices from the beginning  
would be great.  IMHO this actually means NOT using OSGi types  
wherever possible.  Through DS and other means we should be able to  
avoid referencing BundeContexts in normal Eclipse code yet still use  
OSGi services to structure things.

The use of string constants for getting bundle ids does have the  
brittleness mentioned and IMHO should be avoided.  The frameworkUtil  
method you mention is a fine way to do this.  Not that if you really  
want to use constants (for this and other purposes) there is no need  
to use an Activator for that.  BundleActivators are OSGi specific and  
are there for lifecycle.  Historically the Plugin class was the place  
where we dumped all manner of stuff but best practice would have your  
random domain constants etc wherever you would normally put them if  
not using OSGi and just putting the OSGi-related code (what? why?) in  
OSGi-related types.

Jeff