CODEWITHSUNDEEP
javaeclipsecode-formatting
Chris Conway
Chris Conway

Reputation: 55989

Eclipse formatter settings for the Builder pattern

I'm extremely frustrated with the Eclipse formatting rules for a series of qualified invocations (i.e., the Builder pattern style). For example, here is my preferred formatting for some code that creates a new Apache Commons CLI Options object:

  Options options = new Options()
      .addOption(OPTION_HELP_SHORT, OPTION_HELP, false, "print usage information")
      .addOption(OPTION_VERSION_SHORT, OPTION_VERSION, false,
          "print version and exit")
      .addOption(OptionBuilder.withLongOpt(OPTION_PROPERTIES)
                     .hasArg()
                     .withArgName("FILE")
                     .withType(File.class)
                     .withDescription("specify a user properties file")
                     .create());

I.e., parameters are wrapped and indented if necessary and all qualified invocations except the first, unless necessary, are wrapped and indented if there is more than one. If a parameter list wraps inside a qualified invocation, the invocation should wrap first.

The default formatting in Eclipse ("Wrap only when necessary" for arguments and invocations) yields the following mess:

  Options options = new Options().addOption(
      OPTION_HELP_SHORT, OPTION_HELP, false, "print usage information")
      .addOption(OPTION_VERSION_SHORT, OPTION_VERSION, false,
          "print version and exit").addOption(
          OptionBuilder.withLongOpt(OPTION_PROPERTIES).hasArg().withArgName(
              "FILE").withType(File.class).withDescription(
              "specify a user properties file").create());

Going into "Java Code Style -> Formatter -> Line Wrapping" and the line wrapping setting to "Wrap all elements, except first element if not necessary" for invocations yields:

  Options options = new Options().addOption(
      OPTION_HELP_SHORT, OPTION_HELP, false, "print usage information")
      .addOption(OPTION_VERSION_SHORT, OPTION_VERSION, false,
          "print version and exit")
      .addOption(
          OptionBuilder.withLongOpt(OPTION_PROPERTIES).hasArg().withArgName(
              "FILE").withType(File.class).withDescription(
              "specify a user properties file").create());

I don't like that the OptionBuilder expression isn't being wrapped, or that "FILE" gets wrapped without also wrapping withArgName.

Changing the indentation to "Indent on column" yields:

  Options options = new Options().addOption(OPTION_HELP_SHORT, OPTION_HELP,
                                     false, "print usage information")
                                 .addOption(OPTION_VERSION_SHORT,
                                     OPTION_VERSION, false,
                                     "print version and exit")
                                 .addOption(
                                     OptionBuilder.withLongOpt(
                                                      OPTION_PROPERTIES)
                                                  .hasArg()
                                                  .withArgName("FILE")
                                                  .withType(File.class)
                                                  .withDescription(
                                                      "specify a user properties file")
                                                  .create());

The is breaking the lines where I'd prefer, but pushing things over much too far to the right.

Is there any way to convince Eclipse to apply my preferred formatting style or something closer to it than any of the above?

Upvotes: 51

Views: 13491

Answers (6)

Maksim Kovalev
Maksim Kovalev

Reputation: 398

Update for 2021. It is possible to change, navigate to: Code Style -> Formatter -> Line Wrapping -> Wrapping settings -> Function Calls -> Qualified invocations and change value to "Wrap all elements, except first element if not necessary"

Upvotes: 14

Jakub Bochenski
Jakub Bochenski

Reputation: 3271

Turning off formatting with comments, or inserting line comments is too tedious.

The best way is described here:

... or you can select "Line Wrapping > Never join already wrapped lines" globally. Then, you can break it manually and the formatter will only format inside lines (or add additional line breaks if necessary).

With this setting Eclipse formatter will stop ruining your builder statements.

enter image description here

Upvotes: 44

xpmatteo
xpmatteo

Reputation: 11408

In Eclipse 3.6 It's possible to turn off formatting for a region of code. See my answer to

How to turn off the Eclipse code formatter for certain sections of Java code?

Upvotes: 4

nanda
nanda

Reputation: 24788

AFAIK, this is known problem with Eclipse Formatter: https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=59891

Upvotes: 3

Thorbjørn Ravn Andersen
Thorbjørn Ravn Andersen

Reputation: 75376

Use comments:

   Object o = foo() //
      .bar() //
      .toString();

Upvotes: 33

ChadNC
ChadNC

Reputation: 2503

On the menu select Window -> Preferences when the window opens select Java -> Code Style -> Formatter and from there you can create your own format style to use by selecting the new or edit option. When editing a formatting profile a new window opens that gives you a lot of different options to use.

Upvotes: -4

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