When to use Navigator or Package Explorer view?

I have imported 开发者_StackOverflow中文版an existing project built using Maven into my Eclipse workspace. Should we use Navigator or Package Explorer to view our projects in Eclipse?

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Try both and look at the differences. You'll notice that the Navigator is presented like as a disk file system folder structure (like Windows Explorer) and that the Package Explorer groups the Java classes in packages instead of a bunch of folder trees.

Which one to choose is purely a matter of taste and usefulness of the view. When developing in Java, the Package Explorer is more handy. When just scanning for loose files, the Navigator may be more handy. Each has also its own (configureable) set of filters to hide certain types of files. You'll by default not see .class files in Package Explorer, but you can see them in Navigator (in the /bin folder).

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The Navigator is more of a hierarchical file explorer, to explore all artifacts within the project, while the Package Explorer provides a Java package view.

So, when you are looking to view/edit code, you would rather use the Package Explorer, while use the Navigator when browsing project artifacts.