API to programmatically refactor Java code

Question

Do you know an API to programmatically refactor Java code.

Preferably:

• easy to use
• support for rich refactorings

Answer 1

Jackpot API is quite complete for that kind of operation.

Answer 2

This only applies if you are working on a plugin obviously but both Eclipse (JDT) and NetBeans have public APIs which support refactoring.

Answer 3

See the DMS Software Reengineering Toolkit. It can parse Java to ASTs, provides a complete AST manipulation interface, as well as access to symbol tables. You can also apply source-to-source transformations (e.g, coded using Java fragments) to manipulate the code.