Eclipse Cookbook

2.1. Showing/Hiding Views

Problem

Where did the Console view go? It was here a minute ago.

Solution

To show a view, select Window→ Show View, and choose the view you want to show. If the view you want isn’t visible, select Window→ Show View→ Other, and choose a view from the dialog box that Eclipse presents of all views it knows about. To close a view, click the X button in its tab.

Discussion

It’s easy to close a view accidentally or to work in a perspective that doesn’t display a favorite view, such as the Console view that displays text sent to the output console. Just open the view by selecting Window→ Show View.

For example, to add the Navigator view to the Debug perspective, open the Debug view (covered in Chapter 5) by selecting Window→ Open Perspective→ Debug. Then add the Navigator view by selecting Window→ Show View→ Other→ Basic→ Navigator.

Tip

If you want to save the newly configured perspective, select Window→ Save Perspective As. For more information, see the Recipe 2.21 later in this chapter.

Some perspectives try to stack too many views on top of each other, which can make scrolling to the right tab annoying. Now that you know you can open views again as needed, you should have no qualms about closing extra views to remove clutter.

See Also

Recipe 5.3 on starting a debugging session; Chapter 1 of Eclipse (O’Reilly).