Bug 33628 [Preferences] provide API for showing a specified preference page
There is no way for a plugin to open the (workbench) preference dialog with a certain peference page selected. Enabling this would allow plugins to refer the user to a certain preference page, for example when a misconfiguration is detected during execution of an action. Also this enables developers to write a new search panel to find a text in the preference pages and get the user right there. A method select(IPreferencePage page), select(IPreferenceNode node) or select(String path) in org.eclipse.jface.preference.PreferenceDialog would help.
bundles/org.eclipse.jface/src/org/eclipse/jface/preference/PreferenceDialog.java
return new Point(x, y);
		}
		public void layout(Composite composite, boolean force) {
			Rectangle rect = composite.getClientArea();
			Control[] children = composite.getChildren();
			for (int i = 0; i < children.length; i++) {
				children[i].setSize(rect.width, rect.height);
			}
		}
	}
	
	private static String lastPreferenceId = null;
	
	private static int lastTreeWidth = 150;
	/**
	 * Indentifier for the error image
	 */
	public static final String PREF_DLG_IMG_TITLE_ERROR = DLG_IMG_MESSAGE_ERROR; 
	/**
	 * Title area fields
	 */
	public static final String PREF_DLG_TITLE_IMG = "preference_dialog_title_image"; 
	static {
		ImageRegistry reg = JFaceResources.getImageRegistry();
		reg.put(PREF_DLG_TITLE_IMG, ImageDescriptor.createFromFile(
				PreferenceDialog.class, "images/pref_dialog_title.gif")); 
	}
	/**
	 * The current preference page, or <code>null</code> if there is none.
	 */