Impact Analysis using Eclipse for Java application with framework code

Question

Can impact analysis be done in Eclipse? If there are a few classes and methods that need to be changed, finding the impact of that change on rest of the application code (other classes and methods) The core issue is when there is code apart from core java that is XML, JSP, framework code etc

Answer 1

One of the most advanced project on this topic might be XRay.
You can try it and check if that does provide some of the answer you are looking for (note: I have not yet tested it)

X-Ray is an open-source software visualization plug-in for the Eclipse framework. It provides System Complexity View, Class and Package Dependency View for a given Java project.

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Other advanced tools exists (but are not free) for exploring code dependencies:

• nWire for SO contributor extraordinaire Zviki Cohen (zvikico)
• XDepend, now part of JArchitect (lets you extract, visualize, seek and control the structure of your applications and frameworks)

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The most simple way (and still free) to make a quick dependency analysis remains for me:
CDA - Class Dependency Analyzer
(not directly integrated to eclipse, but very simple to use)

Answer 2

Simplest method is: right-click the class or method you would like to change, select "refactor" (or press alt-shift-T) and then the refactoring you propose to do (rename, move, change method signature, etc ). Then select "preview" (or next as the case may be). You'll then see the impact of the proposed change. For rename and move class, you'll also get the option to apply the changes to non-java files. Next to that, you can use the search function.