Configuring Maven 2 POM Editor to open pom.xml files in source mode

Question

I use the Maven 2 POM Editor mainly for editing POM XML files directly. Is there a way to make the editor always open files in the "Source" tab?

Answer 1

In the Eclipse preferences for the Maven plugin, there is a check box for Open XML page in the POM editor by default. Its exact location varies by plugin version.

Juno/Kepler/Luna/Mars (4.x)

In these versions of Eclipse:

1. Click Window → Preferences
2. Expand Maven
3. Click User Interface
4. Check Open XML page in the POM editor by default
5. Click Apply and Close

POMs will open in source view by default.

Helios/Indigo (3.x)

In these versions of Eclipse:

Maven > POM Editor

Answer 2

Like Damien suspected, myWindow>Preferences>Maven>User Interface option to open POMs in the Maven POM editor automatically was indeed broken. Here's how I fixed it (Juno):

Open Window>Preferences>General>Editors>File Associations. In the upper right area click Add..., type "pom.xml", then OK.

Then click on the new entry pom.xml in the upper list, and in the lower list click on Maven POM Editor, then click the Default button on the right.

Click OK and then double click your pom.xml file in project explorer and it should open in the Maven POM editor.

Bonus: The Ctrl+Shift+F formatting does a sweet job of formatting POMs in the Maven editor. The default XML editor's formatting is pretty bad for POMs, which have attribute-free tags.