RCP Message Dialog

While developing applications, it’s common to have a common set of functionalities used across most applications.
Message dialogs are one of those examples. In Rich Client Platform (RCP) applications, it may take too much time finding which JFace dialog class suits better for a giving aim…

The following notes will help in identifying which dialog to use. All the methods needed are statically available in the org.eclipse.jface.dialogs.MessageDialog class:

  • MessageDialog.openConfirm, for a confirmation dialog with an Ok/Cancel button set.
  • MessageDialog.openError, for an error dialog with an Ok button.
  • MessageDialog.openInformation, for an information dialog with an Ok button.
  • MessageDialog.openQuestion, for a question dialog with and Yes/No button set.
  • MessageDialog.openWarning, for warning dialog with an Ok button.

The org.eclipse.jface.dialogs.MessageDialogWithToggle is similar,but allows the user to adjust a toggle setting, like Yes Always/Yes/No or Yes/No/Never.

One can use org.eclipse.jface.dialogs.DialogSettings for a dialog setting, supporting loading and saving of properties in an XML file.

One can use org.eclipse.jface.dialogs.ProgressMonitorDialog to display progress during a long running operation.

An, finally, one can design your own dialog windows.
To do it, one just has to extend the org.eclipse.jface.dialogs.IconAndMessageDialog class.

Note: in RCP, the shell can be obtained using
PlatformUI.getWorkbench().getActiveWorkbenchWindow().getShell();.