How to undo an Eclipse workspace - eclipse

Is it possible to undo an Eclipse workspace without deleting the whole directory? By this I mean to keep the projects in the same directory but the directory should no longer be a workspace.


There is no Eclipse option to do this but you can do a reasonable job by deleting various directories and files in the workspace:
The .metadata directory holds most of the Eclipse data. Deleting this will stop Eclipse recognising the workspace.
In each project deleting the .project file will stop Eclipse recognising the project as a project.
You could also delete the .classpath file and any .settings directory in each project. Some types of project may have additional files that can be deleted.


If you want to keep the projects as eclipse projects then just deleting the .metadata folder is enough (for some eclipse packages, one or more of the projects may also be eclipse generated and could be deleted, so any projects not recognized can be deleted). Now, eclipse needs to run with a workspace so when you start eclipse with a fresh workspace, you can import the projects from the old workspace folder but don't select the import option which gets the projects copied into the new workspace.
In this way, your new workspace will just have metadata for the workspace but the projects themselves will stay in the first directory.
(Strictly speaking, you don't need to delete anything from the old workspace directory. Instead, simply don't select it as a workspace when starting eclipse. However, deleting the .metadata folder would get rid of unnecessary data.)
Note that if you delete the .metadata folder and then later want to use the directory again, as an eclipse workspace, you can just select it when starting eclipse. However, in this case, the projects will not be automatically recognized as being in the workspace (even though they are in the directory), since that information was in the .metadata folder. To get them recognized again, as projects, you will need to import them, though you won't need to set the copy option in the import wizard.

Related

Edit existing directory in eclipse

This might be a dumb question, but I have a project I am trying to edit a few files for and using eclipse 4.20.0 as an IDE.
When I try to import the directory in eclipse, it creates a completely separate eclipse workspace directory and stores the files in there for my editing. (When I make changes, files in the eclipse workspace directory are changed, but not the original directory)
Is there a way to open the original directory in Eclipse and edit files directly in there? Or am I going to have to work inside the directory eclipse created and then manually move the files over every time to test them again?
I swear I've done this before, but it's been a few years so I might just be importing the directory wrong.

If you are only making a couple changes, just clicking on the .java class you need in your explorer and "Open With... -> Eclipse IDE" will allow you to edit the specific file without opening up a new project. If you are trying to open the project and work on all the files at once, File > Open Projects from File System usually works pretty well on eclipse. If you are opening another eclipse project, just click on the folder where the .project is stored when opening, not necessarily clicking into the folder itself.

Why do projects that I add to my 'workspace' folder don't show up? [ECLIPSE]

I am using Eclipse Indigo, and after having successfully extracted my project folder into my Eclipse workspace, it does not show up in the package explorer. I tried refreshing eclipse and restarting it, to no avail. I am 100% certain my eclipse is using the right directory and the project is in it.
What could be the problem? Thank you.
EDIT: "import projects into workspace" worked for me, but why was that necessary?

Files in the directory are not automatically picked up by the package explorer. You need to import them.
Try using the File > import, then choose
Existing Projects into workspace.
There is a checkbox that says "Copy projects into workspace" which copies it to your workspace if it happens to be in a different folder. If you start with your files in another folder, you'll see how it's copied and set up with configuration files in your workspace directory.

To answer the question, "why is it necessary to import?" you have to realize that the Eclipse workspace is just a logical container for projects, not necessarily the physical container for them.
Also realize that a directory of project-related files does not make an Eclipse Project; Eclipse must be given or generate it's own set of configuration in order to understand a project (minimally, for Java projects, .project and .classpath). Without those, Eclipse has no idea what to do with an arbitrary folder that you call a "project." That's what the Import or Create Project wizards are doing under the covers, generating those config files.

Projects cannot run in eclipse because of deleting the whole .metadata folder by mistake

I delete the whole .metadata folder by mistake, so my projects in eclipse cannot run at all, and there is no backup for .metadata folder. what should I do to fix this ?
Thanks!

If you don't have too many projects you could do this:
Open eclipse with the same workspace as before.
Create a new project with the exact same name and working directory as your previous project.
Repeat step 2 for each project.
Eclipse will find the files, but if you had any additional settings you might have to add them manually.

