IntelliJ IDEA, one of the leading integrated development environments (IDEs) for Java, Scala, Kotlin, and other JVM-based languages, has introduced several exciting new features in its 2023.2 release. These updates aim to enhance developer productivity, streamline workflows, and provide valuable AI-powered assistance for coding tasks. In this blog post, we’ll explore the key highlights of these releases, including the new AI Assistant, in-editor performance hints, GitLab integration, and various other usability enhancements.

In-Editor Performance Hints

With the latest release, IntelliJ IDEA 2023.2 enhances the IntelliJ Profiler to provide more insightful and easy-to-interpret information about your application’s performance. The new in-editor performance hints allow you to quickly analyze code performance line by line, identifying and resolving performance bottlenecks efficiently. Color-coded annotations in the editor’s gutter highlight critical methods, guiding you towards potential optimization areas. This eliminates the need for time-consuming analysis with the Flame Graph and Call Tree views, improving your development workflow.

GitLab Integration

IntelliJ IDEA 2023.2 introduces seamless integration with GitLab, streamlining your development workflow. The integration allows you to work with Merge Requests directly from the IDE. You can easily review the list of requests, inspect changes, leave comments, and navigate to relevant views, all within the comfort of your coding environment.

User Experience Enhancements

Text Search in Search Everywhere

The Search Everywhere (Double Shift) feature now includes text search capabilities, similar to Find in Files. When there are few or no other search results available for a given query, the text search results will be displayed. You can manage this feature in Settings/Preferences | Advanced Settings | Search Everywhere.

Colored Project Headers in the New UI

IntelliJ IDEA 2023.2 introduces colored headers for multiple open projects. You can assign a unique color and icon to each project, making them easier to distinguish in your workspace. The headers come with predefined colors by default, but you can customize them to suit your preferences.

Reworked Hamburger Menu on Windows and Linux

The hamburger menu in the main toolbar on Windows and Linux now appears horizontally over the toolbar when clicked. Additionally, there’s an option to turn this menu into a separate toolbar, accessible via View | Appearance | Main menu as a Separate Toolbar.

File Sorting by Modification Time in the Project View

IntelliJ IDEA 2023.2 introduces the long-awaited ability to arrange files in the Project view based on their modification times. The files will automatically reorder whenever changes in your project are saved.

Light Theme with Light Header in the New UI

The user experience with the Light theme has been refined by introducing the Light with Light Header alternative. This theme features matching light colors for window headers, tooltips, and notification balloons, providing a clean and visually pleasing environment.

Updated Window Controls on macOS

For macOS users utilizing full-screen mode, window controls are now displayed right in the main toolbar, creating a more seamless user experience.

Removed Title Bar on Linux in the New UI

For Linux users, the native header of the operating system has been removed, resulting in a cleaner interface. Users can customize the IDE’s custom header for a personalized workspace experience.

Syntax Highlighting in Inspection Descriptions

In Settings/Preferences | Editor | Inspections, code samples now include syntax highlighting, making it easier to understand inspection triggers and decide whether to keep them active or inactive.

Single-Click Navigation Between Project Directories

The Project view now includes an “Open Directories with Single Click” option, allowing for quicker expansion and collapsing of project folders.

Improved Main Toolbar Customization

Customizing the new UI’s main toolbar has been expanded, with a dropdown menu allowing users to quickly choose actions to add to the toolbar. Right-clicking on any widget and selecting “Add to Main Toolbar” provides access to the available options.

Suggested Plugins in Settings/Preferences

To simplify configuring the IDE for specific projects and extending functionality with plugins, IntelliJ IDEA now suggests a set of plugins automatically based on your project specifics. These suggestions appear at the top of the list in the Settings/Preferences | Plugins section.

Updated UI for the Run/Debug Widget in the Services Tool Window

The UI for running and debugging actions in the Services tool window has been reworked to maintain consistency with the main Run/Debug widget.

Pinned Run Configurations in the Run Widget

Managing multiple run configurations is now more convenient with the option to pin preferred configurations in the Run widget. Pinned configurations can be rearranged easily by dragging and dropping within the list.

Java Improvements

IntelliJ IDEA 2023.2 brings several Java-related enhancements to improve code quality and detection of potential issues.

New Inspections and Code Analysis Improvements

Java inspections have been improved and expanded to provide better code maintenance and more effective issue detection. The Incorrect ‘MessageFormat’ pattern inspection identifies pattern references that do not match the arguments and detects incorrect usages of quotes and braces in MessageFormat patterns. Additionally, the IDE now reports calls with explicit ChronoField or ChronoUnit arguments and suggests replacing them with calls of more specific methods, simplifying the code.

Code Highlighting and Navigation for Format Strings

IntelliJ IDEA now highlights corresponding format specifiers and allows you to jump to the associated code location for a specific format string placeholder. This enhancement improves code readability and navigation within format strings.

Improved Support for @snippet Tag in Javadoc Comments

Scala support in IntelliJ IDEA 2023.2 has been significantly improved, with a focus on providing a streamlined development experience. Notable improvements include fixes for Scala 3 enum highlighting, navigation to enum definitions, and the correct resolution of enum cases in various contexts. The TASTy decompiler has been enhanced to ensure accurate decompilation of popular Scala libraries, and the integration of scala-expression-compiler into the debugger provides a better debugging experience for Scala developers. Other improvements include enhanced completion hints for Scala 3’s Universal Apply Methods, in-editor support for IArray, and improved support for the “fewer braces” syntax.

Conclusion

IntelliJ IDEA 2023.2 bring exciting updates for developers, introducing AI-powered assistance, in-editor performance hints, GitLab integration, and various usability improvements. These enhancements empower developers to write better code, optimize performance, and streamline their workflows. To get started with the new features, download the latest release of IntelliJ IDEA and explore its full potential.

For more detailed information and documentation on these features, check out the official IntelliJ IDEA website. Happy coding!