This chapter includes the following topics:

  • eXo IDE interface

    Introduction to the eXo IDE interface that will help you easily use eXo IDE.

  • Select a workspace

    How to go to your desired workspace.

  • Copy/Cut/Paste files and folders

    How to copy/cut and paste files and folders.

  • Manage folders

    How to do actions on folders in eXo IDE, including opening, creating/deleting, renaming and downloading/uploading a file.

  • Manage files

    How to work with files in eXo IDE, such as opening, viewing and copying, creating a file, and more.

  • Search

    How to search for files in eXo IDE and to specify the location of an opened file in the Content tab.

  • Versioning

    How to use the versioning feature that enables you to realize the versions history of a file.

Before using eXo IDE, you should familiarize yourself with the application interface:

eXo IDE has customizable interface with enhanced windows and editors. The Virtual File System is the physical location (file path) you are working in. It is displayed as the Workspace pane containing folders and files.

The Content pane consists of two horizontal sub-panes:

These panes are divided by the Horizontal Resize bar. Also, both Workspace pane and Content pane are divided by the Vertical Resize bar and the Vertical Resize bar.

At the right column are the Outline pane and Version pane:

See also

See also

  • Open a file

    How to display the content of a file in the Content pane, such as opening HTML and Google gadget files with the WYSIWYG editor instead of the default Code editor, opening and editing local files with the registered type within the Code editor or the WYSIWYG editor, or simply opening a file by its path.

  • View and Copy a file's URL

    How to copy a target URL to the clipboard.

  • Create a file

    How to create a file in a target folder in the Workspace pane.

  • Save/Save As... a file

    How to save a file into another folder or with another name, and to save all files simultaneously created, opened or changed in the Content pane.

  • Delete a file

    How to remove a file from the Workspace pane.

  • Rename a file

    How to rename a file in the Workspace pane.

  • Change the MIME type of a file

    How to change the MIME type of a file.

  • Lock/Unlock a file

    How to lock/unlock a file.

  • Download/Upload a file

    How to download a file from the server and to upload a file from your local device to the IDE Workspace.

  • Use a file template

    How to save a file as template, to create a file from a template, and to remove a non-default file template.

  • Use a project template

    How to use a project template which helps you create folders and files with the predefined structure and content.

  • Open/Select/Close/Browse tabs

    How to open/select/close/browse tabs in the Content tab.

  • Undo/Redo editing

    How to use the Undo/Redo function that allows you to restore your edited file content.

  • Edit a file by Code Editor

    How to edit a file with the Code editor and WYSIWYG editor in the Content pane.

  • Preview file properties/HTML files

    How to preview the file properties displayed in the Properties tab at the bottom of Content pane, and to preview the HTML file stored in the JCR.

See also

To open a file in the Content pane, double-click the file item in the Workspace pane.

In eXo IDE, you can edit some local files with the registered type within the Code editor or WYSIWYG editor. During opening, you can directly define the correct file type.

Edit the local file content in eXo IDE

1. Go to FileOpen Local File... from the top menu.

2. Click Browse... in the Open file form to select the required local file.

3. Check the file's MIME type, based on the file extension. If needed, select another MIME type from the list.

4. Press Open to open the selected file content in the default editor of the Content pane with the local file name.

The following table is the list of MIME types registered in the eXo IDE.

File Type MIME Type Default File Extension Default Editor
Text text/plain .txt Code Editor
XML text/xml; application/xml .xml Code Editor
REST Service application/x-jaxrs+groovy .grs Code Editor
POGO application/x-groovy .groovy Code Editor
Template application/x-groovy+html .gtmpl Code Editor
HTML text/html .html Code Editor
Google Gadget application/x-google-gadget .xml Code Editor
JavaScript text/javascript; application/javascript; application/x-javascript .js Code Editor
CSS text/css .css Code Editor
Netvibes Widget application/x-uwa-widget .html Code Editor
Data Object application/x-chromattic+groovy .groovy Code Editor
<unrecognized> binary/octet-stream

To load the Google Gadget file, you should set the MIME Type as "application/x-google-gadget" in the Open file form as figured out in the below illustration.

Project template helps you create folders and files with the predefined structure and content. You can create, update or remove your project template and add new folders and files from your template.

You can make changes for your project template structure by adding new folders/files or deleting some elements.

Make modifications for your project template structure

1. Open the Create project template form as described in the Create a project template section above.

2. Select the target folder in the project template tree.

Now you can:

Add a folder

i. Click Add File to open the Add file form.

ii. Enter your desired folder name into the Name of new folder field and then click Add.

Your newly added folder then will be added to the project template.

Add a new file

i. Click Add File to open the Add file form.

ii. Select your desired file template in the templates list.

iii. Enter the file name into the File Name field, and then click the Add.

Delete some elements

i. Select your desired item (folder/file) in the template project tree.

ii. Click Delete.

