JDT Core options

JDT Core options control the behavior of core features such as the Java compiler, code formatter, code assist, and other core behaviors.  The APIs for accessing the options are defined in JavaCore.  Options can be accessed as a group as follows:

• JavaCore.getDefaultOptions() - Answers the default value of the options.
• JavaCore.getOptions() - Answers the current values of the options.
• JavaCore.setOptions(Hashtable newOptions) - Replaces the options values by new values.

Options can also be accessed individually by a string name.

• JavaCore.getOption(String optionName) - Answers the value of a specific option.

Options that can configure the severity of a compiler problem can also be found.

• JavaCore.getOptionForConfigurableSeverity(int problemID) - Answers the option to use to configure the severity of the compiler problem identified by problemID.

Options are stored as a hash table of all known configurable options with their values. Helper constants have been defined on JavaCore for each option ID and its possible constant values.

The following code fragment restores the value of all core options to their defaults except for one (COMPILER_PB_DEPRECATION), which is set specifically.

   // Get the default options
   Hashtable options = JavaCore.getDefaultOptions();
   
   // Change the value of an option
   options.put(JavaCore.COMPILER_PB_DEPRECATION, JavaCore.ERROR);
   
   // Set the new options
   JavaCore.setOptions(options);

The following code fragment keeps the value of the current options and modifies only one (COMPILER_PB_DEPRECATION):

   // Get the current options
   Hashtable options = JavaCore.getOptions();
   
   // Change the value of an option
   options.put(JavaCore.COMPILER_PB_DEPRECATION, JavaCore.ERROR);
   
   // Set the new options
   JavaCore.setOptions(options);

Project specific options

The values of options can be overridden per project using protocol in IJavaProject.

The following code fragment retrieves the value of an option (COMPILER_PB_DEPRECATION) for a specific project in two different ways.  The boolean parameter controls whether only the project-specific options should be returned in a query or whether the project's option values should be merged with the values in JavaCore.

   // Get the project
   IJavaProject project = ...;

   // See if the value of an option has been set in this project
   String value = project.getOption(JavaCore.COMPILER_PB_DEPRECATION, false);
   if (value == null) {
     // no specific option was set on the project
     ...
   }
   
   // Get the value of an option from this project.  Use the value from 
   // JavaCore value if none is specified for the project
   String value = project.getOption(JavaCore.COMPILER_PB_DEPRECATION, true);

JDT Core options descriptions

The following tables describe the available JDT Core options.  The option id is shown in parentheses and the default value is shown in bold italics.

Options categories

• Compiler options
• Builder options
• JavaCore options
• Formatter options
• CodeAssist options

Compiler options

   try {
      throw new java.io.CharConversionException();
   } catch (java.io.CharConversionException e) {
   } catch (java.io.IOException e) {}.

The following table summarizes the compatible combinations of Java compliance, target and source levels (bold values are the defaults for each compliance level).

Builder options

JavaCore options

Formatter options

CodeAssist options