Java EE perspective

While developing enterprise applications in the Java™ EE perspective, the enterprise explorer view is your main view of your Java EE projects and resources.

The Java EE perspective contains a selection of views and editors that are customized to be most useful to a Enterprise developer.

 

Views

The Java EE perspective includes workbench views that you can use when developing resources for enterprise applications, EJB modules, Web modules, application client modules, and connector projects or modules:

• Enterprise explorer view:

  The Enterprise Explorer view provides an integrated view of your projects and their artifacts related to Java EE development. You can show or hide your projects based on working sets. This view displays navigable models of Java EE deployment descriptors, Java artifacts (source folders, packages, and classes), navigable models of the available Web services, and specialized views of Web modules to simplify the development of dynamic Web applications. In addition, EJB database mapping and the configuration of projects for a Java EE application server are made readily available.

• Annotations view:

  The Annotations view, new in this release, provides a way for you to create, edit, browse, and generally keep track of the annotations that you use in your applications.

• Outline view:

  The Outline view in the Java EE perspective shows the outline of the file that you are editing. For example, if you are editing an enterprise bean in the Java editor, the Outline view shows the outline for the Java class.

• Tasks view:

  The Tasks view lists the to-do items that you have entered.

• Problems view:

  The Problems view displays problems, warnings, or errors associated with the selected project. You can double-click on an item to address the specific problem in the appropriate resource.

• Properties view:

  The Properties view provides a tabular view of the properties and associated values of objects in files you have open in an editor.

• Servers view:

  The Servers view shows all the created server instances. You can start and stop each server from this view, and you can launch the test client.

• Snippets view:

  The Snippets view provides categorized pieces of code that you can insert into appropriate places in your source code.

• Data Source Explorer:

  The Data Source Explorer provides a list of configured connection profiles. If categories are enabled, you can see the list grouped into categories. Use the Data Source Explorer to connect to, navigate, and interact with resources associated with the selected connection profile. It also provides import and export capabilities to share connection profile definitions with other Eclipse Workbenches.

• Status bar:

  The Status bar provides a description of the location of selected objects in the Enterprise Explorer views in the left side. When file and deployment descriptors are open, the status bar shows the read-only state of the files and the line and column numbers when applicable. Sometimes when long operations run, a status monitor will appear in the status bar, along with a button with a stop sign icon. Clicking the stop sign stops the operation when the operation can be cancelled.

 

Editors

Editors are workplace tools that allow you to edit the various types of files contained in your project. Depending on the type of file that is being edited, the appropriate editor is displayed in the editor area. For example, if a .TXT file is being edited, a text editor is displayed in the editor area. The following list contains some of the editors available to you in the Java EE development environment:

• Deployment Descriptor Editors: The editor includes the following features:

  • Add modules and security to your application

  • Manage utility jars

  • Open WebSphere® bindings

• Java Editor: The editor includes the following features:

  • Syntax highlighting

  • Content and code assist

  • Code formatting

  • Import assistance

  • Quick fix

  • Integrated debugging features

• Ant editor: The editor includes the following features:

  • Syntax highlighting

  • Content and code assist (including Ant-specific templates)

  • Annotations

• XML editor: The XML editor is a tool for creating and viewing XML files. You can use it to perform a variety of tasks such as:

  • Creating new, empty XML files or generating them from existing DTDs or existing XML schemas

  • Editing XML files

  • Importing existing XML files for structured viewing

  • Associating XML files with DTDs or XML schemas

• Properties files editor: The Properties files editor is a tool for creating and viewing Properties files. The editor includes the following features:

  • Syntax highlighting

  • Code formatting

 

Related concepts

Tools for Java EE development

Enterprise explorer view in the Java EE perspective

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