Custom project structure in eclipse - eclipse

I often use a eclipse plugins to quckliy generate project directory structure, for example Spring plugin helps to create WebContent folder to hold WEB-INF contents. But sometimes I create a projects with specific directory structure, always the same. Something like this:
[project_name]
-folder1
-folderA
-folderX
-folderB
-folder2
-dirC
-folder3
I know, that I can write my own ant/maven script to generate specific folders, but I don't want to manualy invoke scripts each time after project creating. I want to create a project template which I would use in the future.
What is the best way to create a this feature?
Should I create something like plugin? If yes, how would I do it?

If you don't want to use a plugin or a script to generate the project structure, you're pretty limited.
Since you can create a project from existing source, you could create the folder structure on your filesystem, and whenever you are creating another project, tell Eclipse to "Create Project from existing source" and point it to your template folder.
If you want to write a plugin, you'll want to contribute a org.eclipse.jdt.ui.actions.OpenProjectWizard that creates the folder structure as part of the project generation. A good tutorial can be found at: http://cvalcarcel.wordpress.com/2009/07/08/writing-an-eclipse-plug-in-part-1-what-im-going-to-do/%20

Maven has a concept of project templates called archetypes which is very similar to what you need. It defines the project structure, files, etc and can be customized upon creation.
If you install the Eclipse m2e maven plugin then you can create a new project from template with a few click
File / new Project / Maven project / Select archetype
You can use this feature even if you dont want to use maven later. You can auto generate ant scripts or anything like that. You can convert an exisint project into an archetype or create a new one from scratch, desciption is here
http://maven.apache.org/archetype/maven-archetype-plugin/
http://maven.apache.org/guides/mini/guide-creating-archetypes.html

Related

Maven in eclipse not showing all folders

I am new to Maven and have been trying to get a project working with Eclipse, hibernate,Maven and mysql. I am stuck at the very first step. I have everything configured properly i think and if i create a new Maven project in eclipse it does not show me any folder under src/main or src/test. although if i go back to that folder in the workspace it has a src/main/java
FUrthermore the src/main/resources folder is not created at the time of project creation?
Any clue what the problem maybe or how i can fix it?
Thank you!
For your first problem, when you create a new Maven project the folders that get created depend on the archetype you choose. Assuming you chose quickstart, then it does create (assuming you chose com.example as your package in the wizard and example-project as your artifactId):
And it configures the project so that /src/main/java is in the Build Path. That said, if you are viewing your project in the Package Explorer view, then the packages are shown outside of the folder structure. So, you would see the the com.example.example_project package containing App.java in the build folder /src/main/java and you would see the com.example.example_project package containing AppTest.java in the build folder /src/test/java. These would show up above the libraries which is above non-build folders which is where you see the src folder.
To answer your second question, no, /src/main/resources is not generated assuming you chose the quickstart archetype (this is governed by the quickstart archetype and does the same thing whether generated in eclipse or on the command line).
And third, to fix this (I assume you mean add the resources folder), find the src/java folder (below the libraries), right click and choose New->Folder. Name it resources. Then right click your project, choose Maven->Update Project. This will cause maven eclipse to reconfigure the project according to the Maven configuration which will result in the /src/main/resources being added to the build path. As such, it will get moved above the libraries next to /src/main/java and /src/test/java.

Eclipse buildpath automatically taking all JARs of a linked directory

This issue is a variation on the one described here: Eclipse buildpath automatically taking all JARs of a internal directory
But instead of any local folder, I'd rather have a linked folder from another project be picked up automatically in the buildpath.
Basically, I have a main project in my workspace that holds directories lib, ext-lib that contain multiple jar files each. These jar files may be upgraded/removed or new ones added every few days.
I also have many other projects in the workspace that relay on the exact same (up-to-date) jars from my main project.
My goal is that as I modify the jars in these two folders in my main project, to have them as linked folders in all other projects and have those linked projects dynamically picked up as part of the buildpath of all those projects.
Any suggestion on how to do that in eclipse would be highly appreciated.
Unfortunately, the "dynamic directory" plugins people mention can not work with "linked" folders :(
Sincerely,
Guy
I would suggest creating a USER LIBRARY in eclipse and then using that in all of your eclipse projects.
Try going into preferences Java -> Build Path -> User Libraries and creating a new user library with all your jars. Then use this everywhere you need these jars.
See this page for more details.
Also, this page explains creating a user library in a bit more detail. There is also a use-case there which seems a bit more aligned to what you had in mind:
6.2.1. Linked Library Project
A useful hybrid strategy is to configure a user library that is also available as a linked folder in your Eclipse workspace. Follow these steps:
1.
Create a simple project in your workspace. Unlike Java projects, a simple project has no Java build path configuration in its properties. Use the command File > New > Project > Simple Project.
2.
Uncheck the option to use a default project location within the workspace folder and enter the path for your \eclipse-contrib\libraries folder (see Figure 6-8).

