Question

Is there a real easy to use tool (no monster tool) that I can plug into Eclipse, and press a “generate header” button and then the authors name appears in every file in that project?

Answer 1

Actually in Eclipse Indigo thru Oxygen, you have to go to the Types template Window -> Preferences -> Java -> Code Style -> Code templates -> (in right-hand pane) Comments -> double-click Types and make sure it has the following, which it should have by default:

/**
 * @author ${user}
 *
 * ${tags}
 */

and as far as I can tell, there is nothing in Eclipse to add the javadoc automatically to existing files in one batch. You could easily do it from the command line with sed & awk but that’s another question.

If you are prepared to open each file individually, then selected the class / interface declaration line, e.g. public class AdamsClass { and then hit the key combo Shift + Alt + J and that will insert a new javadoc comment above, along with the author tag for your user. To experiment with other settings, go to Windows->Preferences->Java->Editor->Templates.