Sun Studio Express IDE Quick Start Guide

Switching Between the Logical View and the Physical View of the Project

A project has both a logical and a physical view. You can switch between the logical view and the physical view of your project.

1. Select the Files tab. This window shows the physical view of your project. It displays files and folders as they are stored on disk.




2. Select the Projects tab. This window shows the logical view of your project.

Adding Files and Folders to Your Project

You can add logical folders to your project.

1. Right-click the project node of your Application project and choose New Logical Folder. A new logical folder is added to the project.


2. Right-click the new logical folder and select Rename. Type the name you would like to give the new folder.

You can add both files and folders to an existing folder. Logical folders can be nested.

Adding New Files to Your Project

You can add new files to your project.

1. Right-click the Source Files folder and choose New > File/Folder.


2. On the Choose File Type page of the New File dialog box, select the C Files category. and the Main C File file type. Click Next.




3. On the Name and Location page, type main in the File Name field.


4. Click Finish.

The main.c file is created on disk in the directory specified in the wizard and added to the Source Files folder. You can add any kind of file to this folder, not only source files.

Adding More New Files to Your Project

1. Right-click the Header Files folder and choose New > File/Folder.


2. On the Choose File Type page of the New File dialog box, select the C Files category and the C Header File file type. Click Next.


3. On the Name and Location page, type file in the File Name field.


4. Click Finish.

The file is created on disk in the directory specified in the wizard and added to the Header Files folder.

Adding Existing Files to Your Project

You can add existing files to your project.

• Right-click the Source Files folder and choose Add Existing Item. You can point to an existing file on disk using the Select Item dialog box and add the file to the project.

Do not use New > File/Folder to add existing items. The Name and Location panel will tell you the file already exists.

Setting Project Properties

When the project is created, it has two configurations, Debug and Release. A configuration is the project's way of storing the current settings. The Debug configuration builds a version of your application that includes debug information. The Release configuration builds an optimized version.

The Project Properties dialog box contains build and configuration information for your project. To open the Project Properties dialog box:

• Right-click the project node of the Application project and choose Properties.

You can modify the compiler settings and other configuration settings in the Project Properties dialog box by selecting a node in the left panel and modifying the properties in the right panel. Select some of the nodes and property values and notice the properties you can set. You are setting properties in the currently selected configuration.

Managing Configurations

Properties changed in the Project Properties window are stored in the makefile for the current configuration. You can edit the default configurations or create new ones. To create a new configuration:

1. Click the Manage Configurations button in the Project Properties dialog box.


2. In the Configurations dialog box, select the configuration which most closely matches your desired configuration. In this case, select the Release configuration and click the Copy button. Then click Rename.


3. In the Rename dialog box, rename the configuration to PerformanceRelease. Click OK.


4. Click OK in the Configurations dialog box.


5. In the Project Properties dialog box, note that the PerformanceRelease configuration is selected in the Configuration drop-down list.


6. In the left panel, expand the C/C++ node, and then the Sun C Compiler node, and select the General node.


7. In the property sheet in the right panel, change the Development Mode from Release to PerformanceRelease. Click OK.

You have created a new configuration that will compile the application with a different set of options.

Setting Source File Properties

When you set the project properties for your C or C++ project, the relevant properties apply to all files in the project. You can set some properties for a specific file.

1. Right-click the main.c source file and choose Properties. You can override the project compiler settings and other properties on a per file basis. You can also exclude files from a build in a specific configuration.


2. Cancel the Project Properties dialog box.

Setting the Main Project

When you right-click a project node in the Projects window, you get a pop-up menu of actions you can perform on the selected project. If you have multiple projects open at the same time, the pop-up menu for a project node implies you are operating on that project. But what about project-related actions on the menubar and toolbar?

Most of the project-related actions on the menubar and toolbar operate on the main project. The main project node is displayed in bold text in the Project window.

To change the main project in the IDE:

• Right-click the desired project node and choose Set Main Project. This project is now the main project in the IDE and actions in the menubar and toolbar refer to this project.

Building Your Project

To build your project:

1. Choose Build > Build Main Project and the project builds. The build output is shown in the Output window.


2. Switch the configuration from Debug to PerformanceRelease in the configuration drop-down list in the main toolbar. Now the project will be built using the PerformanceRelease configuration.


3. Choose Build > Build Main Project and the project builds. The build output is shown in the Output window.

You can build, clean, or both clean and build the project by choosing actions from the Build menu. The project also keeps object files and executables from different configurations separate, so you do not have to worry about mixing files from multiple configurations.

Compiling a Single File

To compile a single source file:

• Right-click on the main.c file and choose Compile File. Only this file is compiled.

Note: Single file compilation is not supported for the project type C/C++ Project From Existing Code.

Folding Blocks of Code in C and C++ Files

For some types of files, you can use the code folding feature to collapse blocks of code so that only the first line of the block appears in the Source Editor.

1. In the Quote1 application project, open the Source Files folder, then double-click the cpu.cc file to open it in the Source Editor.


2. Click the collapse icon (small box with minus sign) in the left margin to fold the code of one of the methods.


3. Mouse over the {...} symbol to the right of the folded block to display the code in the block.

Using the Class View

The Class View lets you see all of the classes in your project, and the members and fields for each class.

1. Choose Window > Class View to open the Class View, which displays the Quote1 project.


2. Expand the Quote1 node. All classes in the project are listed.


3. Expand the Customer class.




4. Double-click on the customerName variable to open the customer.h header file.

Using Hyperlinks

Hyperlink navigation lets you jump from the invocation of a class, method, variable, or constant to its declaration, and from its declaration to its definition.

