Can Eclipse refresh resources automatically?

Question

Eclipse (3.4.2 with PyDev) deals with out-of-sync resources (files that have been edited outside of the IDE) differently from other IDEs that I've used, where only resources with editors open are considered out-of-sync. In Eclipse, any resource can go out of sync.

This means that when I perform a search after any file has changed outside of Eclipse, I get an error dialog telling me that files are out of sync, even if they have no open editors. As far as I can tell, there is no global refresh command, so I'm forced to read the project names (I have several projects) in the error dialog, and do a right-click + refresh for each of them.

I've checked the Refresh Automatically setting in Settings > General > Workspace, but this has no effect. Is there any way to get Eclipse to always just load non-active resources from disk?

Answer 1

This issue will be fixed in Eclipse 3.7 (Indigo). While "Refresh Automatically" does eventually bring resources back into sync, the refresh hook only exists for Windows, so on Linux and Mac OS it has to poll the filesystem periodically.

From 3.7 there's a new preference Settings > General > Workspace > Refresh On Access (aka Lightweight Refresh). This preference causes Eclipse to automatically refresh resources when it discovers that they're 'out-of-sync'. When opening, reading or searching files, it'll prevent out-of-sync errors from occurring.

See also: https://bugs.eclipse.org/303517

Answer 2

I think if you click on the project node in the Project Explorer and press F5 or right click and select Refresh, all resources for that project will be refreshed. Also, if you CTRL+click on multiple projects, you should be able to refresh multiple projects at the same time.

A single click on a project, a CTRL+A to select everything, and an F5 should do exactly what you need - refresh everything.

I'll have to test this when I get the chance, but I believe this is how I overcame similar problems in the past.

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I've noticed that this answer routinely is getting down voted. I'd like to point out that the question refers to a specific version of Eclipse: 3.4.2. There was actually no automatic method to refresh out-of-sync resources until version 3.7 Indigo of Eclipse, as mentioned in James Blackburn's answer. The method described in this answer is the only method to achieve this in version 3.4.2 (and any other version before 3.7 Indigo).

Answer 3

Out of synchronization problem is common in eclipse IDE so you have to check this option windows -> preference -> Workspace -> refresh using native hooks or polling.

Answer 4

Eclipse Helios possesses a built in refresh feature at Preferences > General > Workspace. It's in the same spot where you disable automatic builds. Select refresh automatically. A plugin with the same functionality is Andrei Loskutov's Filesync Plugin. The update site address is: http://andrei.gmxhome.de/eclipse/. During installation, select Eclipse 3.5-3.7 plugins > FileSync.

Answer 5

Given that Java 7 has an api for filesystem hooks, one would think that refresh could be handled better in Eclipse.

Edit: Actually, there is a plugin that uses this mechanism: https://github.com/psxpaul/EclipseJava7Refresher

Answer 6

There is a global refresh - have nothing (or everything) selected in the package explorer and press F5 (or right-click on empty space and select Refresh). Of course, this could take rather long if you have large projects.

Answer 7

A global refresh is really missing in Eclipse. The above procedure with selecting all projects and then running refresh (e.g. F5) does not work if you have closed projects included in your selection. This means, if you have 1/2 of your many projects closed as I do, you find yourself manually Ctrl-clicking through your dozens of projects. This is quite painful. I wish Eclipse would simply ignore closed projects.

Answer 8

The global refresh actually exists in plain Eclipse without any plugins and without selecting every project in your workspace.

Basically you need to deselect everything in your project explorer and hit F5. To do that Ctrl+click the selected resource in the project explorer and hit F5.

Answer 9

Perhaps you should add a feature request on the eclipse site:

https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/

I think it would be a great idea to add a preference for automatically refreshing out of date resources.

Answer 10

Yes, Refresh on Access is long overdue ... those answers to this and similar enquires usually suggested enabling the global auto-refresh, which could take an age for large remote projects. In fact there are those who would say that Refresh on Access should have been the original (< 3.x) default behaviour ...

Answer 11

I managed to solve this by creating a new "external tool" run config that executes a blank batch file. In the run config, you can have it refresh the workspace when complete. Then I created a macro using Practically Macro that 1) executes the last external tool run config (refreshing the workspace), then 2) executes the last debug run config (running my app). If you uncheck "Allocate console" then the completed external tool entry won't show up in the debug window.

Answer 12

Even if the solutions proposed by others perso are indeed correct, you have a "Refresh All" plugin for Eclipse. Simply add the Update page to your Eclipse list of update sites to install it in your IDE.

Answer 13

For Starting up there is an option to automatically refresh files in

Window -> Preferences -> General -> Startup and Shutdown -> Refresh workspace on startup

Click it in order to have a "fresh" start in eclipse. :)

Version: Eclipse 4.12