7 New Features in Eclipse Helios (3.6) That Will Save You Time
I recently upgraded to Eclipse Helios (3.6) from Galileo (3.5). I was reluctant to upgrade at first as the new features introduced in the Java development tools and the PDE did not catch my attention as something major or groundbreaking. However, now that I have used Helios for a month or so, there are a few things that I like and that save me time, so I thought I’d share those with you:
1. Breakpoints: The breakpoints view now includes the breakpoint configurations, so you no longer have to right-click, select Properties to define things like hit count, mark the breakpoint as conditional or add breakpoint conditions. Now it’s all available right at the bottom of the view!
2. Improved quickfix: You can now fix several occurences of the same problem in the problem hover. This saves you from scrolling through the code editor to fix all instances of the same problem.
3. Easily import missing dependencies: The quickfix hover now offers to search repositories for a missing imported package, and have the dependency that is supplying it added to your target platform!
4. Search repositories for a dependency: You can now search repositories for dependenies and automatically add them to your current target platform. To access this feature, hit Ctrl+Shift+Alt+A and start typing the name of a bundle, feature, or package.
5. Export the target platform: You can now export the contents of your current target platform, which will copy all features and plug-ins that are part of it to a directory specified by you. To access this wizard, go to File -> Export -> Plug-in Development -> Target definition.
6. Improved Java search maintenance: Java search operations are now much easier to keep in sync with your target platform. If you go to Window -> Preferences ->Plug-in Development, and check the “Include all plug-ins from target in Java search” option, you will no longer need to manually add all plug-ins to your target every time something changes, or maintain a project with all plug-ins from your target to make searching possible. All of that is taken care of by Eclipse behind the scenes.
7. View host OSGi console: You can now view the running Eclipse instance’s console by selecting “Host OSGi Console” in your Console view. No more restarting Eclipse with -console flag. The option is readily available to you whenever you need it!
These are some of the features that I really like in Helios. While they are not ground breaking by any means, they are likely to save you time, so give them a try. If you have anything to add, please do so in the comments section.
To download Eclipse, go to the Eclipse download center.
To learn more about the Helios release, see demos and more, go to the Helios welcome page.
To see the web help that includes an overview of all new features in the Helios release, go to the Helios help center.