% IDE support in the JDK

## Introduction

When you are familiar with building and testing the JDK, you may want to

configure an IDE to work with the source code. The instructions differ a bit

depending on whether you are interested in working with the native (C/C++) or

the Java code.

### IDE support for native code

There are a few ways to generate IDE configuration for the native sources,

depending on which IDE to use.

#### Visual Studio Code

The make system can generate a [Visual Studio Code](https://code.visualstudio.com)

workspace that has C/C++ source indexing configured correctly, as well as

launcher targets for tests and the Java launcher. After configuring, a workspace

for the configuration can be generated using:

```shell

make vscode-project

```

This creates a file called `jdk.code-workspace` in the build output folder. The

full location will be printed after the workspace has been generated. To use it,

choose `File -> Open Workspace...` in Visual Studio Code.

##### Alternative indexers

The main `vscode-project` target configures the default C++ support in Visual

Studio Code. There are also other source indexers that can be installed, that

may provide additional features. It's currently possible to generate

configuration for two such indexers, [clangd](https://clang.llvm.org/extra/clangd/)

and [rtags](https://github.com/Andersbakken/rtags). These can be configured by

appending the name of the indexer to the make target, such as:

```shell

make vscode-project-clangd

```

Additional instructions for configuring the given indexer will be displayed

after the workspace has been generated.

#### Visual Studio

This section is a work in progress.

```shell

make ide-project

```

#### Compilation Database

The make system can generate generic native code indexing support in the form of

a [Compilation Database](https://clang.llvm.org/docs/JSONCompilationDatabase.html)

that can be used by many different IDEs and source code indexers.

```shell

make compile-commands

```

It's also possible to generate the Compilation Database for the HotSpot source

code only, which is a bit faster as it includes less information.

```shell

make compile-commands-hotspot

```

### IDE support for Java code

This section is a work in progress.