CQSE Blog - Enforce Consistent Compiler and Code Formatter Settings with Eclipse

CQSE Blog - Enforce Consistent Compiler and Code Formatter Settings with Eclipse

The Eclipse Java compiler provides a multitude of sophisticated checks that greatly help to improve the quality of your code. However, to benefit from these checks, it must assured, that all developers use the same set of checks. Only then, rules like »the code may not have warnings before comitting it« can be applied. Obviously, consistency is also relevant for code formatter settings. Hence, for a smooth software development in every team larger than two, the following should be ensured:

• Everybody uses the exact same setup for compiler errors and warnings, i.e., when it is agreed that an unread local variable should create a yellow marker in Eclipse, it should do so for all developers.
• The same is true for Javadoc settings (in the case of Java): If it is agreed that Eclipse creates a warning for missing comments, it should do so for everybody.
• Equally important, the code formatter settings should be shared by everybody. This supports a consistent coding style and avoids surprises when code is merged.
• There should be way to update these settings consistently across the team. This is, e.g., necessary when it turns out that treating a missing comment as a compile error is a bit drastic after all or if things need to be updated for Java 8.
• Ideally, the settings should not only be consistent for all developers but also for all projects.

The Solution

Fortunately, Eclipse (with a little help from the version control system) provides a simple solution for all these requirements: project specific settings. To enable them, simply open the properties dialog of the project and enable them for errors/warnings or the code formatter settings. As the screenshot shows, the same thing also works for code templates and the code clean up settings.

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