1. In the cpu.cc file of the Quote1 project, right-click in the left margin of the Source Editor and choose Show Line Numbers.
2. Mouse over line 42 while pressing Ctrl. ComputeSupportMetric function is highlighted.




3. Click the hyperlink and the editor jumps to the definition of the function.




4. Mouse over the definition while pressing Ctrl, and click the hyperlink. The editor jumps to the declaration of the function in the cpu.h header file.




5. Press Alt-K and the editor jumps back to the definition.

Using Code Completion

The IDE has a dynamic C and C++ code completion feature that enables you to type one or more characters and then see a list of possible classes, methods, variables, and so on that can be used to complete the expression.

1. Open the quote.cc file in the Quote1 project, and right-click in the left margin of the Source Editor and choose Show Line Numbers.
2. On line 46 of the quote.cc, type a capital C and press Ctrl-Space. The code completion box displays a list that includes the Customer class.




3. Select the Customer class and press Enter.


4. Complete the new instance of the Customer class by typing " andrew;". On the next line, type the letter a and press Ctrl-Space. The code completion box displays a list of choices starting with the letter a, such as method arguments, class fields, and global names, that are accessible from the current context.




5. Accept the Customer andrew option and type a period after it. You are automatically provided with a list of the public methods and fields of the Customer class.

Using Code Templates

The Source Editor has a set of customizable code templates for common snippets of C and C++ code. You can generate the full code snippet by typing its abbreviation and pressing the spacebar. For example, in the Singleton.cpp file:

1. Type uns followed by a space. uns expands to unsigned.


2. Type iff followed by a space. iff expands to if () {}.


3. Type ife, followed by a space. ife expands to if () {} else {}.


4. Type fori followed by a space. fori expands to for (int i = 0; i < ; i++) {}.

Using Pair Completion

When you edit your C and C++ source files, the Source Editor does "smart" matching of pair characters such as brackets, parentheses, and quotation marks. When you type one of these characters, the Source Editor automatically inserts the closing character.

1. In the Quote1 project, place the cursor on line 182 of the Module.cc file and press Return to go to a new line.


2. Type enum state { and press Return. The closing curly bracket and semi-colon are added automatically and the cursor is placed on the line between the brackets.


3. Type invalid=0, success=1 to complete the enumeration.


4. On the line after the closing }; of the enumeration, type if (. The closing parenthesis is added automatically and the cursor is placed between the parentheses.


5. Type v==null. Then type { and newline after the right parenthesis. The closing bracket is added automatically.

Creating and Removing a Line Breakpoint

1. In the Quote1 project, open the Quote.cc file.


2. Right-click in the left margin of the Source Editor window and choose Show Line Numbers.


3. Set a line breakpoint by clicking in the left margin of the Source Editor window next to line 99 (cout<<"Enter number of CPUs ";). The line is highlighted in red to indicate that the breakpoint is set.


4. You could remove the breakpoint by clicking on the icon in the left margin.


5. Choose Window > Debugging > Breakpoints to open the Breakpoints window. Your line breakpoints are listed in the window.

Creating a Function Breakpoint

1. Choose Run > New Breakpoint (Ctrl+Shift+f8) to open the New Breakpoint dialog box.


2. In the Breakpoint Type drop-down list, set the type to Function..


3. Type the function name Customer::DisplayCustomer in the Function Name text field. Click OK.




4. Your function breakpoint is set and is added to the list in the Breakpoints window.

Starting a Debugging Session

1. Start a debugging session for the Quote1 project by right-clicking the project node and choosing Debug Project. The debugger starts and the application runs, and the Local Variables, Watches, and Call Stack windows open.


2. Open the Sessions window by choosing Window > Debugging > Sessions. The debugging session is shown in this window.

Inspecting the State of the Application

1. The Quote application prompts you for input in the Process I/O window.


2. Enter a customer name after the "Enter customer name:" prompt.


3. The application stops at the function breakpoint you set earlier. Open the Breakpoints window by choosing Window > Debugging > Breakpoints. The window lists the two breakpoints you set earlier.
   


4. In the customer.cc file, the green program counter error appears on top of the breakpoint icon on the first line of the DisplayCustomer function.




5. Click the Call Stack tab. The call stack shows two frames, the call to the DisplayCustomer function on line 154 of the quote.cc file, and the current frame in the customer.cc file.




6. Click the Local Variables tab and note that one variable is displayed. Click the node to expand the structure.


7. Click the Continue button. The DisplayCustomer function is executed, printing the customer information to the External I/O window. Then you are prompted for input.


8. Enter the input in response to the prompts. The program stops at the next breakpoint, the line breakpoint you set earlier. Click the Local Variables tab and note the long list of local variables.




9. Click the Call Stack tab and note that there is only one frame in the stack.


10. Click the Continue button and continue entering input in response to the prompts in the External I/O window until the program is completed. When you enter Q to exit the program, the External I/O window closes and your debug session ends. To end the debug session before the execution of the program was complete, you could right-click the session in the Sessions tab, and choose Finish.

Debugging an arbitrary executable

1. Open the Debug Executable dialog by choosing Run > Debug Executable...


2. Enter the full path to an executable in the Executable field.
   
   
3. Fill in the other fields as needed.
   
   
   
   
4. Click the Debug button.
   

Debugging a running program by attaching to it

1. Open the Attach Debugger dialog by choosing Run > Attach Debugger...
   


2. Select the process you want to attach to in the table.
   
   
3. Ensure that the Project field is set to a project appropriate for the target.
   
   
   
   
4. Select the OK button.
   

Debugging a core file

1. Open the Debug Core File dialog by choosing Run > Debug Core File...
   


2. Enter the full path to a core file  in the Core File field.
   
   
3. Ensure that the Project field is set to a project appropriate for the target.
   
   
   
   
4. Select the Debug button.