I think I figured out what the problem was. Has to do with the filtering of feature classes. In my application I want to be able to edit ArcGISLocalFeatureLayer objects or layers or whatever you want to call them! The filter that is getting set up by the JEditToolsPicker on line 522 is for objects of type ArcGISFeatureLayer. ArcGISLocalFeatureLayer are subclasses of ArcGISFeatureLayer so in my mind they should not get filtered out, but unfortunately that is exactly what is happening.
I've managed to deduce that the filtering takes place in the class SelectLayersAction and specifically in the method handleMapReady .
I've changed this methods if statement from:
if ((_filterClass == null) || curLayer.getClass().equals(_filterClass)) {
to
if ((_filterClass == null) || ( curLayer.getClass().equals(_filterClass) || curLayer.getClass().getSuperclass().equals(_filterClass))) {
and now objects of type ArcGISFeatureLayer are included in the "selected layer list" as well as any classes that subclasses of that class like ArcGISLocalFeatureLayer.
Would be great to get some feedback on whether this is bug, or whether the widget was intentionally designed to only allow editing of ArcGISFeatureLayer objects.
Cheers, hope this helps someone!
Kevin