08.14.07
semi-robobait: macros in Eclipse
Cool! Eclipse has keyboard macros! Eclipse calls them “Editor Templates”, and has a bunch of them predefined. For example, if you type
sysout Cntl-SPACE
it converts that into
System.out.println();
with the cursor in the middle of the parens. Similarly, if you type
for Cntl-SPACE
you’ll get a short menu of options; selecting the first one (”iterate over array”) magically converts into
for (int i = 0; i < array.length; i++) {
}
with the first “i” selected If you type in “fooIndex”, then all the “i”s in the line change to “fooIndex”. Pressing tab takes you to the “array”, where you can then type in the name of the array. Press return, and then you are sent to the middle of the curly braces.
Whoa!
My old housemate, Chris Beekhuis, once set up macros like this and said that it made his coding significantly faster. I’m very much looking forward to using Editor Templates, and am a little puzzled as to why their existence isn’t being shouted from the rooftops. (Or was it? Did I have my headphones in at the time?)
(To see all of the pre-defined macros — or to define your own — go to Window->Preferences->Java->Editor->Templates. Or press Control-3, type “template”, and Editor Templates will be one of the options.)