Eclipse does not show projects in workspace

I have opened Eclipse workspace that I transfered from another computer but it does not show any projects in package explorer (there should be a lot of them). Still project's folders are in workspace folder.
The new machine where I transfered the workspace runs Windows 7 that has the read-only folders issue (more here). That is all the folders that are created on that OS are read-only and that the read-only atribute cannot be removed in any way.
Eclipse originally refused to open the workspace at all saying that .metadata folder of the workspace is read only. After turning user control to the lowest level it opens the workspace but it acts as if it did not contain any projects. I think this is because Eclipse refuses to work with read-only folders and project folders are also read-only.
Did somebody have same problem? How did you solve it? Any suggestions are wellcome.

It is not enough to move your projects in the workspace path folder, you also need to import them. And because of they are in your path folder, you can't import them again because it will say you still have them in your workspace. Move them to another folder (for example in desktop), be sure your workspace folder is empty, and then try to import them from your temporary folder in desktop.

eclipse workspace: how to rename workspace

There is no option in the file menu to rename a workspace. Is the recommended practice to close eclipse, rename the folder, and re-open? I worry about some potential dangling references in configuration files corrupting my workspace/projects...
Thanks!

Source : Renaming a workspace?
Yes, you can just rename the workspace
directory and/or move it. However, you
then have to tell Eclipse where the
new workspace is. In 3.1, you can use
'switch workspace' to launch in a
different location (under the File
menu).
If you want to change it by hand, you
can edit the appropriate entries in
the files in the 'configuration'
directory where Eclipse is stored.
You can change the
org.eclipse.ui.ide.prefs file to set
SHOW_WORKSPACE_SELECTION_DIALOG=true
if you want to be asked each time
Eclipse is run where the workspace is.

For simple renaming, it is not necessary to switch workspaces, unless the workspace you want to rename is not the one currently active.
Anyway, you can rename the current open workspace by choosing Eclipse->Preferences->General->Workspace and changing the option "Workspace name (shown in window title)" from the default's workspace folder name to whatever you want to call it. Then, restart Eclipse.
Suppose your workspace's folder is "/foo/bar/workspace" and you never changed its name before; its name was then the default "workspace". After you renamed it to, say, "my_workspace" and restarted Eclipse, the Eclipse's window title should show: "my_workspace - (some stuff that varies) - /foo/bar/workspace".
Note that this is NOT going to modify the workspace folder's name. You may have to create a new folder with the desired name, switch to that folder (whose workspace will have the same name, by default) and import existing projects into it, as some have suggested here.

Renaming Workspace folder worked for me. Close the eclipse, rename the workspace folder name, launch eclipse again. If you are using any project dependencies like user libraries,launchers etc, you have to relocate those to new location manually, from project build path.

Copying workspace to a new folder works. Any reference Eclipse itself needs is resolved using the relative workspace location. If you have added launchers, substitution variables, etc. that rely on the absolute workspace location, they will need to be reset.

John,
I think in the original workspace you imported projects and that the projects depend on links not on being physically in the same location of the worspace (even thay are there already but the dependency is on links). If so you have to remove the projects from the new (copied) worspace and then re-import them again.

I just did a:
File --> Import --> Maven --> Existing Maven Projects --> mention the new workspace location in "Root Directory" in the "Import Maven Projects" window
and it worked! All projects were imported properly.
BTW, I have Eclipse-Maven plugin "m2e" installed (http://wiki.eclipse.org/M2E_updatesite_and_gittags)

2021 Update
In Eclipse 2020-12 (Windows 10), the "Workspace name (shown in window title)" preference mentioned in one answer is no longer there. Now, renaming a workspace (WS) requires a copy and delete operation.
Start by switch to another WS: File --> Switch Workspace --> select existing WS. Then rename the WS folder to desired new name. Switch to the new workspace folder and delete the old name:
File --> Switch Workspace --> Other...
Right-click old WS name --> Remove from launcher selection
Click Browse --> select new workspace folder --> click Launch and Voila!
As mentioned in prior posts, depending on your setup some resource links may be broken. Delete the project without(!) removing it from disk, then import to new WS.