Repository navigation
Making any changes to eclipse formatter xml is not reflecting to actual format of java file #2738
Description
Environment
- Operating System: Arch Linux x86_64
- JDK version: openjdk 18.0.2 2022-07-19
- Visual Studio Code version: 1.72.1
- Java extension version: v1.11.0
Steps To Reproduce
- Make sure "java.format.settings.url" is pointing to correct eclipse formatter xml
- Make any changes to the eclipse formatter xml
- Reload/Restart vscode and format the file
- File will get formatted but new changes will be not reflected
Current Result
FIle is formatted but irrespective of changes made in eclipse formatter xml.
Expected Result
File should be formatted with respect to the changes made in eclipse formatter xml.
Additional Informations
This is happening since v1.11.0, version < 1.11.0 have no such issues.
Reacted by tthornton3-chwy, alexgagnon, Benjamin Faller, viljanvr, Thimo König, Nuno Vieira, Samuel Hobson, l3d00m, Florian Bütler and Felipe Ojeda
Activity
tthornton3-chwy commentedon Oct 13, 2022
Thanks @SunnyRaj84348 , I was about to report the same!
The reason (seems to be) because the
formatter.xmlcontents essentially gets put into theorg.eclipse.jdt.core.prefsfile now on first rebuild, and those take precedence (they didn't previously do this). And updates toformatter.xmldo not put the changes back into said file.You can remove all of the
org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.lines withinorg.eclipse.jdt.core.prefsand it'll work as expected again, but those lines will come back on on rebuild.snjeza commentedon Oct 26, 2022
@SunnyRaj84348 @tthornton3-chwy Could you try VS Code pre-release?
tthornton3-chwy commentedon Oct 28, 2022
@snjeza I believe that did it, thank you!! @SunnyRaj84348 resolved on your end too? It's worth mentioning to start fresh, I cleaned out all of the
org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.lines myself from the withinorg.eclipse.jdt.core.pref, cleaned the workspace, and from then on out whatever was in myformatter.xmlwas what got used (And 'rebuilding' did not bring them back) I don't know if those lines would've cleared themselves out, nor if they were there if they would've been "ignored" for what's in the xml.Thanks again for your time here!
sjhobson commentedon Nov 29, 2022
I had the same problem as @SunnyRaj84348. I have a custom formatter.xml file that I edit using Eclipse and then copy into my vs code project folder, but the formatting wasn't updating.
Updating to vscode-java pre-release did not fix it for me, but @tthornton3-chwy's solution of clearing out
org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.*lines from.settings/org.eclipse.jdt.core.prefdid, and my formatter settings take effect now. It's also worth mentioning that if you have a multi module project (as I do via maven), you'll also need to check each module subfolder for.settings/org.eclipse.jdt.core.prefand clear out theorg.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.*lines there as well.Thank you all for your help.
zrovihr commentedon Jan 18, 2026
this still a thing?