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Bug 278656

Summary:	Console very frustrating when running multiple Eclipse instances.
Product:	[Eclipse Project] JDT	Reporter:	Me <linuxguy123>
Component:	Debug	Assignee:	JDT-Debug-Inbox <jdt-debug-inbox>
Status:	CLOSED WONTFIX	QA Contact:
Severity:	normal
Priority:	P3	CC:	darin.eclipse
Version:	3.4.2
Target Milestone:	---
Hardware:	Other
OS:	Linux
Whiteboard:	stalebug

Description Me

2009-06-01 14:44:59 EDT

Build ID: M20090211-1700

Steps To Reproduce:
1.Open Eclipse. Open a JDT project.

2.Window -> New Window. Open a second JDT project.

A typical scenario for this usage would be a client server project, but there are others.

3. Run one of the projects. The console output will appear in either its own or BOTH consoles.

4. Run the second project. Its console output will appear in the first projects window. There is an icon that leads to a drop down selector to let the user select which output s/he wants to view, but every time one of the applications issues more output, the console jumps to that output. This is extremely frustrating !

I think (ie hereby request) that the console needs some control options:

a) Let the user lock the console to display output from either one of the applications specifically OR the currently open project that has file focus. (I only open the files from one project in each window.)

b) Let the user allow BOTH applications to output to the same console. At least one wouldn't have to deal with jumping console windows.

c) Let the user specify that the console output go to an external file that could be watched by a file viewer.

The way it is now, I am constantly annoyed when the console window changes clients and I am continually having to select the window I want to see the output from.

Furthermore, once in a while I get confused about which application output what and I select the WRONG window !

Its gotten so bad that I am running one of my applications from the command line just so I can see its console output and not have its console output mess with the output of the other application.

Right now I am developing with 2 concurrently running applications. Next week I will be adding a third !

BTW: Other than a few issues like this, Eclipse rocks !

More information:

Comment 1 Darin Wright

2009-06-01 16:22:34 EDT

(In reply to comment #0)

> a) Let the user lock the console to display output from either one of the
> applications specifically OR the currently open project that has file focus. 
> (I only open the files from one project in each window.)

There is a "Pin Console" action in the view toolbarthat locks the console view to the active console.

> b) Let the user allow BOTH applications to output to the same console.  At
> least one wouldn't have to deal with jumping console windows.

Console's are per process - no plans to do this.

> c) Let the user specify that the console output go to an external file that
> could be watched by a file viewer.

You can append output to a file via the common tab of the launch config. Not sure if you can have an editor update as the underlying file changes though.

There are also options to only show the console when writing to std.out or std.err (or not at all). The actions are in the toolbar and preferences.

For this use case, it sounds like you want to pin the console to get the desired behavior.

Comment 2 Me

2009-06-03 11:00:31 EDT

I'll look into pinning the console.  I thought that pinning just kept the console's physical location.  I didn't realize it bound it to a process.  I'll look into this more and get back.

"You can append output to a file via the common tab of the launch config. Not
sure if you can have an editor update as the underlying file changes though."

Kate/kwrite is very aware of changes to the file and asks the user if they would like to view the updated file.  It wouldn't take much to write a little app that acted like a console yet ran from a file.   The beauty of that is the session would be saved, etc. 

I'll get back to you on the pinning thing.

Comment 3 Eclipse Genie

2018-10-05 07:12:20 EDT

This bug hasn't had any activity in quite some time. Maybe the problem got resolved, was a duplicate of something else, or became less pressing for some reason - or maybe it's still relevant but just hasn't been looked at yet.

If you have further information on the current state of the bug, please add it. The information can be, for example, that the problem still occurs, that you still want the feature, that more information is needed, or that the bug is (for whatever reason) no longer relevant.

--
The automated Eclipse Genie.