Eclipse IDE, Oxygen Edition New and Noteworthy
Eclipse Platform
Editors
An easily-extensible Generic Text Editor added
A new extensible Generic Editor has been added which makes it easier to implement an editor for new languages or new content types. It reuses the existing Eclipse IDE editor infrastructure. The generic editor can be extended using extension points instead of implementing an editor to supply required functionality.
Examples of some Eclipse projects that have adopted the generic editor:
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Eclipse LSP4E: contributes content-assist and hover to generic editor when a language server is available.
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Eclipse TM4E: contributes syntax highlighting to the generic editor when a TextMate grammar is present.
Generic editor can now read patch and diff files
An extension was provided to the generic editor so that it now can provide syntax highlighting for files with the .patch or .diff extension. Right-click the file and choose Open with > Generic Text Editor to see the editor in action.
Images are opened in the Eclipse IDE
Image files are now opened directly in the Eclipse IDE by default. The Internal Web Browser has been registered as default editor for files with the png, jpg, jpeg, gif, bmp, and ico extensions.
Use Open With > System Editor to open files in the default external program.
Editor selection dialog: Use for all
The Editor Selection dialog now offers a one-click option for choosing the editor that should open all files with the same extension in the future.
Example when selecting "file.xyz" and choosing Open with > Other…:
Show Annotation renamed to Show Revision Information
For files checked out from CVS, the Show Annotation command in the text editor’s vertical ruler and in the Team menu has been renamed to Show Revision Information.
This change has been synchronized with the Eclipse Git team provider.
Configure left and right sides in Compare editors
Compare editors now offer a button Swap Left and Right View.
The direction of comparison is preserved between invocations of the Compare editor and can also be changed in the Compare/Patch preference page.
Ctrl+E command improvements
You can use the Quick Switch Editor (Ctrl+E) command to list and filter all the open editors. This works now also if you have selected a view in the editor area. You can filter the list using wildcards, and select editors using mouse or keyboard.
Now you can also cycle through the list by pressing Ctrl+E again. Or use Arrow Up/Down as before.
Debug
"Launch Group" launch configuration type
The new Launch Group launch configuration type allows you to launch multiple other launch configurations sequentially, with configurable actions after launching each group member:
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None: Continue launching the next member right away
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Wait until terminated: Continue launching the next member only after this member has terminated
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Delay: Delay launching the next member for a given amount of seconds.
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Wait for console output (regexp): Allows to delay further processing of launch group elements until a certain output (matching a regular expression) appears on the console of the given group element.
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Adopt launch if already running: Allows to control the behaviour of the group when the launch configuration referenced by the launch group element is already running (no matter who launched it). If checked, the launch configuration will not be launched again if it is running already. The existing launch will be adopted by the group (i.e. terminating the group will also terminate this launch). Any configured post launch action will still be executed!
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Note that this is similar to the launch group in CDT, but with additional features. |
New launch groups can be created via the Run > Run Configurations… or Run > Debug Configurations… dialogs.
"Terminate and Relaunch" from Run menu, context menu and tool bar
A Terminate and Relaunch option is now available while launching from Run menu, context menu and tool bar. The default setting is to launch without terminating previous launches. To enable automatic termination, select the option Terminate and Relaunch while launching on Preferences > Run/Debug > Launching.
The behavior not selected on the preference page can also be activated on-demand by holding the Shift key while launching the configuration from history.
Views, Dialogs and Toolbar
Improved string matching in Quick Access
You can now search for partial descriptions in Quick Access (Ctrl+3). The search result matches space-separated words in the search string. For example, searching for "clone repo", will match the "Clone a Git Repository" command.
The improved string matching works also in case of parenthesis, or when the search string matches the category name.
Wildcards in Quick Access
You can now use * and ? as wildcards to filter Quick Access (Ctrl+3) items. The match ranges are displayed in bold.
Quick Access search text in Help
You can now Search in Help after you’ve entered text in the Quick Access dialog. The option is shown when the filter text is longer than three characters, and it is always added at the end of the results.
Search in Help using the new Quick Access dialog:
Search in Help using the standalone dialog:
Filter previous choices in Quick Access
The Quick Access (Ctrl+3) result list does not show duplicate elements anymore. Now, if a search result element is already in the "Previous Choices" category, it is no longer shown in another category.
Command icons shown in Quick Access
Quick Access (Ctrl+3) now shows the icon for a Command if available. Otherwise, it still shows the default blue ball.
Show/hide Status Bar
You can now hide and show the bottom status bar via menu: Window > Appearance > Hide (Show) Status Bar.
In Quick Access, the command is called Toggle Statusbar.
Simplified filters dialog for Problems, Bookmarks, and Tasks views
The Filters dialog of the Problems, Bookmarks, and Tasks views has been simplified. If you select several configurations, items matching any of these configurations will be shown.
Old dialog in Problems view:
New dialog in Problems view:
Copy Details submenu for Problems and Tasks views
You can copy the description or the resource qualified name of an error, warning, or task into the clipboard using commands in the Copy Details context menu.