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Why is Eclipse not finding references in linked JARs (without sources attached) [message #1233859]

Mon, 20 January 2014 17:22

Pavel Horal

Messages: 2
Registered: January 2014

Junior Member

I've asked a question on SO today - stackoverflow.com/questions/21235807/eclipse-find-java-references-from-a-project-library . I worry that I might not get satisfactory answer there as it requires a bit deeper knowledge about JDT indexation and search functionality. So that is the reason I am here.

The question is pretty simple: Why doesn't JDT find type or method references in JAR files without attached source codes? Is that designed behavior or simply a missing feature?

Thank you... I will copy any acceptable answer from here to SO (or vice-versa).

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Re: Why is Eclipse not finding references in linked JARs (without sources attached) [message #1234221 is a reply to message #1233859]

Tue, 21 January 2014 13:44

Stephan Herrmann

Messages: 1853
Registered: July 2009

Senior Member

When JDT reads .class files, it only ever interprets the signatures inside, it doesn't look at compiled method bodies at all. So, anything that can be found by looking at signatures should be included in your search results, only binary method bodies are a black box for JDT.

I wasn't around when this was designed, but I assume performance was one factor in the design.

HTH,
Stephan

PS: There are other plugins out there that do handle compiled method bodies. I don't know if any of those provide search functionality, though.

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Re: Why is Eclipse not finding references in linked JARs (without sources attached) [message #1234294 is a reply to message #1234221]

Tue, 21 January 2014 16:24

Pavel Horal

Messages: 2
Registered: January 2014

Junior Member

Thank you for the answer.

I have to say, that I don't fully (maybe not even partialy) understand Eclipse/JDT codebase. But just out from curiosity I was going through the JDT search/index sources. What makes me a bit confused is a piece of code inside BinaryIndexer.java. Not sure whether I undestand context of that code, but it seems to me, that JDT contains code capable of indexing method references. Also if I check ".index" files (just with grep -r 'MyExoticClassName') I can see that there are indexed class names, which does not show when searching for references.

Where did I misinterpret information during my "quick dig into JDT code"? To me it seems that JDT must specifically exclude some search results.

[Updated on: Tue, 21 January 2014 16:28]

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