How does Eclipse do code completion specific to third-party frameworks? - eclipse

How does the Eclipse editor work to enable code completion? For example, within the XML editor for Hibernate property files, if I ctrl-space within a tag, a list of possible value relevant to hibernate will show up.
I understand that the XML editor is pre-configured to understand xml tag, but how about tag specific to a particular framework? How does Eclipse know about that?

I believe that the eclipse XML editor gets the content assist information from any referenced DTDs, or XMLSchema information it associates with the XML file. Try this experiment: Remove the DOCTYPE entry at the beginning of the file and see if content assist still works.

If you're interested in writing your own content assistants, you may want to start by reading the following:
http://help.eclipse.org/galileo/index.jsp?topic=/org.eclipse.platform.doc.isv/guide/editors_contentassist.htm
In a nutshell, like most things in Eclipse, this is a platform hook. When you press the button, it queries all the registered assistants (I'm simplifying here), and they provide suggestions based on the current element or even the current content.
When writing a source editor or viewer for a particular language or document type, it is common to provide at least some rudimentary content assistants.

Removed the DOCTYPE entry at the beginning of the file and im now able to see the commands while typing ctrl+space...

To add to Uri's answer, you can define your own editor for your own language with XText as long as you have a simple EBNF grammar language for your DSL (domain specific language).
You will have:
syntax coloring,
model navigation (F3, etc.),
code completion,
outline view, and
code templates.

Here is a solution you can work. Actually I was facing a same problem with struts.xml file. I was not able to produce tags by cntrl+space
what i did was...
go to Preferences...Java...Editor...Content Assist...Advanced
check all the check-boxes ON and press OK.
sometimes the problem persists due to some false alarming in eclipse. If it happens, just delete your xml file and create a new one in same location.
I hope it will help.

I had the same issue while using the struts.xml file.
I got fix when I tried below...
Go to “Preferences>Java>Editor>Content Assist>Advanced“. Make sure “Java Non Types Proposals” are ticked on both the places as shown in the image below then click Apply and OK button:-

Related

Is there a way to create templates for text files in Eclipse?

In Eclipse, I really enjoy being able to create templates for things I commonly write in Java and XML. While there is some room for improvement, templates have proven to be quite the time saver. Today I was documenting some notes in the release notes. We have a specific format that we write said release notes in. I thought it would be handy to write a small template so that I could easily insert most of the boiler plate text when I amend the notes. So I dug around the eclipse settings and didn't see anything for plain text files. I googled around and also didn't see anything.
So is what I'm wanting to do possible in Eclipse? Is there a plugin I would need to enable such a feature?
I assume the closest you can get is using Snippets
Add the view by clicking Window -> Show View -> Snippets. In that view, right-click and select Customizeto create custom snippets. You can now add those snippets in your textfile by double-clicking them.
Maybe there is also some shortcut feature I didn't find yet...

Eclipse Custom Content Assist Based on Default Java Content Assist results

I'm in the process of implementing a task tool. As a part of this I'm making an Eclipse plug-in to reflect certain code level issues.
In the Eclipse plug-in my aim is to attach some visual aids to different Java elements according to their host task's status. I've been successful in adding multi-colored markers to the vertical ruler of the default Java editor as well as the resource icons displayed by the Overview. However, I have not been able to change the icons in the Java content assist.
At first I thought that by using the extension point org.eclipse.ui.decorators and having its enablement set as org.eclipse.jdt.core.IJavaElement, the content assistant would also be affected, as this was the case with element icons in the Overview. I've tried several other enablement classes ranging all the way to ICompletionProposal.
Since this approach, a bunch of others and extending the default Java content assist, won't work. I've decided to implement my own content assist.
The idea now is to somehow take the default Java content assist's results and run some checks on the proposed elements and in case of a match change the icon displayed in the content assist, to reflect the associated task's level.
I've tried to look through the source for Eclipse's default Java editor and the Mylyn project, but I can't understand how they provide their Java content assists and how to access / redo them.
The end result I'm looking to get: LINK
The actual question
When providing a new content assist (category) for the default Java editor in Eclipse, how does one get a list of proposals that the default Java content assistant would produce for that point?
My first question and certainly a long intro, please let me know if I should edit this in any way and most importantly thanks for all the help in advance!
-J3lly
Take a look at the following extension point : org.eclipse.jdt.ui.javaCompletionProposalComputer
To implement your own Content Assist you have to write a class that implements org.eclipse.jdt.ui.text.java.IJavaCompletionProposalComputer. In your case, since you want to modify the behavior of the default Java Content Assist, you should override one of the internal implementations org.eclipse.jdt.internal.ui.text.java.JavaCompletionProposalComputer, org.eclipse.jdt.internal.ui.text.java.JavaAllCompletionProposalComputer or any other implementation depending on which Content Assist you want to modify.
Now all you have to do is override the method computeCompletionProposals which returns the list of completion proposals. The overridden method should call super.computeCompletionProposals(...) to get the default completion proposals, then you can modify them according to your needs.

