To set up the workbench for PDE, we start by assuming that you are using the default workbench perspective. PDE offers an alternative perspective that arranges the views differently and defines placeholders for other views you will likely need (Package Explorer, Hierarchy, Plug-ins). To change the perspective, use Window->Open Perspective->Other... and choose Plug-in Development from the offered list.
In addition to the new perspective, PDE supplies three new views.
The Error Log view will capture internal errors thrown by the platform or your code. This is useful at run-time, since you are likely to cause exceptions during development. As errors are triggered, they will be added to the log view and you can examine details by double-clicking on them. You can also clear the view when you are done with the errors. The same information is stored in the .metadata location of your workspace in the .log file, but the Error Log is much more convenient. Note that you can always restore the content of the view by reloading the .log file. Entries are sorted in the reverse chronological order (latest first) and you can bring up the Properties dialog to see entry details.
Some errors may be hierarchical i.e. there can be a general entry for a complex problem and a number of child entries listing individual problems in details.
The Plug-in Registry view shows you a read-only view of the plug-in registry of the instance in which it is running. This view can be useful in the run-time workbench instance to see whether your plug-in has been started and what plug-in artifacts (extensions, extension points, libraries, etc.) are recognized by the platform. Detailed properties of the selected objects in the Registry view are shown in the Properties view.
The Registry is not shown by default in the PDE perspective. To view the registry, choose Window->Show View->Other... and choose "Plug-in Registry" from the "PDE Runtime" category in the Show View dialog. Remember, do it in the instance you launched for testing, not in the instance you use for development.