Is there an easy way to attach source in Eclipse?

Question

I'm a big fan of the way Visual Studio will give you the comment documentation / parameter names when completing code that you have written and ALSO code that you are referencing (various libraries/assemblies).

Is there an easy way to get inline javadoc/parameter names in Eclipse when doing code complete or hovering over methods? Via plugin? Via some setting? It's extremely annoying to use a lot of libraries (as happens often in Java) and then have to go to the website or local javadoc location to lookup information when you have it in the source jars right there!

Answer 1

Another way is to add the folder to your source lookup path: http://help.eclipse.org/helios/index.jsp?topic=%2Forg.eclipse.jdt.doc.user%2Freference%2Fviews%2Fdebug%2Fref-editsourcelookup.htm

Answer 2

It may seem like overkill, but if you use maven and include source, the mvn eclipse plugin will generate all the source configuration needed to give you all the in-line documentation you could ask for.

Answer 3

yes there is a easy way... go to ... http://sourceforge.net/projects/jdk7src/ and download the zip file. Then attach this to the eclipse. Give the path where you have downloaded the zip file in eclipse. We can then browse through the source.

Answer 4

1) Hold Control+ left click on the method you want to see. Then Eclipse will bring you to the Source Not Found page.

2) Click on "Attach Source"

3)

4) Navigate to C:\Program Files\Java\jdk-9.0.1\lib\src.zip

5) Click OK Now you should see the source code.

Answer 5

Another thought for making that easier when using an automated build:

When you create a jar of one of your projects, also create a source files jar:
project.jar
project-src.jar

Instead of going into the build path options dialog to add a source reference to each jar, try the following: add one source reference through the dialog. Edit your .classpath and using the first jar entry as a template, add the source jar files to each of your other jars.

This way you can use Eclipse's navigation aids to their fullest while still using something more standalone to build your projects.

Answer 6

I've found that sometimes, you point to the directory you'd assume was correct, and then it still states that it can't find the file in the attached source blah blah.

These times, I've realized that the last path element was "src". Just removing this path element (thus indeed pointing one level above the actual path where the "org" or "com" folder is located) magically makes it work.

Somehow, Eclipse seems to imply this "src" path element if present, and if you then have it included in the source path, Eclipse chokes. Or something like that.