This article is part of a ‘mini series’ about hidden gems, tips and tricks around Eclipse.
The topic of this one is how use Code Completion in the editor.
Library Code Completion
One of the most powerful helpers of an IDE is Code Completion: the automatic completion of what I start writing in code.
In Eclipse this feature is accessible with <CTRL>+<SPACE> while writing in the Editor View. It works pretty much everything:
Type
#inc
and then press <CTRL>+<SPACE> and it completes it to
#include
Add the double quotes and hit again <CTRL>+<SPACE> and it gives you a list of possible choices:
Choices for includes
Continue typing and it narrows down the list to the remaining choices:
Reduced List
Use the cursor up/down to select an item in the list and hit enter to use it:
Cursor Navigation in List
Start typing a library function call and it shows you the prototype including a help text:
Library Code Completion
Inside a function call, <CTRL>+<SHIFT>+<SPACE> will show the parameter names:
Showing parameter names
The same without the <SHIFT> automatically fills in the names:
Completed Parameter Names
Start typing a language keyword and it helps you on that too:
language code completion
Enter ‘switch’ and it will fill out a template for you:
filled out switch template
Same thing for variables of any kind: start typing and it shows the struct members:
Variable Type Code Completion
It is really that easy: start with something and hit <CTRL>+<SPACE> and you get suggestions what can be added.
Happy completing 🙂
Links
- Eclipse Gems, Tips & Tricks: Importing Projects
- Eclipse Gems, Tips & Tricks: Close and Open Projects
- Eclipse Gems, Tips & Tricks: Text Block Selection
- Eclipse Gems, Tips & Tricks: Project Filter
- Eclipse Gems, Tips & Tricks: Black Theme
- Eclipse Gems, Tips & Tricks: Faster Debugger Start
- Eclipse Gems, Tips & Tricks: RT(F)M
- Eclipse Gems, Tips &Tricks: Show in System Explorer
- Eclipse Gems, Tips & Tricks: Open Declaration
- Eclipse Gems, Tips & Tricks: Code Completion
- Eclipse Gems, Tips & Tricks: Highlight Usage and Definition
- Eclipse Gems, Tips & Tricks: Block Comments
- Eclipse Gems, Tips & Tricks: Working Sets
MCU on Eclipse 
Very useful – thank you. I didn’t know that was in Eclipse.
I will definitely take advantage of it.
myke
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Hi myke,
great! This confirms that such tips can be useful. Code Completion is one of the very useful features of most IDE, and definitely for me the most used one in Eclipse.
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Short and sweet, I like this series! Keep up the good work!
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Thank you, will keep this going (as time permits) 🙂
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I use custom templates for tagging changes in code, because there can be a lot of them. The content might be something like:
// [RD] V1.23 ${cursor}
in the C/C++ context, and
[RD] V1.23 ${cursor}
in the comment context. I call them ‘tag’, so it’s “tag+”. tSaves me a bucket of time.
Hope it helps someone.
One thing I’d like to do is make the “V1.23” a custom parameter (so I only have to edit it once), but I haven’t figured that one out yet.
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To my understanding (and after some trials) only the built-in template variables can be used. Did not see a way to add a custom parameter.
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