IntelliJ IDEA
IntelliJ IDEA – the Leading Java and Kotlin IDE, by JetBrains
Package Search on the Web
After half a year of fruitful work since the first Package Search announcement, we are pleased to share another dose of information about this project. The current release introduces various plugin updates, a brand new website search application, and backend enhancements. Let’s begin with the most visible part – the website itself.
Find Java & Kotlin Packages with the Package Search website
Together with the Marketplace team, we have built a rich web frontend on top of the Package Search API. The website lets you quickly search for Java or Kotlin libraries.
Thanks to the clear and consistent interface, you will get relevant information that helps you decide which package suits you best!
Search results present essential information for each package that was matched by your search query. This includes version information (including version history), authors, applicable license, supported platforms (for Kotlin multi-platform packages), and more!
For packages on GitHub, the README file will be displayed. Many packages use the README to provide additional information, often on how to get started with that package.
Copy/Paste Configurations? Nah!
While we also render a code snippet that makes it easy to add the package into your project using Gradle (both Groovy and Kotlin are shown), or Maven, why copy/paste snippets at all?
On the Package Search website, we bring you the Add to project button. If you have the Package Search plugin already installed, and a Gradle- or Maven-based project(s) open, the Add to project button will set everything up for installing the package you’re looking at in the browser, in your IDE.
Speaking of the plugin, the latest version of the plugin introduces many user interface improvements and brings compatibility with IntelliJ 2020.1 and future Android Studio versions. There are also many new functionalities, which we’ll introduce in a bit.
If you don’t have the Package Search Plugin installed yet, you can find it on the Plugin Marketplace. If you’re using IntelliJ IDEA 2020.1 and later, you’ll also find the Install to IDE button on the Package Search website, which lets you instantly install it in your IDE.
Search for Stable or Multi-Platform Dependencies
Multi-platform libraries provide you with the ability to create a package with code that can be shared between different platforms, like Android, iOS, or Web. Kotlin Multi-platform support is something that we’re still working on. Nonetheless, you can search for such packages with one click!
Quick-Fix to Add Missing Dependencies in the Editor
If you have accidentally forgotten to add the proper dependency to your project, you can try and search for the unresolved class. While we don’t index package contents yet, the search may provide a list of candidate libraries that may fit your needs.
Navigate to the Dependency Definition in pom.xml/build.gradle
Small, but ergonomic! From the Package Search tool window, you can now navigate to a project dependency right from the installed packages listing. No more searching around for where that dependency is defined — we’ll help you out!
Future Plans
We’re constantly working on improving Package Search. For the short and medium-term, we’re aiming amongst other things at improving search results ranking and breadth, enhancing our Gradle support to deal with more complicated build scripts, as well as bringing support for dependencies that aren’t available on Maven Central.
In the meantime, please do check it out and let us know if you have any feedback or feature requests.
Subscribe to IntelliJ IDEA Blog updates
