2.6 Project configuration details

Project configuration details

The project configuration defines a set of options to build it. The options defined at this level are applied to all the files of the project. CCE allows setting different options for building at different stages of the project.

Building a project is a process that generates new features starting from the existing ones, or updates them if they already exist. In the workspace, different builds for different types of projects, or for different stages of development can be invoked. The different build types are:

- An Incremental build uses a build held earlier. Thus, from a past build state, it applies the necessary changes to the resources that have been changed;

- A Clean Build ignores all previous builds as well as problems or errors that led to them. This type of build will transform all resources in accordance with the set of rules in the project build configuration.

The project builds can be done in two different ways. The behaviour configuration can be defined in Window>Preferences>General>Workspace :

- Automatic builds are always incremental and are always carried out throughout the workspace. Whenever there is resource alteration, it will initiate a build process. This option may be disabled in Window>Preferences>General>Workspace ;

- A manual build is always triggered by the user. This type of project build option can be clean or incremental, and can be applied on a group of project files, or to the whole workspace.

The order in which the build is processed is configurable. If the project contains mentions to another project, the CDT (C/C++ Development Tools) must first build the initial project. The order in which the build takes place may be selected in Window>Preferences>General>Workspace>Build Order .

In order to bring the various parts of a project together, it is necessary to build the project using a configuration stored in a file. There are several build files available, giving different build alternatives, so the build file most appropriate to the stage of the project must be selected. The CDT can automatically generate build files whenever a Managed Make C project or Managed Make C++ project is created. Each project is therefore created with two default settings: Debug and Release. Other additional settings can be configured. Whenever a project is created or an existing project is opened, the first configuration in the list of alphabetically sorted items, is taken as active.

The project’s compiler and linker definition options are complex. Therefore, it is recommended to carefully read the documentation related to the compiler and to the assembler/linker.

After the project’s creation, it must be configured for the appropriate compiler, linker and debugging options. By selecting the option Properties from the context menu of the view C/C++ Project , the project’s configuration window is displayed ( Figure 1 ). The compiler, linker and debug options can be defined here.

Cce workbench – configuration window.

The management of build configurations is found under the option C/C++ Build , accessed via the Manage button. Through it the management features can be accessed (see Figure 2 ).