I released my second plugin for IDEA named FileBrowser. As the name suggests it is a plugin that allows browsing of the local hard drives on a computer. The idea for this plugin came into my mind some two months ago when I realized how really inconvenient it is to open files that are located outside of an IDEA project with IDEA.

Besides using IDEA as a Java IDE I also use it as a general editor for HTML, CSS and XML files. Before developing FileBrowser I used to create a new IDEA project for each web site I wanted to edit or I would use the “Open file” action in IDEA’s file menu to open external file. All that was really inconvenient.

So I came up with FileBrowser. I created it in my spare time over the last two months. It was fun developing it and exploring new features of IDEA’s Open API.

It provides drag and drop support with other applications and contains a small favorites management system.