How to use Scala in IntelliJ IDEA (or: why is it so difficult to get a working IDE for Scala)?

Question

I recently gave up trying to use Scala in Eclipse (basic stuff like completion doesn't work). So now I'm trying IntelliJ. I'm not getting very far.

I've been able to edit programs (within syntax highlighting and completion... yay!). But I'm unable to run even the simplest "Hello World". This was the original error:

Scala signature Predef has wrong version
Expected 5.0
found: 4.1 in .... scala-library.jar

But that was yesterday with IDEA 9.0.1. See below...

UPDATE

Today I uninstalled IntelliJ 9.0.1, and installed 9.0.2 Early Availability, with the 4/14 stable version of the Scala plug-in.

Then I setup a project from scratch through the wizards:

• new project from scratch
• JDK is 1.6.u20
• accept the default (project) instead of global / module
• accept the download of Scala 2.8.0beta1 into project's lib folder

Created a new class:

object hello {
  def main(args: Array[String]) {
    println("hello: " + args);
  }
}

For my efforts, I now have a brand-new error :)

Here it is:

Scalac internal error: class java.lang.ClassNotFoundException [java.net.URLClassLoader$1.run(URLClassLoader.java:202), java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method), java.net.URLClassLoader.findClass(URLClassLoader.java:190), java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:307), sun.misc.Launcher$AppClassLoader.loadClass(Launcher.java:301), java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:248), java.lang.Class.forName0(Native Method), java.lang.Class.forName(Class.java:169), org.jetbrains.plugins.scala.compiler.rt.ScalacRunner.main(ScalacRunner.java:72)]

FINAL UPDATE

I uninstalled 9.0.2 EA and reinstalled 9.0.1, but this time went with the 2.7.3 version of Scala rather than the default 2.7.6, because 2.7.3 is the one shown in the screen-shots at the IntelliJ website (I guess the screen-shots prove that they actually tested this version!). Now everything works!!!

Answer 1

I have encountered the same scalac error when trying to run a Scala project in Intellij Idea 9.0.2 and I've managed to find a solution by chance :). These are the steps I took in creating the project and running it.

I have created a Scala project in Intellij Idea 9.0.2 final (it was released today). I have installed the Scala plugin, restarted the IDE and created a new Scala project (with the name "TestScala") with scala-2.8.0.Beta1 as project library. Once the project is created and the scala libraries downloaded, I have created a Test.scala file with the following content:

object Test  {
 def main(args:Array[String]){
   println("hello")
 }
}

After that, I created a launch configuration ("Edit Configurations"), choosing the "Application" template. I set as main class Test and choose the project name ("TestScala") in the "Use classpath and JDK of module" combo box. When I run the configuration I get the same error as you reported ("Scalac internal error: class java.lang.ClassNotFoundException") .

Now comes the freaky part :). I right click on the project, choose "Module Settings", have a look on all settings but I don't change anything . Click "apply" and "ok", try to run configuration again and it works :) .

I use Intellij Idea 9.0.2 the final release (build 95-66); Ubuntu 9.10 and JDK 1.6.0_18. I also have to mention that I had a JDK configured in Intellij, otherwise there is an extra step to configure it.

UPDATE:

When checking the setting of the module, one needs to click on the Module->Scala and Facets->Scala (expand it and click on Scala(ProjectName)) . Both of these settings are about the scala compiler and scala library location. I would guess these values are not properly set when the project is created but are saved once the user touches them and saves the settings.