How can I make eclipse make use of packages downlo

Question

When I use Maven compile, it will automatically download the depended java packages for me. Now, to debug the project, I import the project into Eclipse, but in Eclipse, the depended package is still missing. How can I get the packages? Or, can Eclipse use packages downloaded by Maven?

Answer 1

You don't really need to manually add all the dependencies downloaded by maven to the classpath in Eclipse. There is a maven-2-eclipse plugin which integrates maven with Eclipse. Using that plugin you can

• import/create a project as Maven project or
• convert an existing project into a maven project

Your Eclipse will automatically add all the downloaded dependencies on the class path everytime.

Answer 2

An alternative to the m2e eclipse maven plugin suggested by rocketboy is to use the maven eclipse plugin. This works from the command line (mvn eclipse:eclipse), and generates Eclipse settings for your project by downloading dependencies and putting them onto the Eclipse build path.