Reference other unmanaged folders as dependencies

[javierjcf]

[provide a description of the issue]

Environment

• Operating System: ANY
• JDK version: 11
• Visual Studio Code version: 1.74.2
• Java extension version: Any

Steps To Reproduce

1. Create a javaproject 0, a package and a class
2. Create other project 1 a package and a class where you use class of project 0.

Suppose I have 4 independent Java projects: project0, project1, project2, and project3.

Inside each project, I have the src folder, and inside some packages and classes. Project 1, 2, and 3 use classes from project0.

In Eclipse, I can indicate in a section that the sources of project 0 are used. When I try something similar in VScode, I go to configure the classpath of project one and see that it includes its src folder. When I add the src folder of project0, I get the following error: "The source path must be contained in the project root folder."

I can solve this by creating the .jar of project 0 and adding it to the other projects, but this is very inconvenient when making quick tests.

I know there are tools like Maven or Ant to do these things, but I would like to know if there is any way to indicate in vscode that one project uses classes from another without having to include the .jar as a dependency.

[jdneo]

AFAIK, if you are using project without build tools (unmanaged folder), we do not support referencing another unmanaged folder as a dependency today.

[anandbibek]

@javierjcf could we try opening the lowest common parent folder in vscode and mark the different unmanaged folders as "src" in .classpath file?

This plugin will help in setting up a local project in the parent folder.
https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=mellena1.eclipse-new-java-project

[ryanmkurtz]

I am looking for a way to add an external bin/main (for example) to my settings.json, such that it gets put on the class path. I think this ticket is asking for the same thing.

[cicciozell]

Same here, this VSC limitation is incredibly inconvenient and makes it impossible to use in fairly large projects.

[cicciozell]

Maybe this thread can help: redhat-developer/vscode-rsp-ui#295 (comment)