Perspectives and the Eclipse main window

Since Eclipse can be configured countless ways, the initial workbench window may not look like the image above.

The toolbar along the left edge

One of the bottons is labeled Java Perspective. When active (as shown in the image) you will see the navigator or explorer view (left panel) which shows the files in the user's workspace; the text editor (top middle panel) shows the content of a file; the tasks view (bottom right) shows a list of to-dos; the outline view (top right) lists classes and member functions for the currently opened project.

At the bottom of the left panel are tabs - package explorer and navigator (the image above doesn't display the navigator tab). Each lists the workspaces or projects currently defined. Each project can be opened to display a tree structure of files (navigator) or packages (package explorer). Try them both out to see which view you prefer. Of course you should have a project defined first - go to the Hands On section for a quick tutorial on creating a project.

Projects

The left panel lists projects that are currently defined in Eclipse. You can create new projects or use existing Java folders to define projects. Go to the Project section for details on defining projects.

Editor panel

The editor panel is used to write code. By double clicking on an existing file in the explorer panel, the contents are displayed in the editor. Or use the menu (File | New | Class) to create a new Java file that contains the defined class.

The editor is very powerful! As you write code, it will perform code completion or offer possible inserts via a pop-up window. When a line of code contains an error, a special icon appears in the left margin. The image above displays a red-filled circle in the margin and a corrsponding entry in the to-do list, indicating what the error is.. Hover the mouse over the icon to get an error message. The editor features are too numerous to list - students are encouraged to experiment with it. Also refer to the on-line documentation.