-- Creating and configuring a Checkstyle configuration --
We learned how to set up a project to be checked with the Checkstyle Plug-in in the previous chapter .
Now we want to create our own Checkstyle configuration.
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Open the Eclipse Preferences Window
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Navigate to the Checkstyle section within the Eclipse preferences
The Checkstyle preferences should look like this. In the upper area are
some general settings which will be explained later in detail. The center/bottom
area shows the Checkstyle configurations known to the plug-in. Only Checkstyle
Configurations that are listed therein can be used with the plug-in. Note
the Sun Checks configuration which we used in the previous chapter as
check configuration for our project.
Sun Checks is a built-in standard configuration that comes delivered with
Checkstyle and therefore also with the plug-in. Built-In configurations cannot
be modified nor be deleted.
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Click the
New...
button to create a new checkstyle configuration
The Check Configuration Properties dialog comes up. Its quite empty so we
must provide some data to create our Checkstyle configuration. At first we
must decide which type of configuration we would like to create. There are
several configuration types - each suitable for specific use cases.
Don't mind all these types for now - for starters we will be creating a
Internal Configuration. Note that the location text field will
be grayed out as you select this configuration type. This is because internal
configurations are stored deep within the bowels of the eclipse workspace.
The plug-in will create a unique filename for our new configuration. To
complete our configuration we must provide a name - the description is optional
and can be used to describe what your configuration is all about.
When you are done the dialog should look like this. Don't worry if
you done something wrong the dialog will tell you. Press OK to return to
the main configuration screen. The configuration you created should show up in
the configuration table. You can go back to this dialog by selecting the
configuration and pressing Properties...
Our configuration is (of course) quite empty because we have not yet
defined any checks.
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Select the configuration you created and press Configure... to open
the Configuration Editor
In the left hand side tree all modules known to the plug-in are shown.
These are all modules that come with Checkstyle out-of-the-box. The
modules are semantically grouped into categories. The table on the right
side shows the modules your configuration is actually containing. Based on
the selection in the tree all modules in your configuration belonging to the
selected group are shown. If you select a module in the tree or in the
table a description of the module will be shown in the description area of the
dialog. To add a particular module to your configuration you must select
the module in the tree press the Add... button. For instance we
open the first group Javadoc Comments and select the Method
Javadoc module. Pressing the Add... button the property dialog
for this module is shown.
Using the dialog you can customize the check for your needs. Mostly
all modules have a severity combo box. With this you can specify if a violation
of the check results in an error, warning or an info. The other settings
in the editor are highly specific to the module. But don't bother for
now, pressing OK will add the module to your configuration. The result
should look like this:
Now your configuration contains the Method Javadoc check.
Operating the enabled check box in the table lets you easily set the
severity of the module to ignore. OK, now you figured it all out!
Press OK to save your configuration and return to the main
configuration page. In the main dialog press OK to store all
changes you made.
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Go back to the project properties and select your configuration to be used to
check your project
After you press OK your project will be rebuilt using your self
created configuration. Look into the Eclipse Problems View again to see
the effects. Now only Checkstyle warnings regarding missing or invalid method
Javadoc should be there.
Congratulations!
Now we've covered all the basics of the Eclipse Checkstyle Plug-in. Now you
surely want to dive in and create an extensive configuration - trying out all checks
that Checkstyle has to offer (which are a lot!).
Detailed information on the configuration options for each check can be found in the
following sections:
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