RAP 1.1 M3 - New and Noteworthy

Here are some of the more noteworthy things that will be available in the milestone build M3 (April 7, 2008)which is now available for download.

This list shows all bugs that were fixed during this milestone.

RWT
Workbench

RWT

UI Styling API	Support for background images The methods `Control#get/setBackgroundImage()` allow to set background images on almost all controls. Support for transparency The methods `Composite#get/setBackgroundMode()` are now available. Setting the background mode of a control to `SWT.INHERIT_DEFAULT` lets all labels, links, checkboxes etc. on this composite inherit its background color and image. Semi-transparent Shells Thanks to the SWT 3.4 method `get/setAlpha()`, Shells can now be semi-transparent. This feature is also useful to place a shading layer below a modal dialog window as seen on some Web 2.0 sites.
Theming Variants	It is now possible to define variants of widget types that can be styled separately. As an example, an application that uses `PUSH` buttons in a special side bar can define a variant "side-button" and apply a different styling to these buttons. This styling only applies to the buttons belonging to the variant and does not affect any other PUSH buttons in the application. The variant is set using the widget user data (`Widget#setData()`), so the code remains 100% SWT compatible.
ISettingStore	There is a new subsystem in RWT that allows to persist user-specific settings: `RWT.getSettingStore().setAttribute( "myAttribute", "myValue" );`. The setting store allows to restore settings made in a previous session: `RWT.getSettingStore().getAttribute( "myAttribute" );`. The setting store uses browser cookies to identify the settings of previous sessions. It is also possible to load specific settings independently from cookies: `RWT.getSettingStore().loadById( "myId" )`. This is for example useful in case that certain settings should only be available after the user has gone through an authentication process. Note that the setting store subsystem is used by the new `ScopedPreferenceStore` implementation of the workbench. See API documentation for more information.
Mouse Events	RWT now has support for `MouseEvent`s. Calling `addMouseListener` on a Control will notify you about `mouseUp`, `mouseDown` and `mouseDoubleClick` events. Please be aware that, apart from the API, there are still some limitations that will be addressed during the next development cycle.

Workbench

Support for activities	The RAP Workbench now supports the `org.eclipse.ui.activities` and `org.eclipse.ui.activitySupport` extension points. You can control the visibility of views, editors, perspectives, menu and toolbar items using activities and trigger points. See the extension point documentation for details.
RAP HttpContext	The RAP servlet now uses its own HttpContext implementation. This allows other servlets to map to that context too. This enables the possibility to share the same session instances between those servlets and the RAP servlet for data exchange.
ScopedPreferenceStore	The RAP workbench provides now `org.eclipse.ui.preferences.ScopedPreferenceStore` that allows to read and set user-specific preferences using the preference mechanism provided by `org.eclipse.core.runtime`. The base of the storage mechanism is a subsystem of RWT represented by `org.eclipse.rwt.service.ISettingStore`. The session aware `org.eclipse.jface.preference.IPreferenceStore` can be retrieved using the method `org.eclipse.ui.plugin.AbstractUIPlugin.getPreferenceStore`. See API documentation for more information.
Import-/Exportwizards	RAP supports now Import- and Exportwizards by providing the extension points `importWizards` and `exportWizards`. See also `ActionFactory.IMPORT` and `ActionFactory.EXPORT` for opening the import-/export wizard.

The above features are just the ones that are new since the last milestone build. Summaries for earlier builds: