Introduction:
The static code analysis tools Code Formatter, Findbugs, PMD and Checkstyle are widely used in the Java development community. Each has an own purpose, strength and weaknesses.
This post explains about eclipse useful and important configuration and setting which required for every developer who used eclipse as primary IDE(Integrated Development Environment) for project development.
Configure Java Code Formatter
This post explains about configuring formatter in eclipse which helps developer to keep Java Source code in the same format across all developer.
Java Source code having different format on different system (Developer’s System) once project have many developers and they are using their own formatter or not using any formatter. In order to keep Java File format same we have to configure same formatter across team. please follow below steps to configure formatter in your eclipse, Also you can download sample formatter for your project from below link –
Step 1: Download/Install eclipse if you are not having in your system.
Step 2: Launch eclipse and select appropriate workspace. eclipse Home page will display.
Step 3: Navigate to Window option from the top menu and click on Window as given below screenshot.
Step 4: Navigate to Preferences and click on it.
Step 5: Once Preference Model Window available then Navigate to Java then Code Style and Formatter from the left hand side panel. please find screenshot as given below –
Edit: Click on Edit to modify already existing code formatter in your workspace.
New: Click on New if you want to create new code formatter from scratch suing eclipse.
Import: Click on Import if you want to import already existing code formatter in your eclipse.
Step 6: Click on import to import already existing code formatter file from system.
Step 7: Click on Apply to activate this code formatter in your eclipse.
Step 8: Click on OK to complete configuration.
Step 9: Navigate any Java File to view the changes. Just press Ctrl+A and do Ctrl+Shift+F to format code.
Code Before Formatter Used:
Code After Formatter Used:
Now code looks good and it will display same across all the system and if anyone change then it will show only those changes.
Java Code Formatter Link: Click on below to download Java code formatter file.
Configure Check Style
Checkstyle is a development tool to help programmers write Java code that adheres to a coding standard. It automates the process of checking Java code to spare humans of this boring (but important) task. This makes it ideal for projects that want to enforce a coding standard.
Checkstyle is highly configurable and can be made to support almost any coding standard. An example configuration files are supplied supporting the Sun Code Conventions, Google Java Style.
In order to configure and activate check style in your eclipse you need check style plugin installed in your eclipse. You can check check style plugin in your eclipse using window -> preferences option from the top of the menu.
Type checkStyle in the text area and you will find checkStyle option below in the screen. checkStyle already Installed in my eclipse and now project specific CheckStyle can be configure.
CheckStyle Plugin installation steps involve installation of plugin on your eclipse so project specific checkStyle can be uploaded.
Please find the steps below –
Step 1: You can install the Checkstyle Eclipse plugin using Eclipse update manager from the following links
http://eclipse-cs.sourceforge.net/update
Step 2: Navigate to Help option from the top menu and click on Install New Software, please find the option in below screenshot
Step 3: Click on Add button to add above url to download and install plugin in your eclipse. Complete Name and Location information and click on OK button.
Step 4: Once Url added it will start showing CheckStyle package to install in your eclipse as below given screenshot. please click on Next button and complete the installation.
Step 5: Above steps helped us to install checkStyle Plugins in eclipse, Now click on Window and then Preferences to configure project specific CheckStyle.
Step 6: Click on New button to configure CheckStyle. Check style configuration page will display.
Step 7: Complete CheckStyle Configuration Page as per above screen and Browse CheckStyle file from your system and click on OK button.
Step 8: After Clicking on OK button above screen display and project specific CheckStyle configured in eclipse. We need to click on Set As Default to make this CheckStyle as default.
After Clicking on Set As Default button project specific CheckStyle will be default.
Step 9: Click on OK button to complete the configuration. It will show confirmation window, please click on yes.
Step 10: To execute CheckStyle please right click on Java File and Navigate to Checkstyle -> Check Code with checkStyle option.
