Get Reference to Component in ToolWindow

I figured out two ways of accomplishing this.

public class MyToolWindowFactory implements ToolWindowFactory {

    @Override
    public void createToolWindowContent(@NotNull Project project, @NotNull ToolWindow toolWindow) {
        ConsoleView consoleView = TextConsoleBuilderFactory.getInstance().createBuilder(project).getConsole();
        Content content = toolWindow.getContentManager().getFactory().createContent(consoleView.getComponent(), "", true);
        content.setDisplayName("");
        toolWindow.getContentManager().addContent(content);
    }
}

Then use findContent to retreive the content by displayName. I set it to an empty string so it wouldn't append the name to the console window.

ToolWindow toolWindow = ToolWindowManager.getInstance(project).getToolWindow("MyToolWindow");
ContentManager contentManager = toolWindow.getContentManager();
Content content = contentManager.findContent("");
ConsoleView consoleView = (ConsoleView) content.getComponent();

The second way uses an index to get the content, but that sometimes throws an execption if the ConsolveView is not in the right place on start up.

ToolWindow toolWindow = ToolWindowManager.getInstance(project).getToolWindow("MyToolWindow");
ContentManager contentManager = toolWindow.getContentManager();
Content content = contentManager.getContent(0);
assert content != null;
ConsoleView consoleView = (ConsoleView) content.getComponent();

The first method using a displayName seems like a bad idea as well as depending on an index. I know there has to be a better way of doing this.

U could make a static field in the ToolWindowFactory class and create a getter for it.

Thanks that seems to work. Although I got a null reference to the consoleView in the logs randomly. I'll have to investigate. My guess is I tried to log to it before it was initialized by the plugin.

I figured out why the null reference happens, The toolWindow is not initialized until it is opened. Is there a way to work around this? I need the project in order to create the console view. Not sure how I can fix this.

I ended up making a project service.

 
public class ConsoleService {
    private final ConsoleView consoleView;

    public ConsoleService(Project project) {
        consoleView = TextConsoleBuilderFactory.getInstance().createBuilder(project).getConsole();
    }

    public ConsoleView getConsoleView() {
        return consoleView;
    }
}

and registering it with:

 
<projectService id="ConsoleView" serviceImplementation="com.example.toolWindow.ConsoleService"/>


That way it's initialized as soon as the project opens and I don't have to worry about whether the toolwindow has been opened or not.

Instead of a service you could also use a project component, but I don't know if this is better than your approach.

Hmmm now I'm curious when you'd want to use one vs. the other.