How to do static import in Eclipse - Java Example Tutorial

Do you know what is a shortcut to doing static import in Eclipse? Well, I didn't know before, but today I come to know that shortcut Ctrl+Shift+M (Source > Add Import) can not only be used to add missing imports but can also help with static import in the Java program.  Suppose you are using lots of static variables from a utility class e.g. TimeUnit by referring them with the class name, just like we refer to static variables. In Eclipse IDE, you can select the whole reference variable and press Ctrl+Shift+M and it will automatically import that static element using static import in Java.

For example, if you have the following code in your class, you can select TimeUnit.SECONDS and then use shortcut Ctrl+Shift+M to statically import SECONDS variable in your program, as shown in the first and second screenshot.

Btw, if you are a beginner, I suggest you to first go through a beginner course like Eclipse Tutorials for Beginners to understand the core concepts of Eclipse IDE and get yourself familiar with UI and essential features. Learning plugins will be a lot easier after that.

import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;

/**
 * Java Program to show how you can static import some class variables.
 * 
 * @author WINDOWS 8
 */

public class Test {   
    
    public static void main(String args[]){
        
        System.out.println(TimeUnit.SECONDS); 
        System.out.println(TimeUnit.MINUTES);
        System.out.println(TimeUnit.DAYS);
          
    }
   
}

As shown here, Just highlight or select the TimeUnit.SECONDS and type Ctrl+Shift+M or choose Menu option Add import to static import this static variable from java.util.TimeUnit class. By doing this three times in this program you can reduce the above code into the following code, also shown in the fourth screenshot.

import static java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit.DAYS;
import static java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit.MINUTES;
import static java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit.SECONDS;

import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;

/**
 * Sample program to demonstrate Eclipse shortcut for doing static import.
 * 
 * @author WINDOWS 8
 */

public class Test {   
    
    public static void main(String args[]){
        
        System.out.println(SECONDS);
        System.out.println(MINUTES);
        System.out.println(DAYS);
          
    }
   
}

By the way, this feature is not that seamless e.g. it will not work if import to TimeUnit class is missing i.e. using Ctrl+Shift+M will have no effect if you have not imported java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit class already. 

Only after having this import in your code, you need to select member and press Ctrl+Shift+M to static import that field or method. Here also you cannot import all static members in one shot, you need to first select each of those elements and then executing that shortcut as many times as the number of static members.


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