IntelliJ Idea 2018.1: what's new?

Late last month, JetBrains updated IntelliJ IDEA to version 2018.1. This release differs significantly from the previous one with a set of improvements not only for supported languages, but also for frameworks, version control systems, the debugger, the compiler, and the editor. We'll focus on some of the most important points introduced by the update. Well, if you want to see the full list, follow the link .

What's new in IntelliJ IDEA 2018.1

Java:

• Code completion in Stream API call chains now supports type casting and offers a completion option in accordance with the existing filter(String.class :: isInstance) call, automatically assigning a type to it;
• Postfix code completion has been improved, it is now possible to create your own Java templates, as well as change and rename predefined Java templates in the Preferences | Editor | General | Postfix Completion.
• The IDE now tracks the relationship between variables of type “greater than” and “less than” and detects when the condition is always true (true) or false (false) in various code branches when comparing variables;
• Java Inspections & Quick-fixes: The new version includes inspections and quick-fixes designed specifically for Java 9 and warns about apparently redundant close() calls and provides a quick-fix to remove them.
• If there are several different options to resolve possible errors in the selected area, IntelliJ IDEA groups them all by type. To do this, just click the Fix partially button in the “Check Results” window;
• IntelliJ IDEA 2018.1 supports JUnit 5 @Tag annotations , which can be included in the test area as well as tagged classes and methods;
• It is now possible to create a test class by adding the prefix “Test” not only to the end of the class name, but also to its beginning.

JVM Debugger

• Print stack traces for breakpoints to the console. The IDE also allows you to see stack traces for multiple breakpoints simultaneously in the console log.
• Ability to copy the stack trace for the current thread using the new Copy Stack action available from the frame context menu.

Java compiler

• Added a new checkbox Use --release option for cross-compilation (Java 9 and later) on the Java Compiler page;
• It is now possible to use a specific version of the ECJ compiler.

Editor

• It is possible to add external annotations to code, even when direct annotation of the source code is not possible (for example, in the case of library classes). You can customize annotations in annotations.xml files that are stored outside of the source code.
• The IDE shows automatically generated annotations directly in the source code.
• If collapsed sections of code contain errors or warnings, they are highlighted and colored according to their validation status.
• The IDE also highlights collapsed sections of code when searching the current file if they contain matches.
• Ability to move to the next or previous occurrence using the combination “Alt + Scroll Down” and “Alt + Scroll Up”.

Project configuration

• It is now possible to change the full names of several modules at the same time using the new Change Module Names... action, available from the context menu of the Project Structure dialog.
• Added a new option Include dependencies with “Provided” scope, which allows you to add “provided” dependencies to the classpath.

Search and replace

• Ability to preview the results of replacing regular expressions in the Replace in Path window;
• Structural search improvements. Now in the Structural Search dialog you can create your own search template or select one of the existing ones.

Have you already taken advantage of the new features of IntelliJ IDEA 2018.1?

Source Images taken from Habrahabr