Starting Eclipse from Java
Last modified June 1, 2007
The Eclipse Platform makes heavy use of Java class loaders for loading plug-ins. Even the Eclipse Runtime itself
and the OSGi framework need to be loaded by special class loaders. Client programs, such as a Java main program
or a servlet, cannot directly reference any part of Eclipse directly. Instead, a client must use
the EclipseStarter class in org.eclipse.core.runtime.adaptor to start the platform,
invoking functionality defined in plug-ins, and shutting down the platform when done.
Clients that do not need to access any particular function, but just need to start the platform, can use
org.eclipse.equinox.launcher.Main.run() in the bundle org.eclipse.equinox.launcher. However, clients that need to invoke specific function should use
EclipseStarter. See the javadoc inside this class for details.
