CSE 373, Winter 2018: Eclipse setup guide

Step 0: Installing Java

Before you start installing Eclipse, make sure that you have the Java Development Kit (the JDK) installed on your system. If you're not sure, it's safe to just try installing it again. (If you already have the JDK installed, installing it again will just update you to a slightly newer version.

To download the JDK, go to this page and download the appropriate file for your operating system.

Note: while the latest version of Java is Java 9, we strongly recommend you use Java 8 in this class. While our course projects in theory work with Java 9, they have only been tested with Java 8. The link above will take you to the Java 8 download page.

Step 1: Installing and configuring Eclipse

Step 1a: Download

NOTE: if you used Eclipse before, you may have an older version installed. If so, we strongly recommend you uninstall it and install the latest version for maximum compatibility.

You can download Eclipse at eclipse.org/downloads. The latest version, as of time of writing, is Eclipse Oxygen.

Step 1b: Installation

1. Run the Eclipse installer. You should see a window like the one below; Select the first "Eclipse IDE for Java Developers" option.

   

2. After that point, you can keep hitting "yes" and select all the default options (unless you want to change something).

   You should eventually see a screen like this. Click the "Launch" button.

   

Step 1c: Configuration

1. When you run Eclipse, it'll ask you where you want your workspace to be (see screenshot below for example). Your workspace will be the location where Eclipse will add any new projects you create. You can change the location of the workspace if you want: just make sure you remember what you picked.

   

2. Once you're done, you should see a "Welcome" screen like below. Close the "welcome" tab to open the regular editor.

   

3. Next, select "Windows > Preferences" in the menu. Then, select "Java > Installed JREs":

   

4. Click the "Search" button and select the "Java" folder. This folder should contain your installed JRE and JDK. (If it contains only the installed JDK, that's also ok). You can probably find this folder located at:

   • Windows: C:\Program Files\Java
   • Mac: /Library/Java

   For example, on Windows:

   

5. After hitting "ok", you should see a screen with a line for either both the JRE and the JDK, or just the JDK. Select the line for the JDK:

   

6. Click the "Apply and close" button.

7. Eclipse, by default, contains a fair degree of clutter. If you want to minimize the clutter, feel free to close the "Task List" and "Outline" tabs/views to the right.

Step 2: Configuring checkstyle

We will start by installing a plugin named 'checkstyle', which when run will check your code for different style issues.

Step 2a: Installing the plugin

1. In the menu bar, click "Help" > "Eclipse Marketplace"

2. Search for "checkstyle" (the search bar is near the upper-left). You should now see something like this:

   

3. Select the option labeled "Checkstyle Plug-in 8.x.x". (The exact version number may be different from our screenshot). Click the "Install" button in the lower-right of that option. You should ignore any other plugins that show up.

   At some point, Eclipse will ask you to accept some license agreements. Accept them, and move on.

4. Once you are done, Eclipse will tell you that it needs to restart to make sure all changes take effect. Click the "Restart Now" button.

Step 2b: Loading the CSE 373 style rules

1. Once Eclipse has finished restarting, we need to load our CSE 373 specific rules.

   Start by downloading and saving our checkstyle rules. Make sure you remember where you saved the file! You probably want to save these rules someplace on your computer that's stable to make sure you don't delete it by accident later.

   (Note: if you previously had the checkstyle plugin installed before starting this class, you will most likely need to update it so that it can understand our rules file.)

2. In the menu bar, click "Window" > "Preferences". Navigate to the "Checkstyle" option. You should see a window that looks like this:

   

3. Click the "New..." button. In the window that appears...

   • Set the "Type" to "External Configuration File".
   • Set the "Name" to "CSE 373 Style" (or any other name you want).
   • Set the "Location" to wherever the XML file you just downloaded is located.
   • Check the "Protect Checkstyle configuration file" option at the bottom.

   Your screen should look like this:

   

4. After clicking "OK", you should now be back to the "Preferences" window. Select the configuration we just uploaded, and click the "Set as Default" button. Your screen should now look like this:

   

5. Click "Apply and Close".

Step 3: Adjust Eclipse defaults

Step 3a: Enable stricter generics checks

The next step is to configure Eclipse so it catches a common generics-related issue:

1. In the menu bar, click "Windows" > "Preferences"

2. Within the left sidebar, expand "Java" > "Compiler" > "Errors/Warnings".

3. Within that window, expand the "Generic types" section and change the "Usage of a raw type" option from "Warning" to "Error". After making these changes, your screen should look like this:

   

4. Click "Apply".

Step 3b: Indent using spaces

A common point of contention among programmers is whether we should indent code using the \t character, or by using some number of spaces instead. Personally, we don't really care, but the code we've provided you consistently uses 4 spaces per indent.

Unfortunately, Eclipse defaults to using the \t character instead. This is annoying because it causes the indentation in your codebase to be inconsistent. The next step is to modify Eclipse so it matches our class standard.

1. At this stage, you should still have the window from step 3a open. If you closed it by accident, reopen it by clicking "Windows" > "Preferences" from the menubar.

2. Within the left sidebar, expand "Java" > "Code Style" > "Formatter". You should see a window like this:

   

3. Click the "Edit" button, in the upper-right corner of the screen.

4. In the window that appears, edit the Profile name in the top of the screen to "CSE 373 Styles" (or something similar).

5. Next, in the "General settings" section (upper-left of the screen, under "Profile name"), change the "Tab policy" option to "Spaces only". Your screen should look like the following:

   

6. Click "Ok".

7. Click "Apply and Close".