Eclipse annoyance

[jeff mutonho]

I've created a project in Eclipse , with a few java sources.One of the
classes has and I wish to run this.So I'm doing what I've done many
many times before :
Right click on the class file ---->Select Run ,then a popup appears
I then select "Java Application" under the Configurations list , and
click the "New" button at the bottom , which brings out a tabbed
windows.Under the "Main" tab , my project name correctly appears in
the "Project" field.The "Main Class" field is empty , and a message at
the top of the onfig window saying "Main type not specified".I click
on the Search button in order to get to select the class I want to run
(i.e the main type).A popup appears and the "Matching types" list is
empty.The field to type in the class name is greyed out.
What am I missing?

[Ilja Preuss]

The class probably is missing a proper main method?

[Tim Holloway]

The IDE will scan all resources in the project classpath (with an option for expanded scanning inside jars). All classes that contain this exact declaration will be listed in the selection box:

public static void Main(String[] args)

The names and order of the keywords aren't important, but the method signature must match that statement or the class won't be eligible, because it doesn't contain a valid Main method. And, of course "main" isn't acceptable. Java is case-sensitive, so it's got to be "Main". And, unlike C, the argument declaration and return types must be as indicated.

[Ernest Friedman-Hill]

Originally posted by Tim Holloway:
And, of course "main" isn't acceptable. Java is case-sensitive, so it's got to be "Main".

Doing some C# lately, Tim? It's the other way 'round: "main()" has to be lower-case.

[Tim Holloway]

Oops. Nope, no C#. Just too many main classes named Main.java.

Case-sensitive programming languages.