How do you open an existing .java file and compile it in eclipse?

Question

I am just starting to consider using Eclipse, as I hear it is a very good debugging tool and excellent IDE. I have a .java file which I had written in JCreator and have saved in my Google Drive directory. However, I am having problems running this file within Eclipse. If I open Eclipse and then open my file, a few things happen. First, a .metadata folder appears inside my Google Drive. Second, the file opens, and I can edit and save changes. However, if I try to compile the file, I get a "Run As" popup window with the options "Ant Build" and "Ant Build..." Selecting either results in a "Build Failed" error.

I have a few questions:

1) What is the .metadata folder and why does Eclipse create it?

2) How do I open an existing .java file in Eclipse?

3) What is an "Ant Build"?

Sorry if these questions are very basic, but a search through online tutorials has only told me how to create and compile projects with Eclipse. If I start a project in Eclipse, then everything works fine, but otherwise, I can't get anything to work at all.

Community · Accepted Answer · 2017-05-23 10:32:23Z

1

I do not know, but a simple Google search led me to this question and this other question which might be of help;
I don't know if it is possible to just open a file without starting a project, but once a project has been started, it is relatively easy to import a file: File>Import, find the directory, check the files you want to import, select import directory and go ahead. Now I haven't managed to run a program with GUI after importing because apparently it has problems loading classes like JFrame because of a restriction in the library, but I have imported and run a simpler program; oh, and when you import, you select General, then File System;
Try googling for Ant Build. I fount a few sites mentioning "Apache Ant", which seems to be related to GUI building.

edited May 23, 2017 at 10:32

CommunityBot

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answered May 24, 2014 at 8:00

MickG

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