Step 11: Click on Check Code with checkstyle with give you checkstyle report.
CheckStyle File Download Link: Click on below to download checkstyle file.
Findbugs Configuration
FindBugs is an open source project for a static analysis of the Java bytecode to identify potential software bugs. Findbugs provides early feedback about potential errors in the code. This helps the developer to access these problems early in the development phase.
The analysis of Findbugs can be integrated into existing IDEs like the Eclipse IDE of IntelliJ.
The FindBugs Eclipse plugin allows FindBugs to be used within the Eclipse IDE. The FindBugs Eclipse plugin was generously contributed by Peter Friese. Phil Crosby and Andrey Loskutov contributed major improvements to the plugin.
To use the FindBugs Plugin for Eclipse, you need Eclipse 3.3 or later, and JRE/JDK 1.5 or later.
Please follow below steps to Install and execute FindBugs in your eclipse –
Step 1: Use the → menu entry to install all the FindBugs components from the following URL. Restart your Eclipse IDE afterwards. (As above we did for CheckStyle)
Reference: Help > Install New Software
Add http://findbugs.cs.umd.edu/eclipse URL and install Plugin.
Step 2: Clicking on Next and Complete the installation. Once FindBugs Plugin Installed in your eclipse then you can verify it using Window -> Preferences menu item from the top of the eclipse. Just Type FindBugs in the text Box then it shows FindBugs option in the search window, please find screenshot below –
User can configure it as per their requirement.
Step 3: We can execute FindBugs by Right Click on the project and using FindBugs otpion, please find screenshot below –
Clicking on Find Bugs option it will start preparing FindBugs Reports for that particular project(Ex. KnowledgeWalaLibrary). It show confirmation page.
Step 4: We enable FindBugs View using Window -> Show View -> Bug Explorer as below screenhot.
Step 5: Once View enabled on eclipse then it start showing FindBugs Reports, please find screenshot below –
User can download FindBugs Report using option available there and also clean previous run before running next time.
Troubleshooting
This section lists common problems with the plugin and (if known) how to resolve them.
- If you see OutOfMemory error dialogs after starting FindBugs analysis in Eclipse, please increase JVM available memory: change eclipse.ini and add the lines below to the end of the file:
-vmargs -Xmx1000m
PMD Configuration
PMD is an alternative to FindBugs and it is having good name in the market.
PMD stands for Programming Mistake Detector. It is a free source code analysis tool which helps you to find the bugs in your java code and improve the code quality. PMD helps to find empty try/catch/finally statements, while/if statements, unnecessary object creation etc.
PMD warning and problems are not exactly errors, but shows that particular code need to be improved
Following plugins are available for PMD
- Maven PMD plugin
- NetBeans PMD plugin
- JBuilder PMD plugin
- JDeveloper PMD plugin
- IntelliJ PMD plugin
Please follow below steps to install and execute PMD plugin in your eclipse –
Step 1: You can install the PMD Eclipse plugin using Eclipse update manager from the following links
http://sourceforge.net/projects/pmd/files/pmd-eclipse/update-site/
or
Step 2: Use the → menu entry to install all the PMD plugin components from the above URL.
Step 3: Enter the URL and name and click on OK button.
Click On Next button.
Step 4: Once you Click on OK Button then it display all available installation for eclipse, select appropriate eclipse version and click on Next button. Please find the screenshot below –
Step 5: After Clicking on Next button then it display license agreement . Select the License agreement and Click on Next button.
Step 6: Click on Finish button and it display below screen.
Step 7: Once installation completed then it ask to Restart eclipse, Restart your eclipse to validate PMD plugin in your eclipse.
Step 8: User can validate PMD plugin installation using Window -> Preferences option from the top menu.
Enter PMD in text area then it appear on the screen. please use the feature same as FindBugs to execute and generate Reports.
User Can execute PMD by Right Clicking on the project and Create Reports option, please find screenshot in the attachment.
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