WARNING: Improper use of the Workspace Object Interface (WOI) could lead to general instability or malfunction of RDE3 itself and at the same time cause loss of data, files, or important information. Use the WOI only if you are extremely sure of what you are doing.
Every tool created in the RDE workspace (e.g., shells, editors, projects, etc.) are called "workspace objects" (or simply objects).
Each object implements a common interface that allows the workspace, and all other objects, to communicate with the object. Communication takes place using a set of known commands (called methods) that can be called (invoked) for each object that supports them: this also means that not all objects support all methods, but only those that actually serve the object itself or that you want to make available.
Normally an object's method is called when there is a need for the object to perform a certain operation: for example, for an 'editor' object, to save its file or, for a 'monitor' object, to stop its activities.
Name of a method
Each method has its own unique name (always lower case), normally with the format "<group>.<name>" (the format is not mandatory but helps in cataloging various types of methods).
Parameters of a method
Methods can also have parameters, which is a string with a series of key/value pairs, separated by the SEP character. The general syntax is:
<key1>=<value1>[SEP<key2>=<value2>[SEP....]] |
Where:
•key is the parameter name (always lowercase);
•value is the value of the parameter;
•SEP is the ascii separator character \n (#10).
The presence and meaning of each parameter is documented for each individual method.
Result of a method
Some methods may also have a return value: its presence and meaning are documented for each individual method.
Categories of methods
Methods are documented by category to which they belong. The following categories are documented and implemented in RDE3:
•Generic interface, methods for general management of an object;
•User interface, methods for managing the user interface of an object;
•Editor interface, methods for managing objects operating as editors, regardless of file type/content.
Method Invocation.
Documentation on how to invoke methods is generally described in the documentation of the specific RDE objects or extensions that expose a user interface to them (e.g., shell user commands expose WOI using X/script programming language).
