If your goal is to search for various Java elements like types, methods, fields, etc, the Java Search option is much more powerful than the File Search option

162 Java Search The Java Search tab (see Figure 1-30) locates Java elements such as types, methods, constructors, fields and packages You can use it to find declarations of a specific Java element, or find references to the element, or implementers of the element (in the case of a Java interface)

To search for elements with a specific name, enter the name in the Search string field (wildcards are supported) Depending on the kind of Java element that you are interested in, select the Type, Constructor, Method, Field or Package radio button You can further limit the search results to Declarations, References, Implementors (of Java interfaces), All Occurrences, Read Access (for fields) or Write Access (for fields) As in the File Search tab, the Scope fields provide another way to restrict the search The Workspace scope includes the entire workspace, the Working Set scope limits the search to a specific working set, the Selected Resources scope limits the search to the selected files in the active view, and the Enclosing Projects scope limits the search to the projects containing the selected files

Tip: Consider building a reference projects if you want to search the entire Eclipse plug-in source (see Section 201)

For example, to search for all methods named toLowerCase , enter that text into the Search string field, select the Search For > Method and

Limit To > Declarations radio buttons and leave the Scope fields unchanged When ready, click the Search button to find the methods matching that name and display them in the Search view (see Figure 1-31)

Double-clicking on any of the search results opens an editor on the file containing that result, highlights the search match in the text, and places a search marker in the left-hand gutter area (also known as the marker bar or left-hand vertical ruler) of the editor (see Figure 1-32) Clicking the Show Next Match or Show Previous Match buttons (the up and down arrows) in the Search view selects the next or previous match (opening a new editor on a different file if necessary) You can also continue to search ( drill-down ) using the context menus in the Search view

163 Other Search Menu Options The Search menu contains a number of dedicated easy to use Java search commands that replicate the options found on the Java Search page of the Search dialog (see Figure 1-33)

Selecting a Java element either in a view or in a Java editor and then selecting the Search > Declarations command finds all elements with matching declaration in the workspace, the current type hierarchy, or a specific working set Likewise, selecting the Search > References command finds all of the places where the element is used The Search > Implementors, Search > Declarations and Search > Write Access commands work in a similar manner Note that the same commands are also available from the context menu in the Java editor and the Search view

164 Working Sets Working sets have been mentioned a number of times so far They are used to create a group of elements to either act as a filter in various views (such as the Navigator and Package Explorer views) or as search scopes in the Search dialog or any of the search menus Working sets are extremely useful when you have a large workspace containing many projects as they limit the scope of your code and make many tasks easier To select a working set or create a new one, click the Scope > Working Set > Choose button in the Search dialog This opens the Select Working Sets dialog (see Figure 1-34) To use an existing working set, select it from the list and click the OK button To edit a working set, click the Edit button instead