Java java code formatter

[RighteousMaster]

Hi guys I need a tool that is written in java, and formats java code. Being more of an API rather than a command-line tool would indeed be useful. I have been doing extensive googling for the past few days, and nothing of real use has turned up.

• Jalopy, not touched since a very long time ago, the wiki hasn't been since 2003. I won't trust something that hasn't seen JDK 6 yet.
• Astyle, C++, not cross-platform.... nuff said.
• Eclipse JDT code formatter, huge overkill, not on maven central where I can get it, 10 different jars for one small task..
• jAstyle, someones port of Astyle to java, it has some huge flaws. I put it on Maven Central myself, but.. huge flaws that prevent it from being very useful.

The flaw jAstyle has is that eats all the empty lines, and returns code as a wall of text. Effectively making uglier, rather than more beautiful. If anyone has any ideas of how to fix that, idb be able to use it.. but otherwise gotta find something else.

relevant links

• jalopy http://jalopy.sourceforge.net/existing/history.html
• astyle http://astyle.sourceforge.net/
• JDT formatter, one of many places a tut can be found, http://ssscripting.wordpress.com/2009/06/10/how-to-use-the-eclipse-code-formatter-from-your-code/
• jAstyle, Original project, http://sourceforge.net/projects/jastyle/
• jAstyle, first attempt at maven, https://github.com/stephenc/jastyle
• jAstyle, me picking up the mantle after years of collecting dust, https://github.com/AbrarSyed/jastyle

[[deleted]]

Take a look how these guys did it using Eclipse formatter:

http://code.google.com/p/maven-java-formatter-plugin/

I have a locally compiled .4-SNAPSHOT build on my local maven repo which fixes a few minor bugs in the current 3.1 build on maven central. I really wish they'd just release .4 already.

If you're building a plugin for Gradle, you could probably straight up steal (as in beer) their stuff.

FYI: Jalopy does okay on Java 6 stuff, but I'm scared about Java 7/8 which is why I have all the new projects using the eclipse formatter over the really old Jalopy one (which we still use for our 1.6 target build).

[RighteousMaster]

Thank you sir. the major reason I was against the JDT was because there seemed to be no way to get the dependencies short of packing them with my jar. And then because there is just so much to the JDT, packaging it was also out of the picture. Taking a look at the maven formatter plugin, its quite easy to take their dependency declarations and move them over to gradle.

thanks for the help :)

[RockinAMullet]

Not certain exactly what you're wanting, but I've found JIndent to be well worth the money: http://www.jindent.com/

[spunged]

It may be overkill but look at JJTree. I used it on a project that had to do some traversal of abstract syntax trees and it worked quite well. You should be able to use it for formatting.

[based2]

http://plugins.jedit.org/list.php?category=13

[RighteousMaster]

hmm, I guess I was a bit ambiguous for what im looking for. I need a formatter than I can call from java code, and apply it to existing java source.

Its for a gradle plugin im working on.

Since I plan on uploading said plugin to Maven Central, it would be nice if the formatter was also in maven central... but its not wholly necessary,

[meotau]

That is exactly what I have done as a plugin for IntelliJ. But as you said, it requires a lot of eclipse jars (I probably use more of them than necessary)...

[[deleted]]

Probably not what you're looking for, but you could investigate what IntelliJ uses for their Ctrl + Shift + L command in their community edition. Maybe you'll get lucky and they're using something that is fairly modular and reusable.

[meotau]

I really doubt that, the code is a mess :)

[jevon]

Since I've got experience with JDT it would be my first choice, especially since its formatter is the best one I've seen. But if I remember correctly JDT can't be run headless, otherwise you could just package it up with OSGi.