A workbench is the root object for the Eclipse Platform user interface.
A workbench has one or more main windows which present to the end user information based on some underlying model, typically on resources in an underlying workspace. A workbench usually starts with a single open window, and automatically closes when its last window closes.
Each workbench window has a collection of pages; the active page is the one that is being presented to the end user; at most one page is active in a window at a time.
Each workbench page has a collection of workbench parts, of which there are two kinds: views and editors. A page's parts are arranged (tiled or stacked) for presentation on the screen. The arrangement is not fixed; the user can arrange the parts as they see fit. A perspective is a template for a page, capturing a collection of parts and their arrangement.
The platform creates a workbench when the workbench plug-in is activated; since this happens at most once during the life of the running platform, there is only one workbench instance. Due to its singular nature, it is commonly referred to as the workbench.
The workbench supports a few {@link IServiceLocator services} by default. Ifthese services are used to allocate resources, it is important to remember to clean up those resources after you are done with them. Otherwise, the resources will exist until the workbench shuts down. The supported services are:
- {@link IBindingService}
- {@link ICommandService}
- {@link IContextService}
- {@link IHandlerService}
This interface is not intended to be implemented by clients.
@see org.eclipse.ui.PlatformUI#getWorkbench