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Frequently Asked Questions

1. General
1.1. Where can I ask a question that isn't answered here?
1.2. Does Jalopy only support Java?
1.3. Is my IDE supported?
1.4. Is there a trial version that I can test?
1.5. How does the commercial version differ from the SourceForge Open Source Jalopy?
1.6. How does Jalopy handle trailing white space?
2. Licensing & Pricing
2.1. What is the Jalopy licensing scheme?
2.2. Is Jalopy Open Source?
3. Installation
3.1. The installation instructions state that I should invoke a "jalopy-setup-1.9.1.jar" file, but when I downloaded this was a ".zip" file not a ".jar" and double-clicking does not start the installation process. How about that?
3.2. After installation of the Jalopy Plug-in under Eclipse 3.x, the Plug-in shows unexpected behavior like formatting a file freezes the workspace or does not show at all. How can I make the Plug-in work?
3.3. Settings are stored below $HOME/.jalopy by default, but I would prefer to have the settings stored at another location. Is is possible to change the directory?
4. Configuration
4.1. What is a code convention?
4.2. How do I export my code convention?
4.3. Jalopy wrongly increases the indentation of code lines with every formatting run. How can this be avoided?
4.4. Jalopy includes the same header every time it is invoked again. How can this be avoided?
4.5. Jalopy reports "unexpected token XXX" when I'm trying to format a file that contains an enum declaration. I'd thought Jalopy fully supports all new J2SE 5.0 language features?
4.6. I want to disable the insertion of separator comments for certain code sections. Is this possible?
4.7. Is it possible to disable formatting for certain code sections?
4.8. I'm using the Eclipse/Jalopy tandem in order to generate missing Javadoc comments, but Jalopy even generates comments for elements that are marked as (non-Javadoc) by Eclipse. How can this be avoided?
4.9. The screen shots on your site look neat. How is that?
4.10. OK, now I know what Look&Feel I want to use - but how to install it?
5. Bugs
5.1. How do I report a bug I have found in Jalopy?
5.2. What information should I include in a bug report?
5.3. I am receiving java.lang.OutOfMemoryError: PermGen space exceptions when trying to invoke the Preferences Dialog within Eclipse 3.2. How is that?
5.4. I am receiving java.lang.IncompatibleClassChangeError errors when working under WSAD 5.1 (running under a IBM 1.3 VM). Is there a way to circumvent this issue?

1. General

1.1.

Where can I ask a question that isn't answered here?

Please contact us

1.2.

Does Jalopy only support Java?

Currently, yes. But we plan to add support for more languages. Please tell us what language support is most important to you

1.3.

Is my IDE supported?

Please refer to the Plug-ins page for a list of the supported 3rd party applications

1.4.

Is there a trial version that I can test?

Yes, we provide fully functional trial versions of our products. There is an online form that you can use to submit your details

1.5.

How does the commercial version differ from the SourceForge Open Source Jalopy?

See here

1.6.

How does Jalopy handle trailing white space?

Trailing white space is always removed!

2. Licensing & Pricing

2.1.

What is the Jalopy licensing scheme?

See the licensing and pricing page for details.

2.2.

Is Jalopy Open Source?

No, the Jalopy source code formatter provided by TRIEMAX Software is commercial software. It is the successor of the SourceForge hosted Open Source project with the same name, that was originally created by the founder of TRIEMAX Software. To learn more about the Open Source Jalopy visit http://jalopy.sourceforge.net/

Jalopy site licenses come with full source code for the application, so if you are concerned about being able to make your own in house customizations or the ability to modify functionality/ fix bugs yourself, this is still possible

3. Installation

3.1.

The installation instructions state that I should invoke a "jalopy-setup-1.9.1.jar" file, but when I downloaded this was a ".zip" file not a ".jar" and double-clicking does not start the installation process. How about that?

