Java Reference
In-Depth Information
CHAPTER 9
Graphical Editing Framework
The Graphical Editing Framework (GEF) is a project with the top-level Eclipse Tools
Project and, as with Eclipse Modeling Framework (EMF), is one of the earliest Eclipse
projects. Because no existing book is dedicated to GEF, this chapter provides an overview
of the framework, based largely on the content available from the GEF documentation.
This topic covers GEF only to the extent required to understand Graphical Modeling
Framework (GMF).
GEF consists of two plug-ins: Draw2d (
org.eclipse.draw2d
) and GEF
(
org.eclipse.gef
). Draw2d, an extension of Standard Widget Toolkit (SWT),
provides painting and layout functionality. GEF is built on top of Draw2d and
provides an Model-View-Controller (MVC) framework for graphical editors.
Although Draw2d depends on only SWT, GEF builds upon Draw2d and also
supplies integration with the Eclipse platform. Note that the two collectively are
commonly considered GEF and are not distinguished separately. Figure 9-1 is the
Plug-in Development Environment (PDE)'s Plug-In Dependencies view, to illus-
trate the minimal requirements of GEF and Draw2d.
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