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Useful Code Templates for Jetbrains Idea

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Jetbrains Idea is a perfect IDE (sorry, Eclipse fans). But, like every tool, sometimes it needs some customization to fit your needs. Today I want to show how to adjust it’s code-generation templates.

When you generates a new class or method using Idea, it creates one using predefined templates. You may modify that template in “Settings -> File and Code templates” section.

Modifying file

Idea Configuration #

Idea keeps it’s configuration under ~/.IntelliJIdeaXX/config folder. I usualy copy my customized settings from in GIT repository, so, it is very easy to share, synchronize and restore it later.

$ ls -1F
codestyles/
colors/
componentVersions/
disabled_plugins.txt
disabled_update.txt
eval/
fileTemplates/
filetypes/
inspection/
jdbc-drivers/
keymaps/
options/
port
quicklists/
shelf/
tasks/
templates/
tools/

Code snippets (or code templates) are located inside config/templates folder.

Code Snippets #

Implemented Method Body #

Default method body template generates empty method or method returning default value. I suggest throwing UnsupportedOperationException exception by default. It’s more restrictive settings, but good for self-discipline.

Just create a file config/fileTemplates/code/Implemented Method Body.java with following contents:

throw new UnsupportedOperationException("Method is not implemented: ${CLASS_NAME}

SLF4J Logger Declaration #

If you’re using SLF4j as logging framework, following code template will be very usefull. Just press Cmd+J when cursor is in class declaration area and type log. Add to config/templates/user.xml).

<templateSet group="user">
  <template name="log" value="    private final org.slf4j.Logger logger = org.slf4j.LoggerFactory.getLogger($CLASS_NAME$.class);" description="SLF4j Logger Declaration"
 toReformat="true" toShortenFQNames="true" useStaticImport="true">
    <variable name="CLASS_NAME" expression="className()" defaultValue="" alwaysStopAt="true" />
    <context>
      <option name="JAVA_DECLARATION" value="true" />
    </context>
  </template>
</templateSet>