JDeveloper Configuration Essentials

Before starting your development work in JDeveloper I highly recommend taking some time to familiarize yourself with the various preferences that are available to configure in JDeveloper (Tools --> Preferences). Below are some of the essential preferences that I configure after first installing JDeveloper.

1. Tools --> Preferences --> Business Components --> Packages
    Tools --> Preferences --> Business Components --> Object Naming
When creating ADF Business Components I highly recommend setting your default object suffixes and package names in the JDeveloper preferences as is detailed below. This will ensure that when the wizard auto generates these business components they are named correctly and are created in the correct package locations. Depending on the approach you decide to take you can also setup your default base classes and view object tuning parameters. 

2. Tools --> Preferences --> Code Editor --> Line Gutter --> Show Line Numbers
Not much to say other than I like seeing the line numbers in my Java code.

3. Tools --> Preferences --> Code Editor --> Code Style
Your team should decide on which Java coding style you want to follow. This could be a predefined code style or one that you create yourself, just pick one and stick with it. I prefer the Java Code Conventions code style with a few minor modifications. Once you have your code style set you can easily reformat your code by pressing Ctrl + Alt + L in the source. In addition you may want to set the option to reformat your code when pasting which is on the main Code Editor setting.

4. Tools --> Preferences --> Compiler
 When doing a rebuild of your project it's always best to clean out what is currently there to help reduce the risk of any caching issues that you might run into.

5. Tools --> Preferences --> File Types
After coming to the realization that you have wasted a better part of your day waiting for files to open in design mode you will want to change the default editor for the majority of the file types that you use on a consistent basis. I prefer to change the default editor from 'Design' to 'Source' as the files will open up much quicker.

6. Tools --> Preferences --> Shortcut Keys
While I have yet to make any modifications to this section I really recommend taking some time to familiarize yourself with the shortcut keys available in the IDE as this will only make you a much more efficient developer.

7. Tools --> Preferences --> Environment
In order to help alleviate any issues you might run into when switching between a Windows and UNIX type environment I recommend setting your 'Line Terminator' to 'Line Feed (Unix/Mac)' and the default Encoding to UTF-8.

8. Tools --> Preferences --> Code Editor --> Save Actions
JDeveloper allows you to set some predefined actions that will occur when you save a file. I like to use Organize Imports, Trim Trailing Whitespace, and Reformat.

9. Tools --> Preferences --> CSS Editor
I like to change the default CSS level to CSS Level 3