[Question] Default Java formatter line length

I’ve noticed that the default Java formatter (JSON “java.format.enabled”: true) forces lines to be no longer than 80 characters. I can’t seem to find any setting to change this to my own preferred length.

settings.json

{
    "editor.formatOnSave": true,
    "window.zoomLevel": 0,
    "editor.suggestSelection": "first",
    "vsintellicode.modify.editor.suggestSelection": "automaticallyOverrodeDefaultValue",
    "terminal.integrated.shell.osx": "/bin/bash",
    "editor.rulers": [
        100
    ],
    "editor.wordWrap": "wordWrapColumn",
    "editor.wordWrapColumn": 100,
}

Environment

• Operating System: macOS 10.14.1
• JDK version: openJDK 15.0.1
• Visual Studio Code version: 1.51.1
• Java extension version: 0.70.0

Steps To Reproduce

1. Enable Default Java formatting
2. Format file

Current Result

Formats all lines in file to be no longer than 80 characters.

Wanted Result

For lines to be formatted to my preferred length

[alinnert]

Okay, I found out that this is already possible. There are two commands (I don’t know where exactly they are coming from, but I have the “Java Extension Pack” from Microsoft installed):

• Java: Open Java Formatter Settings
• Java: Open Java Formatter Settings with Preview

I’ve used the “with Preview” one which provides a settings GUI. When first using it you get asked to create a file called eclipse-formatter.xml. Choose “yes” and you can change some settings.

There’s a settings group called “Wrapping” where you can change the “Maximum line width”. This actually changed how the formatting command formats my Java code.

[rgrunber]

I’m not sure if all formatter options are included, and since it can be tricky to create a custom formatter file, you can always use a formatter option key-value pair and place it directly in the java.settings.url (normally used for compiler options). I’ve documented this at https://github.com/eclipse/eclipse.jdt.ls/wiki/Language-Server-Settings-&-Capabilities#java-formatter-options . All formatter options can be found at https://help.eclipse.org/latest/index.jsp?topic=%2Forg.eclipse.jdt.doc.isv%2Freference%2Fapi%2Forg%2Feclipse%2Fjdt%2Fcore%2Fformatter%2FDefaultCodeFormatterConstants.html .

As an example :

.vscode/settings.json

{
	"java.settings.url": ".vscode/settings.prefs"
}

.vscode/settings.prefs

org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.lineSplit=80
org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.comment.line_length=80

(Note that for lineSplit the default is 120, and for comment.line_length, it is 80, so just included for awareness)

As we do have support, I’ll close this, and just make the documentation a bit more visible.