MyEclipse is a powerful Java EE IDE for today’s modern enterprise developer. This article is the second in a series discussing ways to boost productivity with MyEclipse. The first article, focused on project setup. This article showcases time-saving tips and tricks to improve MyEclipse coding and navigation.
Code Completion
MyEclipse delivers an intelligent and robust content assist engine that not only provides several completion types, but also performs across different file types like Java, HTML, JavaScript and Configuration files, thus helping you save a lot of time typing. All you need to do is type CTRL+Space to access all relevant proposals for the current position. With JavaScript, content assist proposals clearly distinguish the proposals with icons. For instance, proposals from AngularJS and jQuery use different icons and are clearly distinguishable.
Examples from some important file types are provided below:
Java Completion
Java Completion: Example 1
Java Completion: Example 2
JPA Completion
JPA Completion Example
Hibernate Completion
Hibernate Completion: Example 1
Hibernate Completion: Example 2
Spring Completion
Spring Completion: Example 1
Spring Completion: Example 2
Spring Completion: Example 3
JavaScript Completion
With JavaScript, content assist proposals clearly distinguish the proposals with icons. For instance, proposals from AngularJS and jQuery use different icons and are clearly distinguishable.
JavaScript Completion: Example 1
JavaScript Completion: Example 2
As-You-Type Completion
When you start typing any character, MyEclipse instantly starts suggesting the most relevant options and automatically adds required parentheses, brackets, braces, delimiters.
As-You-Type Completion Example
Emmet and Visual Designers
Spend less time on the source tab by speeding up code insertion with Emmet and/or the visual editors.
Emmet
Unlike regular snippet functionality, with Emmet you can type CSS-like expressions which are dynamically parsed and then expanded immediately into well formed markup, saving you loads of typing.
Emmet Example
Watch the following demo to see Emmet in action.
Visual Designers
HTML, JSP and XHTML Page Designers
Using the HTML, JSP and XHTML visual designers, drag and drop components from the palette directly onto the design pane to insert the corresponding component.
Visual XHTML Designer
Swing / SWT GUI Designer
Save time creating complex GUI in Java Swing and SWT-JFace with the Swing/SWT Visual Designers.
Visual Swing Designer
Visual SQL Query Editor
You can use the Visual SQL Query Builder to build and run complex SQL queries within minutes.
Visual SQL Query Builder
Config Editors
MyEclipse also supports technology specific configuration editors that help you manage complex Java EE flows quite easily. Here are some of the editors included in MyEclipse:
- Spring application config editor
- JPA persistence editor
- Hibernate config editor, Mapping file editor, HQL and Criteria editors
- JSF / XHTML / ICEfaces Faces config editor
- Maven POM editor
- Web, EAR and EJB deployment descriptor editors
- WebSphere binding editors
- UML1 / UML2 model editors
Code Navigation
In MyEclipse, you don’t have to go through complex search patterns or walk through a set of wizard pages to navigate to the resource you want. In addition to the standard Eclipse Outline view, there are many other features that makes navigation within the workbench incredibly easy.
Breadcrumb Toolbar
Use the Breadcrumb toolbar to navigate over the entire project structure.
Breadcrumb Navigation
Minimap
When working with large files, instead of scrolling, use the Minimap to quickly jump to the section you need.
Minimap in Action
Explorers
MyEclipse contains a number of explorers that let you navigate to your source code easily.
Angular Explorer
REST Explorer
DB Explorer View
MyEclipse Explorer
The MyEclipse Explorer not only provides an easy way to quickly locate files and resources, but also includes advanced search and filtering capabilities.
MyEclipse Explorer Search
The MyEclipse Explorer also provides framework specific overview and navigation for each project.
Technology Specific Nodes in MyEclipse Explorer: Example 1
Technology Specific Nodes in MyEclipse Explorer: Example 2
Conclusion
As you can see, MyEclipse delivers powerful enterprise development with multiple time-savers that help you code efficiently and effectively navigate your project. Be on the lookout for my next article where I will explore app servers, deployment and testing, along with several other helpful utilities.
In the meantime, you can check out our website for additional features you might have missed.
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