Eclipse Tip: Add your own Code Template in Eclipse

If you are using Eclipse as your primary development IDE, then you may want to know about Code templates in Eclipse. Code templates are certain user defined (some are available by default) templates which can assist in rapid code writing. Not only code templates increase your code writing speed, but it also add consistency across the code. To add a code template, all you need to do is to write first character and then press CTRL + SPACE. For example, in Eclipse write tr and press ctrl+space. It will add a try-catch block in your editor.

User defined code templates

You can defined your own code templates. Just goto Windows > Preferences > Java > Editor > Templates. You can click on New.. button to add your own code template. Lets create our own code template. For this example, we will create a template which will check if a local variable is null or not, if its null then it will throw a NullPointerException. Open Template editor from above path and press New.. Then enter following details. Name: npe Description: To check if a local variable is null or not. Pattern:

if (${arg:localVar} == null)
    throw new ${exception:link(NullPointerException,IllegalArgumentException)}("${arg:localVar} is null");
Code language: Java (java)

And press Ok to save the template. Now go to any editor window in Eclipse and press npe and press CTRL + SPACE. You will see a suggestion window which will display you an option to select the npe code template.