IntelliJ IDEA 2017.3 Help

Create/Edit/Copy Tool Dialog

From the External Tools page: add, edit1 or copy


Edit the settings for your external tool.

ItemDescription
Name The name of the tool that appears as a command name in the Tools menu and the context menus. See also, Show in.
Group The group the tool belongs to. The tool groups correspond to submenus in the Tools menu and the context menus.

Select an existing group from the list or type the name for a new group.

Description The tool description (optional).
Options
Synchronize files after execution Make IntelliJ IDEA aware of changes in the file system when the tool completes its execution.
Open console Open the console for viewing the tool output such error messages, etc.
Output Filters Open the Output Filters dialog to manage the output filters associated with the tool.

(The output filters are used to turn absolute file paths and line numbers in the tool output into hyperlinks. You'll be able to use those links to open the corresponding files in the editor.)

Show console when a message is printed to standard output stream Make the output console active and bring it forward when the corresponding event occurs.
Show console when a message is printed to standard error stream The same as the previous option but for stderr.
Show in Specify in which menus the command for running the tool should be included. Main menu means the Tools menu. The rest of the options correspond to context menus in various places.
Tool settings
Program The path to the executable file to be run. Use browseButton to select the file, Insert macro to open the Macros dialog to select a macro.

(Macros are resolved at runtime and let you specify context information such as currently selected file, your project source paths, etc.)

Parameters The parameters to be passed to the program the way you'd specify them on the command line. Use Insert macro to open the Macros dialog to select a macro.

When specifying the parameters, follow these rules:

  • Use spaces to separate individual parameters.
  • If a parameter includes spaces, enclose the spaces or the argument that contains the spaces in double quotes, for example, some" "arg or "some arg".
  • If a parameter includes double quotes (e.g. as part of the argument), escape the double quotes by means of the backslashes, for example, -Dmy.prop=\"quoted_value\".
Working directory The path to the current working directory for the program. Use browseButton to select the directory, Insert macro to open the Macros dialog to select a macro.
Last modified: 6 March 2018

See Also