How can I get IntelliJ to flag any implement of toString()?

Question

We use Lombok, and my architect wants us to always use the Lombok @ToString instead of custom implementation.

I want IntelliJ to flag any toString() implementation as a warning.

How do I do that?

I use IntelliJ Ultimate 2023.3

Answer 1

You can create your own inspections.

Go to Settings -> Editor -> Inspections, and click on the "+" button:

Choose either "Add Structural Search Inspection" or "Add Structural Replace Inspection" depending on whether you want a "quick fix" to the problem.

Here's an example of finding a class with a toString in it, and replacing it with the same class but with that method removed, and adding a @ToString annotation.

Find:

class $ClassName$ {
    public String toString() {
        $Statements$;
    }
    $OtherMembers$
}

Note that there is a count modifier on $Statements$ allowing 0 or more instances

(Since this is powered by Structural Search, public String toString() also matches final toString methods, among other things.)

Replace with:

@lombok.ToString
class $ClassName$ {
    $OtherMembers$
}

Note that this will highlight the whole class, because the whole class needs to be replaced.

---

Alternatively, you can just find instances of toString. You just need to find:

public String $toString$() {
    $Statements$;
}

There is a text modifier on $toString$ making sure that its text is always toString. Doing it this way allows you to set the target of the match to $toString$, highlighting only the toString part. Again, there is a count modifier on $Statements$. Make sure that the "Language" option is set to "Java - Class Member".

Finally, here is the XML file exported from the above inspections. You can import this in the inspection settings page.

<component name="InspectionProjectProfileManager">
  <profile version="1.0">
    <option name="myName" value="Some Name" />
    <inspection_tool class="SSBasedInspection" enabled="true" level="WARNING" enabled_by_default="true">
      <searchConfiguration name="No toStrings" uuid="7d07a3df-3fe8-3f60-9714-6cd79f56ae5e" text="public String $toString$() {&#10;    $Statements$;&#10;}" recursive="true" caseInsensitive="true" type="JAVA" pattern_context="member">
        <constraint name="__context__" within="" contains="" />
        <constraint name="Statements" minCount="0" maxCount="2147483647" within="" contains="" />
        <constraint name="toString" regexp="toString" target="true" within="" contains="" />
      </searchConfiguration>
      <replaceConfiguration name="No toStrings wtih replacement" uuid="6ad09c43-eac2-3f8f-b2c3-8061201ea2ad" text="class $ClassName$ {&#10;    public String toString() {&#10;        $Statements$;&#10;    }&#10;    $OtherMembers$&#10;}" recursive="false" caseInsensitive="true" type="JAVA" pattern_context="default" reformatAccordingToStyle="true" shortenFQN="true" replacement="@ToString&#10;class $ClassName$ {&#10;    $OtherMembers$&#10;}">
        <constraint name="__context__" within="" contains="" />
        <constraint name="Statements" minCount="0" maxCount="2147483647" within="" contains="" />
        <constraint name="ClassName" within="" contains="" />
        <constraint name="OtherMembers" within="" contains="" />
      </replaceConfiguration>
    </inspection_tool>
  </profile>
</component>