search

fabioz / startexplorer

This Eclipse plug-in offers tight integration of system file manager (Windows Explorer, Gnome Nautilus, KDE Konqueror, Mac Finder, ...) and shell (cmd.exe, Linux/Mac terminal) in Eclipse.
https://fabioz.github.io/startexplorer/
MIT License
148 stars 55 forks source link

readme

The official branch is: https://github.com/fabioz/startexplorer

StartExplorer

Just drag-and-drop the button to the Eclipse menu bar to install the plug-in:

Eclipse-Update-URL: https://fabioz.github.io/startexplorer/update/ or install with Nodeclipse CLI Installer nodeclipse install startexplorer

About

The StartExplorer Eclipse plug-in offers tight integration of the system file manager (Windows Explorer, Gnome Nautilus, KDE Konqueror, Mac Finder, ...) and the shell (cmd.exe, Linux/Mac terminal) in Eclipse.

Every now and then when working with Eclipse you'd like to examine a file or a folder inside the Eclipse workspace with your file manager or open a shell/cmd.exe in this location. Or you edit a file in Eclipse and would like to open the parent folder of this file in the file manager or shell. Or the file you are editing contains a string which references another file in the filesystem and you would like to do some of the things mentioned above with that referenced file. This plug-in gives you a convenient way to do all this by adding a few entries to Eclipse's context menus. Furthermore, it offers a different, more convenient way to issue any shell/dos command you like through customizable menu commands. Last but not the least this plug-in offers a tighter integration of the clip board, so copying a file's/folder's path to the clip board is only two mouse clicks (instead of opening the Properties dialog and selecting the path manually).

Help Wanted

It seems that there are a lot of open issues on GitHub, but most are actually only TODOs and are labelled with low-priority.

The known bugs which are worth taking a look at are: help-wanted bugs

Supported Platforms

This plug-in is inherently not platform-independent. Currently, the following operating systems/desktop environments are supported out of the box:

However, even if your system is not listed there, you can still easily configure StartExplorer to work correctly on your system.

Features

Known issues

Release Notes

Version 1.7.0 (2015-09-09)

Version 1.6.1 (2014-09-16)

Version 1.6.0 (2014-06-18)

Version 1.5.1 (2013-10-18)

Version 1.5.0 (2013-09-17)

Version 1.4.1 (2013-03-25)

Version 1.4.0 (2013-03-24)

Version 1.3.0 (2013-03-04)

Version 1.2.1 (2012-08-17)

Version 1.2.0 (2012-03-14)

Version 1.1.2 (2012-03-02)

Version 1.0.4 (2012-02-28)

Version 1.0.0 (2012-02-23)

Version 0.9.0 (2012-02-16)

Version 0.8.0 (2012-02-14)

Version 0.7.0 (2012-02-12)

Version 0.6.2 (2012-02-09)

Version 0.5.0 (2009-05-04)

But...

Eclipse can do some things that are quite similar what this plug-in offers out of the box. This section explains the subtle differences.

But I can copy the file system path of a resource (file or folder) to the clipboard without the plug-in! Why should I use StartExplorer for that? Yes, by right clicking the resource, selecting properties and then selecting the complete content of the location field with the mouse. In my humble opinion, that's quite clumsy.

But I can open files with the default system application by using "Open With - System Editor" without the plug-in! Why should I use StartExplorer for that? Yes, that's indeed quite redundant. It might be removed in future versions of the plug-in. One minor difference, though: Eclipse remembers that you opened the file with the system editor and the next time you open it, it will be opened with the system editor again. StartExplorer does not have this kind of memory. Most often, the Eclipse behaviour is probably what you want, sometimes it's not.

Alternatives

There is always more than one way to skin a cat. Or to open a file manager window. It seems many people miss this functionality in Eclipse and some of them (like me) wrote plug-ins to ease their pain. I'll list all I know of here. If you know another open-file-manager-plug-in, let me know. I also list some pros and cons, which, of course, are completely subjective.

To the best of my knowledge, at the time of writing (March 2012), StartExplorer has some unique features that none of its competitors offer (and it has most, if not all, features that its competitors have):

By the way, StartExplorer is also endorsed by PyDev, the Python IDE for Eclipse and Nodeclipse, the Eclipse Node.js IDE and included in Gradle IDE Pack.

Hacking

If you want to hack on StartExplorer, you need Eclipse with PDE (Plugin Development Environment) with a few pre-requisites. Most JUnit tests use Mockito and some use PowerMock in addition to Mockito. To avoid compile errors you need to download these libraries and their dependencies. The people from PowerMock provide a nice all-in-one package with nearly all libs you need: powermock-mockito-junit-1.5.zip. That has all required libs except hamcrest-core.

After unpacking this you need to set a bunch of classpath variables. In Eclipse, go to Window -> Preferences -> Java -> Build Path -> Classpath Variables. Add the following variables (by clicking "New...", obviously):

Also in Eclipse, you should have at least two projects, the plug-in project and the feature project:

with-Eclipse logo