eclipse plugin: How to programmatically select text in editor?

Question

I want to programmatically jump to a position in the text editor and highlight code.

The Eclipse API is a maze. I could find plenty of google hits on how to "get" the current selection, but not to "set" the selection. — kostmo
– kostmo, Commented Jan 8, 2012 at 5:40
found this via googleling (not directly on-topic) ... if you want to mark a block of code semi-automatically (e.g. some sql block/query inside some plsql function) for execution (e.g. in SQL File Editor) you could use the pretty generic Nodeclipse Editor Plugin with ALT+Z on the currrently hovered/marked block: github.com/Nodeclipse/EditBox — Andreas Covidiot
– Andreas Covidiot, Commented May 16, 2018 at 9:10

Community · Accepted Answer · 2017-05-23 11:52:37Z

6

I wasn't able to get Andrew's answer to work in Eclipse 3.7. The compiler gave this error:

The method getSourceViewer() from the type AbstractTextEditor is not visible.

However, I was able to get it to work with the selectAndReveal() method:

IFile myfile = ...
IWorkbenchPage page = PlatformUI.getWorkbench().getActiveWorkbenchWindow().getActivePage();
ITextEditor editor = (ITextEditor) IDE.openEditor(page, myfile);
editor.selectAndReveal(offset, length);

edited May 23, 2017 at 11:52

CommunityBot

11 silver badge

answered Jan 8, 2012 at 9:04

kostmo

6,4204 gold badges42 silver badges52 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

Comments

Andrew Eisenberg · Accepted Answer · 2012-01-08 06:15:07Z

If you already have a handle on the current editor, then you can do:

editor.getSourceViewer().setSelectedRange(offset, length);

If you don't have a handle on the current editor, then you need to do some work to get there (assuming a text editor):

TextEditor editor = (TextEditor) PlatformUI.getWorkbench().getActiveWorkbenchWindow()
    .getActivePage().getActiveEditor();

Although this will work, I've simplified a few things.

You need to make sure that the active editor really is a TextEditor, so you are going to want to do an instanceof test
Sometimes various parts of the long phrase above can be null (eg- during startup or shutdown). I tend to just wrap the expression in a try-catch(NPE) block and assume that if an NPE is thrown, then the editor is not available.

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

eclipse plugin: How to programmatically select text in editor?

2 Answers 2

Comments

Comments

Your Answer

Linked

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

2 Answers 2

Comments

Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Linked

Related