Get Javadoc As Text

Eclipse just blew my mind again: there seems to be no easily accessible way to copy text or html out of the Javadoc previews. I've just written a substantial piece in Javadoc, assuming that I would be able to just select and copy the selection. I can select, but not copy.
Am I mistaken? If I am not, what's the easiest way to get the rendered text or html for one Javadoc comment?
Drag-and-drop seems to work. (Found a few minutes after I submitted the Q.)

how to switch/control syntax highlighting in eclipse flexibly?

I have a file with extension .xml.
But it doesn't necessarily contain XML. It may also contain HTML and JavaScript. Now I would like to either have Eclipse decide inteligently/heuristically which syntax highlighting would be appropriate or to switch it myself.
Any ideas?
Eclipse associates files with an editor. You can let eclipse decide which editor to use (e.g. defaults per file extension) or select the editor by yourself. I guess you might already know that or have at least experienced it.
Syntax highlighting isn't always set seperately but instead part of some editor (together with stuff like keyboard shortcuts). So what you are going to need is an editor that behaves the way you want it to. I do not know if there is an editor like this available but one options is writing an eclipse plug-in and implementing such an editor.
Fortunately there are great editors for each of XML, javascript, HTML, etc that are all open source. I guess you might be able to use some of their code. Ideally as a client of their API / Objects or if it won't work out just by reusing code.
short answer: not possible. use PHPStorm instead :)

How to Change Netbeans Fonts and Colors Preview Document?

Within the Netbeans 6.5's Tools -> Options -> Fonts & Colors -> Syntax dialog, you have the ability to change the look and feel of the Netbeans text editor. When you select a language, you are presented with a preview of your font/color scheme. However, when I preview Java, there are far more options for syntax changes than are being displayed in that preview window. If I were able to view a more robust piece of code, I'd be able to see the immediate effect of more of the options.
How can I supply a preview document to view my font/color changes?
UPDATE:
After looking into this some more, I've been able to narrow down the problem a bit. From what I can tell, everything in Netbeans is considered a plugin. The GUI editor is a plugin, and even the text editor is a plugin. This means that what ever piece of Netbeans that actually analyzes Java code and does syntax highlights is also a plugin (since Java is just one of many languages Netbeans highlights, it makes sense this is a plugin).
I think fromvega is on the right track with his suggestion. The tutorial for creating a manifest file editing plugin pointed me in the right direction. The tutorial eludes to a file used as a sample document used for font/color previews. It tells you how to create one inside this new plugin project. (Located in "Registering the Options in the NetBeans System Filesystem", part 4. About 4/5 of the way down the page.)
My next line of thought was to look for the Java syntax editing mode plugin and find this file and update it with a richer example file. I looked in the installation directory and came up empty, but I found what looks like the appropriate files within my user settings directory. There is a config directory with a lot of subfolders within my user directory (Windows: C:\Documents and Settings\saterus.netbeans\config).
I've been poking around inside this directory a bit, but have only found the xml files the manifest tutorial talks about. I have been unable to find the extensionless sample file for the Java plugin that I believe should be there.
Since I've hit a brick wall for the moment, I thought I'd toss it back to the SO community and see if you guys might make the last leap and find the solution.
Just for anyone who wants to alter this themselves it is possible on a unix machine to use grep to locate the file i.e.
grep -lr "some part of the current sample code" /path/to/netbeans
I used this method to locate the ruby example filename and from that identified that it is kept in org-netbeans-modules-ruby.jar as a file called RubyExample. By simply altering that file I was able to construct a better sample file for my own use.
Hope this helps someone!
The document which is displayed (for each mime type) is specified in a particular folder in the "system file system" (which is a NetBeans concept which is a virtual file system composed from contributions from individual modules; this is how functionality is dynamically registered in NetBeans).
Modules typically specify their system file system contributions in a file named "layer.xml" in the plugin. The create plugin templates typically offer to create this for you.
For example, here's how the Python example is registered:
<filesystem>
...
<folder name="OptionsDialog">
<folder name="PreviewExamples">
<folder name="text">
<file name="x-python" url="PythonExample.py"/>
</folder>
</folder>
...
Here, PythonExample.py is a sample file in the same directory as the layer file.
Therefore, what you need to do is create a plugin which overrides the existing registration(s) for the mime type(s) you care about and provide alternate sample documents. You may need to hide the existing registration first (see the _hidden
part from http://doc.javanb.com/netbeans-api-javadoc-5-0-0/org-openide-filesystems/org/openide/filesystems/MultiFileSystem.html ).
Hopefully this guides you in the right direction.
However, in thinking about it, we probably ought to make the preview area editable - so people can cut & paste whatever codefragment they care about right in there. This wouldn't be persistent, so whenever you change languages you get the original samples back - but it provides a quick way to see your own code. This shouldn't be just for the Fonts & Colors customization, but for the Formatting preview panels as well.
I've filed an issue against NetBeans for this:
http://www.netbeans.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=155964
-- Tor
I think you can only accomplish that with a new plugin, since you need somekind of parsing to define what is what.
Give a look a these tutorials, I haven't read them in details but they seem to show you how to do what you want:
http://platform.netbeans.org/tutorials/nbm-mfsyntax.html
http://www.antonioshome.net/kitchen/netbeans/nbms-coloring.php