How to change highlight color of references in Search View in Eclipse CDT?

Question

I want to change the highlight color of references showing in Eclipse's Search View after CDT find reference operation (right click on code -> References -> any). How can I do this?

Note: this is different from standard match highlight color.

Illustration:

Diandiana

solution found in this ticket #10923434 by @MasterHD's reply – Tafoya

Answer 1

I found out two easy solutions to this problem:

1) Create a new file and add those lines (extension of the file needs to be .epf):

file_export_version=3.0
/instance/org.eclipse.ui.workbench/org.eclipse.cdt.ui.ColoredLabels.match_highlight=128,0,128 

You might change the color value to match your theme

Then go to File -> Import -> General -> Preferences

Browse to the newly created file and click the Finish button

2) Go to [workspace-location]/.metadata/.plugins/org.eclipse.core.runtime/.settings

Edit org.eclipse.ui.workbench.prefs file and add the line

org.eclipse.cdt.ui.ColoredLabels.match_highlight=128,0,128

Curet

Both does the same thing anyway. The 1st one is better if you intend to share your theme as it's the native way to proceed – Curet

Really useful, I have added this info to Bug 468206 – Indicia

Also you can set org.eclipse.cdt.ui.ColoredLabels.writeaccess_highlight in the same way for the beige write access highlights. – Fundus

Check out this for perfect answer: :) link – Lello

Gents, there are news of some possible easier (purely-GUI-based solution) for Neon (disclaimer: I haven't tried it): bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=468206 #10923434 – Diandiana

none of these workaround work for me, neither Neon nor Oxygen – Acerbic

Answer 2

It seems that these colours are not editable and are therefore hard coded in a way that (clearly!) does not work well with a dark theme.

This is the relevant part from the org.eclipse.cdt.ui/plugin.xml:

  <colorDefinition
        id="org.eclipse.cdt.ui.ColoredLabels.match_highlight"
        isEditable="false"
        label="%Dummy.label"
        value="206, 204, 247">
  </colorDefinition>

A small change to the plugin.xml allows the colour to be editable:

  <colorDefinition
        categoryId="org.eclipse.cdt.ui.presentation"
        id="org.eclipse.cdt.ui.ColoredLabels.match_highlight"
        isEditable="true"
        label="Match Highlight"
        value="206, 204, 247">
  </colorDefinition>

And then you can edit the background colour and fix your problem.

This is a known issue in CDT (Bug 468206), contributions welcome.

Indicia

I tried to edit the plugin.xml from the jar and repack it, not working neither :( – Acerbic

Answer 3

Found a workaround that works for me. With eclipse closed:

• unpack <eclipse installation folder>\plugins\org.eclipse.cdt.ui_6.3.0.201802261533.jar
• edit plugin.xml and change the color to your taste
• put this file back into the jar
• delete <eclipse installation folder>\configuration\org.eclipse.core.runtime\.mainData.1
• start eclipse

Acerbic