External Problem Marker for Eclipse

This plug-in takes stdout from the script of your choice, for example:

views.py:18:101: E501 line too long (102 > 100 characters)
views.py:25:101: E501 line too long (105 > 100 characters)
... etc ...

And transforms it to Eclipse problem markers:

Known Problems

It seems to hang Eclipse's build process sometimes. Haven't been able to figure out why or when if happens. I'm not even sure if this problem is caused by the plugin itself, or by the script I use with it. However, you should know, that this is the first (and only?) Eclipse plugin I ever wrote.

Note, that I still use this plugin (it's the end of 2016 now), and I don't currently have any problems with it myself.

Installation

• Close Eclipse.
• Download the plugin file from here.
• Put it into the dropins directory inside your Eclipse folder.

Then go to your project directory and edit the .project file. This example configuration works on Windows, and it will run the pep8.py validation script on all of the *.py files within the project.

<buildSpec>
	<!-- Other, existing builders for your project -->
	<buildCommand>...</buildCommand>

	<!-- ADD THIS ONE! Consider leaving the URL behind, for future reference. -->
	<buildCommand>
		<!-- About this plugin: https://github.com/wrygiel/eclipse-external-problem-marker -->
		<name>net.rygielski.eclipse.problemmarker.builder</name>
		<arguments>
			<dictionary>
				<key>filter</key>
				<value>^.*\.py$</value>
				<!-- or "^.*/some/dir/prefix/.*\.py" if you want a directory filter -->
			</dictionary>
			<dictionary>
				<key>command</key>
				<value>cmd /c python D:\\PRIV\\Projekty\\pep8\\pep8.py "$1"</value>
				<!--
				The above is for Windows. For Linux, this should work:
				<value>/home/users/rygielski/pep8/pep8.py "$1"</value>
				-->
			</dictionary>
			<dictionary>
				<key>output-match</key>
				<value>^([A-Z]:)?[^:]+:([0-9]+):([0-9]+): (.)(.*)$</value>
				<!-- This will match "views.py:18:101: E501 line too long (102 > 100 characters)" -->
			</dictionary>
			<dictionary>
				<key>line-number</key>
				<value>$2</value>
				<!-- Pulls the "18" from "views.py:18:101: E501..." -->
			</dictionary>
			<dictionary>
				<key>severity</key>
				<value>W</value>
				<!-- $4 would pull the "E" from "views.py:18:101: E501..." -->
			</dictionary>
			<dictionary>
				<key>message</key>
				<value>$4$5</value>
				<!-- $4$5 pulls the "E501 line too long (102 > 100 characters)" -->
			</dictionary>
		</arguments>
	</buildCommand>
</buildSpec>

<natures>
	<!-- Other, existing natures for your project -->
	<nature>...</nature>

	<!-- ADD THIS ONE! -->
	<nature>net.rygielski.eclipse.problemmarker.nature</nature>
</natures>

Please note, that you must add both <buildCommand> and <nature> elements.

Reopen your project. Right-click on the project and select Properties -> Builders. A new project builder named External Problem Marker Builder should be available. Use the checkbox to turn it on/off.

Configuration

If you want to change the default configuration, you will need to know a good deal about regular expressions (specifically, group substitution syntax). All configuration is done via editing <arguments> elements in the .project file.

All keys are required. Here is what they mean:

• filter (e.g. ^.*\.py$) - A regular expression which will be used to filter files within your project. Only these files whose patch matches the given filter will be included in the build. The filter is matched against files' absolute paths.
• command (e.g. cmd /c python D:\\PRIV\\Projekty\\pep8\\pep8.py "$1") - The command to execute upon each of your matched files.
  • It should contain the $1 wildcard which will be replaced with a file path upon build.
  • All backslashes within the command must be prefixed with another backslash.
  • Whenever you rebuild your entire project, the command will be executed N times, where N is the total number of files matching the filter. Depending of the performance of your command, it might be a lengthy process.
  • Once built, successive builds are incremental. The command is executed once per each changed file.
  • Note, that we parse the command's stdout, not stderr. All content which the command writes to stderr will be reported as error in line 1.
• output-match (e.g. ^([A-Z]:)?[^:]+:([0-9]+):([0-9]+): (.)(.*)$) - A regular expression to match lines from the command's stdout to. It should match the whole line (so, it should begin with ^ and end with $). It should contain nested expressions in all relevant places (in particular: around the line number and around the error message). Lines which do not match this expression will be ignored.
• line-number (e.g. $2) - $ character, followed by the index of output-match's nested group expression which contains the line number.
• severity (e.g. W or $4) - This should resolve into one of the letters E (error), W (warning) or I (info). If your command differentiates between various severites, you may use the $N syntax to match the proper nested group expression.
• message - The message to display along the problem marker.

Contact

Email me at rygielski@mimuw.edu.pl.