How to use javap with eclipse?

Question

As the title states, I'm trying to use javap with eclipse but have difficulties setting it up. I'm trying to set it up using external tools from the run menu but can't find the correct Arguments: string to make it work. Basically I need something that will dynamically execute the current file I have opened.

Answer 1

I use the following external tool configuration to achieve this:

${system_path:javap} is used to locate javap in the JDK used by the Eclipse. You can use an absolute path to javap instead.

${project_loc} returns the absolute path to the project. This is used, since I could not find a pre-define variable to use, to locate the .class file of a resource, and that's why javap runs in the project's directory instead of the directory containing the .class file.

Among the arguments passed to javap:

• bin is the default output folder for Eclipse projects. Change this to build/classes or whatever is used by the project. Note, the value is relative to ${project_loc}; you can specify absolute paths instead.
• ${java_type_name} is used to obtain the selected class name.

You can select a Java file in the Project explorer view or Project navigator view, or even a Java type in any of the views, and then run the external tool. Note - this approach doesn't work quite well when you select a method, an inner class etc. and then run the tool, as they are not resources on their own, leading to the scenario where ${project_loc} will be empty.