How do I add a button to my Resource perspective toolbar?
Author: Deron Eriksson
Description: This tutorial describes how to add a button to your Resource perspective toolbar in Eclipse.
Tutorial created using: Windows XP || JDK 1.5.0_09 || Eclipse Web Tools Platform 1.5.1


One button that I use all the time is the 'Open Type' button. This button allows you to search the various JavaSW classes that EclipseSW knows about so that you can locate the jarW file that a particular class is in, and thus add a reference to that jar file to your classpathW. Very useful.

In my version of Eclipse, this button does not come by default on the Resource perspective toolbar, where I would find it very useful, since I spend quite a bit of time in this perspective.

To add this button, go to Window → Customize Perspective... while in the Resource perspective.

Customize Perspective

On the Commands tab, check the checkbox next to Java Navigation and click OK.

Selecting commands

As you can see, this adds the Open Type button to the toolbar.

Open Type button

We can then use this tool to find the locations where a particular class or interface exists. This tool is extremely useful when you're trying to figure out what jar files to include in your classpath.

Open Type