[This section should make interesting reading for an end user of Eclipse 2.0 who has just switched to 2.1 (or is contemplating switching). It should inform them the most interesting and most significant visible changes that came along with 2.1. The section should be complete, in that no interesting, significant, visible change should go unmentioned. It differs in tone from the Tips and Tricks section in that it only covers things that are new for 2.1, and that it only deals with things that users would feel like was a significant improvement. Each item should stand by itself, so that the items can be easily rearranged and subsetted. Screen snaps should be GIFs and must be no wider than 466 pixels.]
[This section is still preliminary. The material here is lifted from the M2 through M5 "New and Noteworthy" bulletins.]
[Formatting changes: add horizontal line between each item; change font and size throughout.]
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User customizable key bindings |
You can now customize key bindings
using Workbench / Keys preference page. Emacs users will find a
predefined set of key bindings awaiting them.
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Editor navigation history | Workbench editors now keep a
navigation history. If you open a second editor while you're editing away,
you can use Navigate > Backward to get back, or press the back
button on the workbench toolbar. The back button on your mouse also does
the trick as along as it sends the standard ALT+LeftArrow key sequence.
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Improved default text editor | The default text editor now
supports line numbers, cursor-line highlighting, print margin, annotation
highlighting, and an overview ruler. All of these can be configured from
the Workbench / Editors / Text Editor preference page.
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Calmer editor linking behavior | The resource Navigator view is no
longer tightly linked to the currently open editor by default. This means
that closing or switching editors does not change the selection in the
Navigator view, which many found disorienting. Toggle the Link with
Editor button in the Navigator view toolbar to tie the Navigator view
to always show the current file being edited.
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Better UI for editor / view synchronization | The new Navigate > Show In
action provides a uniform way to navigate from an open editor to a view
showing the corresponding file (e.g., in the resource Navigator view), or
from a file selected in one view to the same file in a different view
(e.g., from the resource Navigator view to the Java Packages Explorer
view).
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Improved Ant view | There is a new Ant View (Window
> Show View > Ant) that makes it easier to run Ant scripts. The
Ant view has been completely redesigned and streamlined to simplify
running a single Ant target. The view also includes a search button for
finding Ant build files in the workspace to add to the view.
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External tools & launch configurations |
External tools have been completely migrated to use launch configurations. The Run > External Tools drop-down menu now appears and works in the same fashion as the run and debug drop-down menus. The output from external tools now appears in the standard Console view. External tools can now be run in the background, by a separate thread. This means that you can let an Ant build run or launch an external program and still continue to work in the Eclipse IDE. |
More flexible project layouts | There is now improved support for dealing with externally imposed restrictions on how the files in a workspace project are laid out in the local file system. When creating a folder (or file), you can link it to an existing location in the file system outside of the workspace. This is done using the Advanced section on the New Folder (and New File) wizards. This is useful for integrating with external libraries or source code directories that cannot readily be copied into an Eclipse workspace. |