How to stop Eclipse formatter from placing all enums on one line

Question

I have enums like:

public static enum Command
{
login,
register,
logout,
newMessage
}

When formatting the file, the output becomes:

public static enum Command 
{
login, register, logout, newMessage
}

Solution 1

The answer by @wjans worked fine for normal enums, but not for enums with arguments. To expand on his answer a bit, here's the settings that provided the most sensible formatting for me in Eclipse Juno:

1. Window > Preferences > Java > Code Style > Formatter
2. Click Edit
3. Select the Line Wrapping tab
4. Select the enum declaration treenode
5. Set Line wrapping policy to Wrap all elements, every element on a new line (...) so it now says 3 of 3 in the parenthesis.
6. Uncheck Force split, even if line shorter than maximum line width (...) so it now says 3 of 3 in the parenthesis.
7. Select the Constants treenode
8. Check Force split, even if line shorter than maximum line width

This sets the 3 subnodes for the enum treenode to the same wrapping policy, and the same force split policy except for the Constants treenode, so your enums with arguments will be formatted each on their own line. The arguments will only wrap if they exceed maximum line width.

Examples:

@wjans

enum Example {
    CANCELLED,
    RUNNING,
    WAITING,
    FINISHED
}

enum Example {
    GREEN(
        0,
        255,
        0),
    RED(
        255,
        0,
        0)
}

Solution described above:

enum Example {
    CANCELLED,
    RUNNING,
    WAITING,
    FINISHED
}

enum Example {
    GREEN(0, 255, 0),
    RED(255, 0, 0)
}

Solution 2

You can specify this in your formatter preferences:

• Preferences: Java -- Code Style -- Formatter
• Click Edit
• Select the 'Line Wrapping' tab
• Select 'enum' declaration -> Constants in the box on the left
• Set Line wrapping policy to 'Wrap all elements, every element on a new line'
• Check 'Force split...'

Solution 3

It's slightly ugly too, but if your company policy prevents you from changing the formatter, you can just put comments at the end of lines you don't want to be wrapped.

public static enum Command 
{
    login,//
    register,//
    logout,//
    newMessage//
};

Solution 4

It's not nice but you can turn the Eclipse formatter off for some sections of code...

// @formatter:off
public static enum Command {
    login,
    register,
    logout,
    newMessage
};
// @formatter:on

the option is in the Windows->Preferences->Java->Code Style->Formatter->Edit->Off/On Tags panel

Solution 5

You need to set the line wrapping policy under enum declaration for "Constants."

Set the wrapping policy to

• Wrap all elements, every element on a new line

AND

• Check the box that says "Force Split, even if line shorter than,,,,,

View more solutions

Comments

[Paramesh Korrakuti]

Is there any variable in external formatter (org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter......) to enforce each enum variable in a separate line?

[Bob Kuhar]

This works...kind of. The compiler now thinks its an error. Putting them in comments overcomes this problem like // @formatter:off

[Ben Thurley]

Still looks wrong in the eclipse previewer for me but when I tried it on the actual source it worked like a charm. Thanks.

[LegendLength]

I had this problem for months. The thing I didn't try was "force split". Not sure why it should be needed as you'd think "wrap all elements" would actually wrap all elements! Thanks for the solution.

[Tob]

Thank you, could you post the corresponding XML markup from a eclipse-codeformatter.xml?