Image from WikipediaI work with eclipse all day, so I’ve spent some time messing around with plugins. Lots and lots of plugins.

The plugins I’ve current stablized on is:

• Maven2 plugin: http://m2eclipse.codehaus.org/ (update-site: http://m2eclipse.sonatype.org/update/)
• PMD for static analysis of java code: http://pmd.sourceforge.net/integrations.html#eclipse (update-site: http://pmd.sf.net/eclipse )
• Findbugs for static analysis of java bytecode http://findbugs.sourceforge.net/manual/eclipse.html (update-site: http://findbugs.cs.umd.edu/eclipse/)
• Checkstyle for doing code the Right Way(tm). http://eclipse-cs.sourceforge.net/ (update-site: http://eclipse-cs.sourceforge.net/update)
• EclEmma http://www.eclemma.org/ for junit codecoverage (update-site: http://update.eclemma.org/) Very nice to get a view of how much your tests cover your code. 50% should be possible right?
• SpringIDE for code completion in spring bean xml-files. Very very nice! http://springide.org/project/wiki/SpringideInstall, (Update-site: http://springide.org/updatesite)

I use the code formatter extensively as possible. It’s very nice to get these things like a gift instead of spending time on wrapping lines and formatting by hand.

When using the codeformatter you really can benefit from “Save Actions“. The most timesaving feature for me so far. My setup currently includes all checkboxes, and a stack of additional action. No more time spent inserting spaces between ) and {

Good stuff!

For my sparetime project I’m currently exploring other plugins:

• Mercurial eclipse plugin: http://www.vectrace.com/mercurialeclipse (Update-site: http://www.vectrace.com/eclipse-update/)
• new Scala plugin : http://scala.sygneca.com/tools/eclipse

The mercurial plugin isn’t quite ready yet, but it’s getting there. Things are happening, and as the mail and website for the new scala plugin suggests that plugin isn’t quite there yet.

I dont mind, it gives you that pioneering feeling

If anybody should pop by and see this list, feel free to suggest all those nifty plugins I’m missing!

Happy coding