Open source Eclipse plugin for download library source code automatically

Notice:
This is about an open source Eclipse plugin to help Java developers in coding. If you are not a Java developer using Eclipse IDE, this content is not for you. I'm the author of the tool so I'm biased.

The real need:

Open source libraries are very popular in Java world. Nowadays Java developers often work with Java-based projects which using a lot of open source Java libraries.

One issue with using open source Java libraries is how to find documentation/source code for these open source libraries fast and easily? It is tedious and time consuming to search for the source code, download and attach source code packages to the libraries. If your project has 40 libraries, how long will it take to find source code for all libraries?

The solution is to use this Eclipse plugin http://marketplace.eclipse.org/content/java-source-attacher [1] to do the task for you with only one mouse click. This Eclipse plugin will help to find source code for open source Java libraries automatically from Internet. Just right click on a Java library, choose the menu item "Attach Java Source" and wait. The source code for the library will be found and attached to the Java library in several seconds.

Install plugin:
- Use Update site URL: http://svn.codespot.com/a/eclipselabs.org/free-plugins/trunk/site/ [2]
- Or download offline: download plugin from http://svn.codespot.com/a/eclipselabs.org/free-plugins/trunk/site/plugin... [3] and save it to eclipse/dropins/ folder then restart Eclipse.

Usage:
Right click on a Java library of a Java-based project and choose the menu item "Attach Java Source" and wait for the source code to be downloaded/attached to the library automatically (you will see a background job is running on Eclipse status bar).

Features:
- The plugin can work with all popular Java repositories on Internet (Like Maven Central repository, Nexus-based repositories, Eclipse P2 repositories, ...)
- The plugin also uses a special cloud-based search service designed for the plugin. This search service contains information about all Apache Java projects. This means source code for any Apache Java-based library will be found.
- If source code for a Java library cannot be found, the user can help the community by providing the URL for the source code archive (in Zip or Jar file format) and the source code will be found next time! You are helping youself and others when providing information about source code for a library!

Compatibility:
Tested with Eclipse 3.5 to 3.7.

Requirements:
- JDK 5+
- Eclipse 3.5+
- An Internet connection (to search and download source code)