12.11.1 Problem You don't want users to have to explicitly add your plug-in to a perspective by customizing it. 12.11.2 Solution Use the extension point org.eclipse.ui.perspectiveExtensions in plugin.xml to add the plug-in to the perspective automatically. 12.11.3 Discussion To automatically add a plug-in to a perspective, use the extension point org.eclipse.ui.perspectiveExtensions in plugin.xml . You can make this just by editing the XML in plugin.xml . Here's how to automatically add the plug-in developed over the previous few recipes to the Java perspective in plugin.xml : <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <plugin id="org.cookbook.ch12.MenuPlugInFromScratch" name="MenuPlugInFromScratch Plug-in" version="1.0.0" provider-name="Eclipse Cookbook" class="org.cookbook.ch12.MenuPlugInFromScratch.MenuPlugInFromScratchPlugin"> <runtime> <library name="MenuPlugInFromScratch.jar"/> </runtime> <requires> <import plugin="org.eclipse.core.resources"/> <import plugin="org.eclipse.ui"/> </requires> <extension point="org.eclipse.ui.actionSets"> <actionSet label="Action Set 1" visible="true" id="org.cookbook.ch12.MenuPlugInFromScratch.actionSet1"> <menu label="Menu 1" id="Menu1"> <separator name="Group1"> </separator> </menu> <action label="Action 1" class="org.cookbook.ch12.MenuPlugInFromScratch.Action1" tooltip="This action is functional." menubarPath="Menu1/Group1" toolbarPath="Group1" id="Action1"> </action> </actionSet> </extension> <extension point = "org.eclipse.ui.perspectiveExtensions"> <perspectiveExtension targetID="org.eclipse.ui.javaPerspective"> <actionSet id="org.cookbook.ch12.MenuPlugInFromScratch.actionSet1"> </actionSet> </perspectiveExtension> </extension> </plugin> Save plugin.xml after editing it, and restart the Run-time Workbench. When you do, the new plug-in should appear on startup. | | Other perspectives can be reached using similar nomenclature . For example, to add a plug-in to the Resource perspective, use org.eclipse.ui.resourcePerspective . | | |