Eclipse IDE Pocket Guide

Launch Configurations

How do you specify command-line parameters to your program or change the Java VM options that are used to invoke your program? Every time you select Run As → Java Application on a new class that has a main() method, Eclipse creates a launch configuration for you. A launch configuration is the set of all the options used to run your program.

To change those options, select Run → Run…and locate your configuration in the dialog. Click on the configuration to see all the options in a series of tabbed pages on the right-hand side of the window (the tabs are described in Table 8). You can also create new configurations in this dialog.

Table 6-3. Launch configuration tabs

Tab name	Description
Main	Specify the project and the name of the Main class.
Arguments	Set the program arguments, the Java VM arguments, and the working directory in which to start the program.
JRE	Specify the version of Java used to run the program (this can be different than the one used to compile it).
Classpath	Set the list of JARs and classes available at runtime.
Source	Locate the source code inside or outside the workspace.
Environment	Pass environment variables to the program.
Common	Miscellaneous options.

Many more features of Eclipse are waiting to be discovered, and new ones are added in each release. The "Tips and Tricks" section of the online help (Help → Tips and Tricks) is a good place to look for the kinds of little nuggets that can save you time or let you do something ...