Quickly get a logger with IntelliJ live templates

IntelliJ IDEA is every Java developer’s favourite IDE here at Cloudesire, and amongst its powerful features there are Live templates. Let me show you how they work with a simple example.

Getting a SLF4J instance for the current class is a matter of typing

private static final Logger

waiting for the import popup to appear, looking for org.slf4j.Logger and selecting it, continue typing

private static final Logger log = LoggerFactory

… another import…

private static final Logger log = LoggerFactory.getLogger(

wait, where am I? Oh, MyObject, sure

private static final Logger log = LoggerFactory.getLogger( MyObject.class );

done!

I find it a bit slow, don’t you? Let’s speed it up:

• Open IDEA settings with Ctrl+Alt+S and browse to Editor -> Live Templates

• Add a new Template Group with Alt+Ins, choose a nice name

• Add a Live Template in your newly created group

• Write log in Abbreviation

• Paste in Template text

  private static final org.slf4j.Logger log = org.slf4j.LoggerFactory.getLogger( $CLASS$.class );
  

• Open Edit variables and write in the field Expression at the CLASS row

  className()
  

  and press OK

• Set the applicable context by clicking on Java in the No applicable contexts yet. Define popup

Exit the settings by pressing OK.

Now you can get a logger for a class just by writing log and pressing Tab! Just 3 keystrokes, isn’t it better?

Source: Developers’ Corner Blog