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I'm working on a java eclipse RCP project where Package explorer shows 4 packages and three of them having a META-INF folder and each of them contains a MANIFEST.MF file.

and each package (except one) has its own build.properties.

I don't understand why there three META-INF folders.

I also couldn't determine how these packages interact themselves because the classes withing a package have no reference on other packages.

Any tips to understand this structure will be helpful. Thank you.

abhimanyue
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    Show us a picture – greg-449 Jun 09 '20 at 11:35
  • I can't as it is office rule, not taking picture of any official code/material. I am seeking help from my personal computer. But I can describe my problems in words, please let me know. – abhimanyue Jun 09 '20 at 11:39
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    A plug-in project should only contain one `META-INF` subfolder, but there might displayed more `META-INF` folder under `Plug-in Dependencies` that belong to dependent plug-ins. Where are the `META-INF` folders in your case? – howlger Jun 09 '20 at 11:47
  • @howlger They are directly under Package Folder, – abhimanyue Jun 09 '20 at 11:52
  • It is extremely difficult to diagnose this with so little information. It occurs to me that you might be looking at a nested project structure - only **Project** Explorer can display that correctly. Open Project Explorer and set the 'Project Presentation' to 'Hierarchical' ( in the view menu) – greg-449 Jun 09 '20 at 12:32
  • @greg-449, yes, exactly the same way I am looking and it shows 4 packages, each package has its own META-INF except one (that package actually tests inputs). and each package (except one) has its own build.properties. – abhimanyue Jun 09 '20 at 12:40
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    Are you sure those are packages and not Projects - right click on the 'package' and open the Properties, look at the Resource tab - what is the Type? – greg-449 Jun 09 '20 at 12:47
  • @greg-449, all shows Project as type. – abhimanyue Jun 09 '20 at 12:53
  • So these are nested projects, each one is a separate project (probably a plug-in project). – greg-449 Jun 09 '20 at 13:33

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It sounds like you have an RCP set up using nested projects. This is sometimes recommended to help organize RCP projects. Each of the 'packages' is actually a separate project. Project Explorer displays the projects hierarchically when that is selected as the project presentation style.

As an example here is one of my RCPs: Example nested projects

Note: in this example I have told Project Explorer to show all the .project and .classpath files which are normally hidden. This helps to show which folders are projects.

It has a top level project ('greg.music') containing a number of folders (.mvn, bundles, features, releng...). The 'bundles' folder contains two plug-in projects (greg.music.e4.rcp, greg.synch.jsynchfiles).

This particular structure is common for projects using maven and Eclipse

greg-449
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  • So, all projects work together as a single application? In my case each project/package has its own JRE System Library and Plug-in dependencies folder. But when I Run/compile i just run one ".product" file from one package. I appreciate your explanation. – abhimanyue Jun 09 '20 at 14:07
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    An Eclipse RCP is always made up of a lot of separate plug-in projects (50+ is common). The .product file defines how they are combined in to the RCP. The nested projects is not a requirement of this, it is just done to make things more managable. – greg-449 Jun 09 '20 at 14:10
  • Okay, now I am getting it slowly, I open the product file and see its contents but there is nothing about other 3 packages/projects. it contains only plugins and One project that own the product file. Does it mean there could be some unused/redundant packages/projects? – abhimanyue Jun 09 '20 at 14:15
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    It may be a feature based product in which case only the features would be listed. This is straying a long way from the original question, you need to read up on RCPs, product files, ... and come back with more specific questions. – greg-449 Jun 09 '20 at 14:19