“Surround with”-template in Eclipse: foreach

Question

I am new to Eclipse which I use primarily for Java. I have previously used IntelliJ Idea in which it is possible to select a variable which extends Iteratable (Collection, List

Answer 1

Update 2:

In Eclipse 4.4 What's New in Luna (JDT) a QuickFix was added for this issue. This can be also used for arrays, collections and maps (key sets and values).

Update 1

I recently found an eclipse plugin that provides postfix code completion (https://github.com/trylimits/Eclipse-Postfix-Code-Completion). This is how it works for the foreach loop:

Beside, the plugin provides more helpful competitions :)

For Eclipse before 4.4:

I'm also having the same issue but I wasn't able to find a solution. So, for the moment I perform following steps to get the desired loop.

fore[Ctrl-space] and select the foreach template, I get the following:

for (iterable_type iterable_element : iterable) {

}

then I perform a double click on iterable and replace it with the method:

for (iterable_type iterable_element : functionWhichReturnsList()) {

}

on the next step just click on functionWhichReturnsList() and hit Ctrl-1. Eclipse will suggest to change the type iterable_element to TypeOfItemsInList. This is want you get at the end:

for (TypeOfItemsInList iterable_element : functionWhichReturnsList()) {

}

Now, you just need to find a proper name for iterable_element. Just double click on it and start typing.