Phil and List,
I have been using xref a bit and find that it does exactly what you describe
below, a "java-aware" renaming (at least for classes, methods and fields; I
don't believe it allows you to rename packages). It also allows you to
shuffle method arguments, and it finds all clients of the method for you and
prompts to shuffle those too. For this feature alone, xref is pretty nice,
although I find its interface a little clunky. I've been meaning to devote
some time to massaging it a bit to make it more keyboard-friendly and more
like 'grep' and 'find-tag', but I haven't gotten there yet. I think these
features would complement the JDE nicely.
Too bad the author has made xref shareware. If he/she were to give it an
open source license, I'm sure there would be plenty of enterprising hackers
out there that would be willing to enhance the package.
/Nick
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Philip Miller [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
> Sent: Thursday, March 08, 2001 6:10 AM
> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Cc: Kevin A. Burton; Berche Guillaume
> Subject: Re: Ideas for new JDE intelligent coding features
>
>
> I have looked at the web site but have not really worked with
> xref, so I am not sure
> of its capabilities and shortcomings. One refactoring method
> I would LOVE to be able
> to do with JDE is rename method/class/package. Often in the
> middle of development, I
> find a name that is more appropriate than the name I am using
> and I would like to
> rename it---methods, classes, packages, even public static
> final variables. (I can do
> private variables, myself easily enough with search and
> replace! :-) Is there a way
> to get JDE (and/or tags) to help me with renaming? (If the
> answer is tags, could you
> please explain how? I have used emacs for years, but have
> never mastered tags.)
>
> Ultimately, I am not talking about simple global replace but
> rather a java aware
> renamer that replaces all uses of a name, all java doc
> references to a name, and all
> package/import uses. For now, however, I would appreciate
> hearing any insight on best
> practices on how to use JDE/etags/emacs for renaming.
>
> Thanks,
> Phil
>