How to set reference to the folder which contains multiple jar files?

My environment:
Netbean 6.9.1
Glassfish 3.0.1
Windows 7
Goal:
When my coworkers opens the Netbean Project, the library is already referenced without them manually create library, adding jars into it and reference it.
Detail:
I created Netbean project and the project has reference to few jar files in the folder.
Currently whoever opens the project for the first time, they have to manually create library and refer it to the project.
My project location:
C:\Users\masatosan\Desktop\myProject\myApp
My library location:
C:\Users\masatosan\Desktop\myProject\lib\myLib
The myLib folder contains:
some1.jar
some2.jar
some3.jar
I can achieve my goal if I create reference to individual jar file by defining to project.properties file like below: (creating reference to sqljdbc4.jar)
file.reference.sqljdbc4.jar=../lib/sqljdbc4.jar
javac.classpath=\
${libs.restlib_gfv3ee6.classpath}:\
${file.reference.sqljdbc4.jar}:
But my case is different since I have 3 jars in the myLib folder and wanting to reference them all.
Is it possible to reference all jars in myLib folder?
Please let me know if you need more clarification.
I'm sorry, but it doesn't work that way. When you create a project, you have to add the jar files individually.
However, if you put your lib folder under your project, netbeans will refer to them via relative paths. Then when you share the project (lib directory included), netbeans will be able to automatically find the jar files when the next person uses the project. That way you only have to add jar files once.
Short of using a dependency management tool like maven (which Netbeans has good support for), this is really the best solution. It uses a bit more disk space (obviously), but that's never been a huge issue for me.
I figured how so let me share.
Tool --> Library then library window pop up.
Create library called "MyLib" which contains multiple jars.
Add "MyLib" to your project. This change will be written to project.properties file under nbproject folder.
project.properties file indicates the classpath of lib reference you just added.
It should look like something below
javac.classpath=\
${libs.Excella.classpath}:\
${libs.MyLib.classpath}
Now someone else opens the project from different machine and she just needs to do step#1 and #2, which is to create library with same library name i.e. "MyLib"
I think this is what Bill was saying originally but thought it would be helpful to give step by step instructions since I finally figured .... after long time :D

Programmatically remove linked files from the project in eclipse

I'm developing plugin for Eclipse. This plugin nothing else but the wizard to allows user to create its own file format with inbuilt jar files inside. All the JARs inside are linked resources for the project.
To clean the project I need to remove all the linked JARs from the project programmatically.
Are there any suggestions how to do that?
how to search files by mask?
how to know that this is linked file?
and how to remove linked resource?

Importing a existing Web Application , into Eclipse

I need to import a existing Web Application , into Eclipse .
Please see the Structure of my Web Application as shown in the below figure .
http://imageshack.us/f/220/structurek.jpg/
From Eclipse IDE , while using import What option i need to select that is should i use
Existing projects into Eclipse
Archive File
File System
please see this image
http://imageshack.us/f/850/eclipseo.jpg/
Import existing projects into Eclipse works only for projects that were created in Eclipse.
And you're definitely not dealing with an Archive File here.
Import from the File System just copies the resources but does not actually create an Eclipse project for you.
What I would advise you, is to create a new Dynamic Web Project, configuring all the required facets, and then just copy all the contents of your existing app to the WebContent folder, either by drag'n'dropping it into the Project Explorer or by using Import from the File System, overwriting all the contents.
So far, there seems to be no other way to do it in Eclipse. However you may check out the similar post. The user #RC recommends using ant task for this process, but I'm more than sure that it won't configure all the required facets for you. It may work for some simple Java projects, but surely not enough for Java EE projects.