While working in eclipse, I've often found myself with 20+ java, xml, wsdl, xsd, etc. editors open at one time. Finding the desired editor can get unwieldy so I FINALLY created a plugin to give me greater control over the open editors in the eclipse environment. I hope the java/eclipse community finds it as useful as I have.
To be sure, there are other eclipse plugins out there that help out with this, but not to the extent that this plugin does. I think it provides a few extra levels of customization that make this plugin more useful, but I'll let all of the members of the java/eclipse community decide for themselves.
This plugin allows users to create 'editor groups' where only certain files are shown in the editor group. The groups are defined by ANT like inclusion/exclusion filters and can be setup/maintained quickly. For example, you can define a group called 'Java' that contains all \**\*.java files or create a group called 'Web Services' that contains both .wsdl and .xsd files. For example, consider the following screenshot:
Two XML 'groups' have been defined--one for all xml and one for the xml files related to eclipse 'feature' plugins. Notice how the same files can exist in more than one group. Also notice how some elements in the view are shown in blue. Files can be 'colorized' so they can be easily picked out. Any number of groups can be defined and any number of color definitions can be defined.
There are 2 'special' groups that exist called 'All' and 'Other'. The 'All' group will show all open editors. The 'Other' group will only show editors that are not displayed in another group. The 'All' group is handy because you can sort on modified time to see which files you recently edited. The 'Other' group is handy because it highlights the files that you have open that aren't in your 'main' groups.
The plugin contains most of the features you would expect from a view with a tree in it. You can expand/contract, reorder columns, make columns wider, etc. Please check out the screenshots for examples of the preferences and overall functionality.
If people find this plugin useful, I plan on updating it. I also have many additional Resource/Editor plugins rolling around in my head that I will be starting on next. The goal is to have a collection of at least 4 views with a similar style to this one, but providing different functionality. Stay tuned.
I have marked this plugin as 'beta' on the Eclipse Marketplace even though I have thoroughly tested this plugin (I actually use it at work daily and it works AWESOME!). However, I have only tested it on Eclipse 3.4 and Eclipse 3.6 on Windows Vista and IBM's Rational Application Developer (RAD) on Windows XP so I feel I have to leave it set at 'beta'. I have no reason to expect issues with this plugin on other platform/version combinations, but if you do run into an issue, please reply to this blog or eroplugin@gmail.com so I can get it fixed.
Feel free to point out any bugs and/or feature requests.
