Useful tips for Eclipse
Top 10 Tips For New Eclipse Users
An interesting link to hide the jar files from the left section of the files in the Eclipse IDE
Don't forget to turn on Eclipse's memory monitor, use Window -> Preferences -> General -> Show Heap Status.
Use Eclipse Short Cuts
Most important shortcuts
- CTRL SHIFT R for finding resources!
- CTRL H for finding text in files
Configuring Eclipse to work with OFBiz
Setting up Eclipse to work with OFBiz is easy. There are two ways to import OFBiz into Eclipse: You can either allow Eclipse to download OFBiz directly from SVN, or you can import an already downloaded copy of OFBiz (from SVN or otherwise) from the filesystem.
Importing OFBiz from the filesystem into Eclipse
If you have already downloaded OFBiz and do not wish to have Eclipse handle SVN pulls for you, Eclipse can import OFBiz from the filesystem as well. OFBiz includes a ".project" file to allow Eclipse to automatically configure the project for you. This means that if you have already downloaded the code (from SVN or otherwise), all you have to do to import the project is:
- Right-click in the Navigator window and click on Import.
- Select "Existing Project into Workspace" and click Next.
- Click Browse and select the directory that contains the ".project" file, then click Finish. When this is complete, a new project named "ofbiz" will now appear in your Navigator. This will not copy the project to Eclipse's workspace directory: it will remain wherever it was before the import. If you want the OFBiz files in your workspace directory, you must move them there before you do the import.
Building OFBiz with Ant from within Eclipse
You will next need to build OFBiz with Ant. To do this, go to the Navigator panel and do the following:
- Click the "+" next to the ofbiz project.
- Right click on the "build.xml" in the root of the ofbiz project and select "Run Ant..."
- The defaults are fine for the initial build. Click Finish. If you get the following error message:
[javac][ BUILD FAILED: file:<Project Dir>/build.xml:32: Unable to find a javac compiler;
com.sun.tools.javac.Main is not on the classpath.
Perhaps JAVA_HOME does not point to the JDK. See the instructions for modifying the Eclipse JVM below.
Using SVN from within Eclipse
If you want to do the SVN pull from within Eclipse, use the following steps:
First you need to install Subclipse
- see Installation Instructions for Eclipse 3.x Then connect to the repository:
- Bring up the "SVN Repository" panel in Eclipse (Window/Open Perspective/SVN Repository Exploring)
- Right-Click within panel/New/Repository Location
- Click on Finish. Now, do the initial checkout:
- Click the "+" next to the new repository, then Right-Click on trunk and select "Checkout...". Select "Check out as project in the workspace" and click on "Finish". This will create a new project called "ofbiz" and download the OFBiz files directly from SVN. To sync your project with SVN in the future, right-click on the project and click Teams/Synchronize with Repository.
Additional Eclipse and OFBiz resources
Changing Eclipse's JVM
[javac][ BUILD FAILED: file:<Project Dir>/build.xml:32: Unable to find a javac compiler;
If you have received the above error, you most likely have more than one JVM (e.g. a JRE and a JDK) installed. Eclipse uses the first Java VM it finds on your computer's PATH variable. In this case, it is most likely a JRE, not a JDK. Ant uses the same Java environment as Eclipse, no matter what you may specify in the compiler attribute. Because it is a JRE, you will not be able to compile.
To correct this, you must tell Eclipse to use the SDK. To do this, modify the shortcut you use to launch Eclipse and change the target to the following:
<ECLIPSE_DIR>\eclipse.exe -vm <SDK_DIR>\bin\javaw.exe
Original source: http://www.ryanlowe.ca/blog/archives/000386.php
Tuning Eclipse
For more on tuning Eclipse JVM heap size, you can refer to this IBM article
Using local XSD's when no internet connection is available
Eclipse uses XSD files to check XML files for correctness and also when using autocompletion. Normally, eclipse uses the XSD location specified at the top of the XML file which is usually a remote address. If you do not have an internet connection, the XSD will not be found and these features will not be available (unless they have been previously cached by eclipse).
The following document describes how to setup local XSD resolution.
Setting "Save Actions" Preference
Here is a screen-copy of my setting of this feature which is unused by default
How to use Regular Expression for Search & Replace in Eclipse ?
When it comes to large changes, hand-coding is tedious and error prone. Using Eclipse regexp in S/R may then be the way. But be carefull, it takes a man to do an error and a machine to transform it in a cataclysm.
Here is an example of work done in OFBiz with S/R regexp
You don't need anything else than Eclipse 3.4+ version. The feature itself uses the standard java regular expressions and is actually fairly simple to understand. I would recommend to have a go at regular expressions before trying that feature. You may use these plugins Bastian Bergerhoff's Brosinski's to help your work.
You may also use online tools like gskinner's or regextester to test the results. Another great read is also: http://java.sun.com/developer/technicalArticles/releases/1.4regex
Be aware that there are different types of regexp. So not all commands may work (luckily, eclipse displays the available commands on the input dialog)
Btw, a great one I use quite often is this:
<TAG\b[^>]*>(.*?)</TAG>
It'll grab the start and ending ending of a specified html tag. You can then use the select the inner element using $1