public class DemoApplication {
 
    public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
        DemoApplication calc = new DemoApplication();
        System.out.println(calc.divide(calc.add(17, 19), 2));
    }
 
    public int add(int i, int j) {
        return i + j;
    }
 
    public int divide(int i, int j) {
        return i / j;
    }
}

In earlier times, I stepped one step further to get into the method divide. Then I got the result of add(17,19) in my parameter.

But Eclipse is offering a better solution. In the Debugging Perspective, there is a view called Expressions. Just add a new expression add(17,19) and the Debugger is printing out the result.

The result is directly printed out:

A simple, but helpful feature in Eclipse!

There are interesting clean ups like “Remove unnecessary casts” or to add missing Annotations like “@Override”.

After creating your profile, simply right click to the project and choose Source – Clean up.

Nice feature. If you want to know more about this feature, you will find here more information’s.

Use CTRL + 1 to assign a parameter of a constructor as a field:

Or use CTRL + 1 to extract a String or another variable to a constant:

Are you a real men (or women)? Because if you are one, Eclipse offers you the possiblity to “don’t click” Try to use the simple shortcut CTRL + 3. What happens? Eclipse opens the Quick access window:

Now, type what you want, for example “new xml file”, and Eclipse searches for the command, which consists of these words:

Also very interesting is the access to the Preferences window. Try to search for “classpath variables” or “build path”, you get direct access to these settings. Also interesting is “Generate Getters”. If you don’t know a specific shortcut, just use CTRL + 3 from now on!

Now, just press CTRL + O again and you can see all inherited methods.

I know, the hint is mentioned in the bottom right corner, but I didn’t noticed this until today…

But did you know, that Eclipse is also capable of using templates. Templates can be defined in Window – Preferences – Java – Editor – Templates.

For example, instead of typing the main function every time manually, just type main and press CTRL + Space, choose the template main and press Enter. The whole main method is created.

Interesting default templates are:

sysout: creates a System.out.println() entry

runnable: creates a complete Runnable inner class

public_method: template for a public method (same with private, default, and so on)

Of course, you also can define your own template. E.g. for an EJB 3.0 stateless or message-driven bean!

In Eclipse, you can choose the way, how changed files should appear in the Package Explorer. For example, I changed the background color to a bright yellow and the text color to blue:

To change the appearance of changed CVS file, just do following:

1. Open Windows > Preferences…
2. Team > CVS > Label Decorations
3. Check the box “Enable font and color decorations”
4. Now open General > Appearance > Colors and Fonts
5. You can change now the appearance of the changed files in the category CVS.

Of course, it only make sense, if you use several workspaces. E.g. one for Java 1.5 projects and another for Java 1.4 projects. Just create a shortcut to Eclipse and define with the option -data the path to the workspace.

Just try it out:

Or in an open dialog: