The following components make up the Eclipse RCP platform [http://www.ralfebert.de/rcpbuch/overview/]:
[[Image:1-rcp_stackarchitecture20.pnggif|330px500px]]tutorial [http://www.vogella.de/articles/EclipseRCP/article.html#firstrcp_start]
=== OSGi / Equinox ===
[http://zenit.senecac.on.ca/wiki/index.php/OSGi_Concepts OSGi is a standard Java framework for developing modular applications.] OSGi provides a runtime environment for software modules (so-called bundles or plug-ins ) ready. Eclipse-based applications on the Eclipse's OSGi implementation Eclipse Equinox .
=== JFace ===
[http://wiki.eclipse.org/JFace SWT UI Toolkit] is limited as a minimal abstraction layer above the UI layer of the operating system.Additional features such as the filling of the UI components using Java model objects are provided in [http://wiki.eclipse.org/JFaceJFace]. [http://help.eclipse.org/helios/index.jsp?topic=/org.eclipse.platform.doc.isv/guide/jface.htm JFace is a UI toolkit] that provides helper classes for developing UI features that can be tedious to implement. JFace operates above the level of a raw widget system and includes classes for handling common UI programming tasks:* Viewers handle the drudgery of populating, sorting, filtering, and updating widgets.* Actions and contributions introduce semantics for defining user actions and specifying where to make them available.* Image and font registries provide common patterns for handling UI resources.* Dialogs and wizards define a framework for building complex interactions with the user.* Field assist provides classes that help guide the user in choosing appropriate content for fields in dialogs, wizards, or forms. JFace frees you up to focus on the implementation of your specific plug-in's function, rather than focusing on the underlying widget system or solving problems that are common in almost any UI application. An example of how develop a RCP application using [http://www.vogella.de/articles/EclipseJFaceTable/article.html#example JFace table could be found here]
=== Eclipse UI Workbench ===
Based on the above components is [http://www.eclipse.org/articles/Article-UI-Guidelines/Contents.html the Eclipse UI (the Workbench) ] is ready to expand the plug-ins from the Eclipse IDE workbench to the functions that are necessary for software development. Your own plug-ins using Eclipse RCP Workbench could be developed based on generic templates.
Optional Components[http://www.eclipsezone.com/eps/10minute-rcp/rcp-quick-intro_controller.swf?csConfigFile=rcp-quick-intro_config.xml Simple example to use Eclipse UI components to develop RCP applications]