This is a known quirk of the Microsoft Internet Explorer. It sometimes tries to download jars as zip files. You can simply rename the zip to jar and things will work as advertized. Or use another browser like Firefox, Opera, Safari...

3.2.

After installation of the Jalopy Plug-in under Eclipse 3.x, the Plug-in shows unexpected behavior like formatting a file freezes the workspace or does not show at all. How can I make the Plug-in work?

It might be that the Plug-in has not been correctly initialized. The Plug-in may not load up at all or is not correctly working in such a case. You can use the Eclipse -clean runtime option to force initialization. This will clean the caches used to store bundle dependency resolution and Eclipse extension registry data. These caches are then re-initialized during startup.

You can specify the option either on the command-line, e.g. start Eclipse with the following command:

% eclipse -clean

Or you could add the option to your config.ini or eclipse.ini file in the Eclipse installation directory.

You can find more information about the Eclipse runtime system and possible configuration options online at the Eclipse web site or in the local Eclipse SDK Help System via HelpHelp ContentsPlatform Plug-in Developer GuideReferenceOther reference informationRuntime options

3.3.

Settings are stored below $HOME/.jalopy by default, but I would prefer to have the settings stored at another location. Is is possible to change the directory?

Yes, you can specify the location of the settings directory with the "triemax.jalopy.home" Java system property.

% java -jar jalopy-1.9.1 -Dtriemax.jalopy.home=/usr/jalopy/settings/ [...]

Please consult the documentation of your IDE or build tool on how to specify Java system properties. For instance, Eclipse uses the following notation:

% eclipse -vmargs -Dtriemax.jalopy.home=/usr/jalopy/settings/ [...]

You certainly would want to add this line to your eclipse.ini.

4. Configuration

4.1.

What is a code convention?

As far as Jalopy is concerned, a code convention is the bag of settings that ultimately describe the style of a source file. A code convention is usually shared in a textual XML format

4.2.

How do I export my code convention?

Please refer to the Settings Export HowTo or Settings Export from Eclipse HowTo if you're using an Eclipse-based IDE

4.3.

Jalopy wrongly increases the indentation of code lines with every formatting run. How can this be avoided?

Tab characters are replaced during parsing with a certain number of spaces that need to match the original tab width. To correctly format files with hard tabs, you may need to adjust the "Original Tab indent" setting. See the Indentation section in the user's manual for more information

4.4.

Jalopy includes the same header every time it is invoked again. How can this be avoided?

You need to specify an identify key that allows Jalopy to recognize an existing header. Please refer to the Header section in the user's manual for more information

4.5.

Jalopy reports "unexpected token XXX" when I'm trying to format a file that contains an enum declaration. I'd thought Jalopy fully supports all new J2SE 5.0 language features?

Jalopy does support the new syntax, but it tries to be backwards compatible. With the introduction of the new enum keyword, source code written for older VM's may no longer compile under 5.0. Jalopy therefore provides different compliance settings to define the language level of your source code. You need to select "J2SE 5.0".

Please refer to the user's manual for information how to change the compliance level. You can find the appropriate information in the Java Misc section in the user's manual

4.6.

I want to disable the insertion of separator comments for certain code sections. Is this possible?

Yes, you need to remove the description text for each section that should have no separator comment inserted. Refer to the Separator Comments section in the user's manual for more information

4.7.

Is it possible to disable formatting for certain code sections?

Yes, you can place the two pragma comments //J- and //J+ around code sections that should not be formatted. Please refer to the Comments section in the User's manual for information how this should be accomplished

4.8.

I'm using the Eclipse/Jalopy tandem in order to generate missing Javadoc comments, but Jalopy even generates comments for elements that are marked as (non-Javadoc) by Eclipse. How can this be avoided?

By default, Eclipse uses a multi-line comment to point to documentation contained in a super class. Change the template for the Overriding methods entry in WindowPreferencesJavaCode GenerationCode and Comments from

/* (non-Javadoc)
 * ${see_to_overridden}
 */

to

/**
 * ${see_to_overridden}
 */

4.9.

