how to import source code into Eclipse from a jar file?

Question

I got a jar file that is packaged with source code in it. I want to load it as a top-level project and start working on the source code. How can I do that in Eclipse?

For example: if I have helloworld.jar, when I import this jar. I want to have the project name as helloworld, with all the packages and src inside it.

I do not want that code on build path.but on my IDE to work with.

Answer 1

Create a directory named "helloworld" and unpack the JAR into that directory:

mkdir helloworld
cd helloworld
jar xvf ../helloworld.jar

You can then create a project from existing sources and start operating on that. I don't think Eclipse will let you create a project and change files directly in the JAR.

Answer 2

@eagertoLearn Yes. Eclipse does this in a very easy way than suggest by @Erik Gillespie.

Use Import from archive file feature in eclipse. Refer this post https://stackoverflow.com/a/11983201/1391924

Supported archive file types:

• *.jar
• *.zip
• *.tar
• *.tar.gz
• *tgz