Format a file

In the Code editor, Format is to adjust row indentations of the HTML, Groovy, JavaScript, XML content with two spaces by default. To do this, click on the toolbar, or go to EditFormat from the top menu.

Watch the cursor position in the Status bar

When the editor is opened, the current cursor position is shown in the Status bar. The first number is the line number and the second is the column position.

This feature enables you to auto-complete the word, including keywords, statements, declared variables, properties and methods, functions, objects, classes, tags, attributes, annotations in context of JavaScript, HTML, XML, Google Gadget, REST Service, Template, POGO, Netvibes Widget, Data Object files simply by clicking Ctrl+Space hotkeys. The Auto-complete form is shown as below:

In the files of Google Gadget, HTML and Template types, the auto-complete list displays various content for each case, depending on the cursor position within the file. If the cursor is put between <script> tags, or between <style> tags, there will be the auto-complete list for JavaScript content, or for CSS content respectively. In the other places, the auto-complete list for the HTML content is displayed.

Use the Auto-complete function

1. Open the target file with supported file types (JavaScript, CSS, HTML, Google Gadget, ECM Template and others) with the Code editor.

2. Put the cursor on the needed position in the document.

3. Press Ctrl+Space to get the Auto-complete form.

4. Select the token in the list of this form; or type first letters of the token to reduce the token list and then select the appropriate token.

5. Press Enter or double-click the selected token to complete the word next to the cursor.

eXo IDE currently supports special features for the Groovy code auto-complete list, including REST Service ("application/x-jaxrs+groovy"), POJO ("application/x-groovy") and Data Object ("application/x-chromattic+groovy"). The auto-complete list varies, depending on Java types and is shown in the following cases:

IDE compiles classes, which are described in the project's classpath, before generation of the auto-complete list. If the compilation of some class is failed, the error message will appear in the Output pane instead of Auto-complete form as shown below:

To display classes from folder described as folder source in the project's classpath, in the Auto-complete form, the files with such classes must fulfill the following conditions:

The Groovy code specific auto-complete list supports 5 cases as follows:

Class name

You can view class's JavaDoc and class name from the Auto-complete form. eXo IDE provides appropriate import statement into the file header automatically, if needed. There is a list of default packages for the Groovy code and so are imported explicitly:

There is a list of default packages for the Groovy code and so are imported explicitly:

Object's fields and methods auto-completion

You can also view JavaDoc and auto-complete the object's fields and methods as follows:

1. Print the instance name with the dot (.) at the end.

2. Press Ctrl+Space to view all public methods and fields of the object. The JavaDoc for the selected field or method is shown.

3. Select the appropriate item in the Auto-complete form and press the Enter key; or double-click this item.

Static fields and methods auto-completion

eXo IDE supports the auto-completion of static fields, methods and object's fields and methods.

Annotations auto-completion

It is possible to auto-complete the annotations, followed by the symbol "@". The Auto-complete form for annotation contains the list of available annotations like this:

Local variables and parameters auto-completion

Local variables and method's parameters are marked with in the Auto-complete form. eXo IDE supports the auto-completion for local variables and method's parameters.

Besides, the keywords of Groovy code are not marked with icons in the auto-complete list.

The code outline is used to create codes productively. The outline is available for all types of files, expect for Text or CSS files.

The Outline pane is opened automatically once a file has been created or opened. You can close the Outline pane by clicking on the tab header. Also, you can show/hide the Outline pane by pressing on the toolbar or select View from the top menu and then select/deselect Outline from the drop-down menu.

In the Outline pane, you can see the tree of variables, functions, classes, objects, methods, fields, parameters, annotations, HTML and XML tags with "< >" icon, and special code delimiters like "<% ... %>" in the ECM Template file, or "CDATA" in the Google Gadget file as the illustrations below.

The outline tree is refreshed automatically every two seconds after you stop typing the code. When you click the item in the outline tree, the cursor will be set on the respective line where this item is defined. When you move the cursor into the file content, the respective node is selected in the outline tree.

Code outline for Groovy Code

In the Outline pane for the Groovy code of REST Service, ECM Template, POGO and Data Object files, you can see not only names and types of your classes, variables, methods, fields, or parameters, but also their modifiers and annotations in the view of icons and tooltips.

The following table lists icons connected to different access modifiers.

Access modification Icon
private Red square
public Green circle
protected Yellow rhombus
without access modifier Blue triangle

The following table lists letters placed over the node icons of outline node and one icon connected to special modifiers.

Letter/Icon Modifier
a Abstract
s Static
f Final
t Transient
v Volatile
Clock Synchronized

Class or method with annotation(s) is displayed with the "@" symbol near the title in the outline tree. To see the full list of annotations, hover your cursor on "@".

eXo IDE provides the versioning that enables you to realize the versions history of the file.

A new version of the file is created each time after the file content has been saved by clicking Save. There is no version in the version history after the file had been created only.

See also

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