# ETFw Feedback View

## Overview

The Parallel Tools Platform External Tools Framework Feedback view provides an eclipse view, exposing information found e.g. in an XML file, with convenient mapping and navigation to source lines referenced in the XML file. For example, a compiler or analysis tool may expose items of interest in an XML file and list the filename and line number (or range of lines, or character region) applicable to the item found. A performance tool may note regions of interest with source code lines that are referenced.

The PTP ETFw Feedback view plug-in that is included with PTP is the abstract code only, and does not contain any concrete data or views. To see a sample plug-in of a simple XML file and associated Feedback view, check out the sample project from the Eclipse repository, as described below.

This is an initial release of the ETFw feedback view code. These APIs should be considered provisional, and could change without notice.

The PTP ETFw Feedback view allows a convenient way to expose this information in a way that allows the user to easily navigate to the source code lines in the user's source code.

# Basic Tasks

## Show Items in feedback view

As an example, check out the org.eclipse.ptp.etfw.feedback.sample project from CVS:

- Host: dev.eclipse.org
- Repository path: /cvsroot/tools
- Under HEAD, scroll down to org.eclipse.ptp and expand it.
- Expand tools/etfw
- Check out org.eclipse.ptp.etfw.feedback.sample

Launch a development eclipse workspace

1. Create a basic C project (or almost any type of Eclipse project will do)
2. Put the xml file in the project (e.g. use data/sample.xml in the above project)
3. Put source files referenced in the xml file(s) in the same directory (e.g. use data/sample.c from the above project) as the xml file. In actual implementations, you could put specific code in your plug-in to find them.
4. Select the xml file in the Project Explorer view
5. Hit the feedback button in the toolbar (Hover says "Show Feedback View for selected XML File")
6. The xml file is parsed by the SampleFeedbackParser class, IFeedbackItems are created, and markers are created for each of these, which appear in the Feedback view.

   The items are initially all collapsed. You can expand individual parent nodes, or use the "Expand All" button in the view's toolbar (see red arrow in middle of image above\) to see more information.

7. To see the source file line referred to by an item, double-click on the line in the Feedback view.
8. To see more information on an item, rightMouse and select "Show Info", or select the item and hit the "Show Info" (icon "i") button in the view toolbar.

Another extension point allows for a user class to be invoked as an action when an item in the view is selected.

For more information, see the ETFw Feedback view page on the PTP wiki.

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