IntelliJ IDEA 2017.2 Help

Creating and Running Your Scala Application

The following is only valid when Scala Plugin is installed and enabled!

IntelliJ IDEA lets you create and run a Scala application.

Before you start

By default, the Scala plugin is not bundled with IntelliJ IDEA.

If IntelliJ IDEA recognizes that you have .scala files in your project then it displays the appropriate pop-up suggesting to install the Scala plugin.

scala plugin popUp
Click the link and in the dialog that opens, click OK.
choose plugin to install scala

Alternatively, you can use Settings to download and enable the plugin in IntelliJ IDEA.

Creating a project with a Scala module

  1. If no project is currently open in IntelliJ IDEA, click Create New Project on the Welcome screen. Otherwise, select File | New | Project.

    As a result, the New Project wizard opens.

  2. In the left-hand pane, select Scala.
    Note that if you select Java and in Additional Libraries and Frameworks, select Scala, you will create a Java project with a simple Scala module. However, the project will not include SBT, Play 2.x or Activator.
  3. In the right-hand pane, select Scala.
    You can also select SBT for creating an SBT project, Play 2.x for creating a project with the Play 2.x framework, Activator for creating a project with Typesafe Activator templates or Dotty for creating a project with the Dotty SDK.
    new project scala
    Click Next.
  4. On the next page of the wizard, specify project and module location settings.
    scala project and name location
    If the Scala SDK is not specified, click Create, select a necessary SDK version for downloading and click OK.
    NewScalaSdk
    Click Finish.

Exploring your project structure

  1. Open Project Structure.
  2. On the left-hand pane, select Modules and on the right-hand side of the module page, you can check the project libraries, add the new ones, edit or delete the existing libraries.
    scala project structure
    Click OK.

Creating an object

  1. In the project tree, right-click a node in which you want to create your Scala object.
  2. From the drop-down list, select Scala class.
    create scala class
  3. In the dialog that opens, in the field Name, enter the name of your Scala object and in the field Kind select either Object, Class or Trait.
    create new scala class dialog
    Click OK.

Running your application

  1. In the project tree, right-click the application and from the context menu select Run 'application name'. Alternatively, press Shift+F10 to run the application. You can also right-click the left gutter run icon in the left gutter and select Run 'application name' command.
    run scala app
Last modified: 29 November 2017

See Also