Eclipse - Is it possible to link to a file from within a Java comment?

Question

I am looking for a way to link from a comment inside a .java file to another file somewhere in the project folder (like CMD-clicking a Java Type links to the Type declaration). In my case I am working on a (Spring Roo backed) web application, so I have controllers and view files.

What I have in mind may look like this (Javadoc-oriented but of course not parsed but used directly as a link):

public String orderlist(ModelMap modelMap){

    modelMap.addAttribute("orders", Order.findAllOrders());

    // @link("/WEB-INF/views/order/list.jspx")
    return "order/list";
}

I want to CMD-click on the comment link to open the file.

I am heavily using Working Sets, filters and of course CMD+SHIFT+R ("Open Resource"), which are all great, but this might come in handy working on a controller and the corresponding view (especially in a team). Is this possible somehow, a basic feature that I missed completely so far or even total nonsense for some reason? I realize that those links should be considered when, for example, refactor|move the view file.

Answer 1

The feature you're describing is Eclipse's hyperlink detectors: http://help.eclipse.org/helios/index.jsp?topic=/org.eclipse.platform.doc.isv/reference/extension-points/org_eclipse_ui_workbench_texteditor_hyperlinkDetectors.html. Unfortunately I'm not sure an implementation as you're describing is likely available.

There's an URLHyperlinkDetector that can pick up URLs, so you could potentially put a file:// URL in a comment and link to that, but I think that Eclipse is hard-wired to assume it's something that can be opened in it's browser. It's worth a shot, but of course the absolute paths would break sharing across teams/machines.

You could try your hand at contributing your own via a plugin that your team could install. Here's an implementation we created in Aptana Studio for picking up relative URIs in files and opening them in editors if possible: https://github.com/aptana/studio3/blob/development/plugins/com.aptana.editor.common/src/com/aptana/editor/common/text/hyperlink/HyperlinkDetector.java