The screen shots on your site look neat. How is that?

Most screen shots have been made using the Quaqua Look&Feel running Mac OS X 10.4. Quaqua is a lLook&Feel enhancement that runs on top of Apple's Aqua Look&Feel. You can find more information here: http://www.randelshofer.ch/quaqua/download.html

http://javootoo.l2fprod.com/ is a good starting point if you're looking for Java Look&Feels. It provides short descriptions and sample screen shots for probably most of the currently available Look&Feels (both free and commercial).

4.10.

OK, now I know what Look&Feel I want to use - but how to install it?

Depends on your application. The Jalopy preferences tool supports the --look command-line option that lets you specify the Look&Feel class (or shortcut) to use. You only need to make sure that the Look&Feel classes can be found on the classpath.

Either copy the .jar into the /lib lib folder of the Jalopy console Plug-in or place it in the JAVA_HOME/jre/lib/ext folder (but please be aware that this could cause problems with applications that bundle the Look&Feel and use a different/incompatible version). Then you could use

% jalopy --configure --look quaqua

Replace the quaqua shortcut with the fully qualified classname of the Look&Feel implementation or consult the Console Plug-in documentation to see whether the Plug-in provides a shortcut for your preferred Look&Feel.

Or you could provide the library path directly to the Java launcher (everything goes into one line!)

% java -cp D:\synthetica\synthetica.jar;d:\jalopy\lib\jalopy-1.9.1.jar      /
Jalopy --configure --look synthetica

Applications like NetBeans or IDEA often provide similar support for custom Look&Feels. Please consult the documentation of your application.

5. Bugs

5.1.

How do I report a bug I have found in Jalopy?

Either use the bug reporting form or post to the jalopy-user mailing list

5.2.

What information should I include in a bug report?

The web form provides several fields for submitting information. If you are unsure about a particular item, just leave it empty

When you write your initial comment describing the bug, you should specify the versions of

Jalopye.g. Jalopy/Eclipse 1.0.1
Your Plug-in environmente.g. Eclipse 2.1.3
Used JDK/JREe.g. Sun build 1.4.2_02-b03
Operating Systeme.g. RedHat Linux 9.0, GTK

ALWAYS include or attach your code convention as many errors only occur with a certain settings combination. Refer to Q: 4.2 for more information on how you can export your code convention to a file

Be as specific as possible. If you encounter stack traces, add them. If you have problems formatting a specific file, locate the cause of the error and paste the code section. Every bit of information helps. Thank you!

5.3.

I am receiving java.lang.OutOfMemoryError: PermGen space exceptions when trying to invoke the Preferences Dialog within Eclipse 3.2. How is that?

This seems to be a issue that only appears when using a Sun VM. In order to make things work again, you need to increase the perm space using the -XX:MaxPermSize option as explained in the Eclipse readme.

The default value depends on the used VM, and until 1.5.0_06 was no bigger than 64MB, so using -XX:MaxPermSize=128m might be sufficient for most cases. But since 1.5.0_07 the default is 256MB. If you happen to use this version and still encounter OutOfMemory problems, you would need to increase the value even further.

In order to increase the size of the VM perm space, start Eclipse with the following runtime options:

% eclipse -vmargs -XX:MaxPermSize=128m

Or you could add the option to your config.ini or eclipse.ini file in the Eclipse installation directory.

You can find more information about the Eclipse runtime system and possible configuration options online at the Eclipse web site or in the local Eclipse SDK Help System via HelpHelp ContentsPlatform Plug-in Developer GuideReferenceOther reference informationRuntime options

5.4.

I am receiving java.lang.IncompatibleClassChangeError errors when working under WSAD 5.1 (running under a IBM 1.3 VM). Is there a way to circumvent this issue?

The IBM 1.3 VM contains a bug that prevents the obfuscated code to function properly. Please contact support in order to receive instructions how to bypass the problem