System.console() returns null

Question

I was using readLine of BufferedReader to get input/new password from user, but wanted to mask the password so I am trying to use java.io.Con

Answer 1

I believe that in the run configurations for Eclipse, you can configure whether to assign a console or not - ensure this is checked. (It's been a while since I used Eclipse so I can't give specific instructions I'm afraid).

If that doesn't work, then something that will definitely do this job is starting your application in debug mode, then connect to the process with Eclipse. Search for "eclipse remote debugging" if you're not sure how to do this.

Furthermore, in general it is a bad idea to require a console to be assigned as this very much impacts the flexibility of your application - as you've just discovered. Many ways of invoking Java will not assign a console, and your application is unusable in these instances (which is bad). Perhaps you could alternatively allow arguments to be specified on the command line. (If you're testing the console input specifically then fair enough, but it would potentially be useful for people to be able to invoke your application from scripts and/or on headless servers, so this sort of flexible design is almost always a good idea. It often leads to better-organised code, too.)