Description Jeffrey Liu 2006-07-17 14:23:50 EDT

Remove dead code from WTP. Details below:

Over time, plugins tend to accumulate dead code - classes, methods, and fields that are no longer used.  Dead code has maintenance cost and adds to the download and install size of Eclipse, so it's worth finding and deleting such code where appropriate.  The org.eclipse.core.tools plugin has a utility for locating unused methods and fields, and Martin Aeschlimann from JDT recently provided a patch to remove false matches and present results in the Search view.  To use the tool: 

1) Download org.eclipse.core.tools v1.4.0 from here: 

http://www.eclipse.org/eclipse/platform-core/downloads.php 

2) Install the new plugins in a product extension (only org.eclipse.core.tools is actually needed for this utility). Or, add to an existing install and restart with -clean. 

3) Startup with a workspace that contains all projects that are likely to reference the code in question (test suites, fragments, friend plugins, etc) 

4) Select one or more Java projects, packages, or types in the Package Explorer, and invoke "Find Unreferenced Members" from the context menu. For most Eclipse projects, selecting all non-API packages is a good start, although it is possible for API packages to contain unused package-private members, or protected members in final classes that can be deleted. 

5) Browse the results in the Search view.  The results can be sorted by name or path.  Keep in mind that classes instantiated through reflection, such as executable extensions, may appear to be unreferenced even though they are used.