Preliminary Documentation for VIDE (0.1.0)

Sept 28, 1998

This is a close to acceptable release of the V IDE
for GNU g++ for MS-Windows. It uses the alpha V 1.21
library which is not ready for general release yet.

Even in this state, VIDE is a better way to
build programs with GNU g++ on MS-Windows. This version
has been tested with the mingw32 release, but not the
Cygwin version, or either egcs version.

**** V Project files

This version of VIDE will work with either a V Project
file, or with any makefile written for GNU make. I hope
the project approach will be easier for most people.
I've tried to support things for advanced make needs,
but this part will still need improvement.

When you are first creating a new project (or even working
with an existing program), click on the Project->New menu.
You will get a dialog box with various tabbed items. Set
the names you want in the Names tab. Then add source files
using the Files tab. You can set defines as needed in the other
tabs. Once you have added the files needed, VIDE will create
a Makefile suitable to compile your project with mingw32 g++.
(It will work with other g++ versions with some tweaking.)

Click on the "Make all" icon in the tool bar (or menu), and
your project should be made.

**** Details of the Project Edit Dialog

Names TAB:
  This pane lets you set the target name for the executable.
You can also change the name of the generated makefile.
Usually, you will use g++ as the compiler. The Compiler Flags
line lets you pass switches to the compiler, such as -O for
optomize, or whatever. The linker flags are passed to the
linker, and default to what you need to compile V programs
with mingw32.

Files TAB:
This lets you add the names of the source files included
in the project. Click ADD, and files are added without any 
path name. If you need to add a relative (or absolute) path,
select the file, and click Edit to hand edit the entry.
Click Del to delete the selected entry. Until V adds multiline
selection (someday soon), you have to add files one at a time.

Paths TAB:
This let you specify the directory for the source files,
the directory where you want object files to be generated,
and the directory where the binary should be written to.
You can also list paths for include and library directories.
These are passed to g++ as the appropriate switches.

Defines TAB:
There is a pool of definitions that you can have included
during make time by adding them to the Active Definitions list.
The pool will stay constant, while the Active side can be
a bit more dynamic as you work with your project. Note that you
have to supply the full g++ definition switch: -DFOO or -UNOTFOO.

Options TAB:
Anything you add to this list will be written to the generated
makefile at the beginning. You could use it to define your
own symbols, or whatever. You can also edit the V project file
directly to add targets that aren't generated automatically.
Using these two mechanisms, you can build fairly complicated
makefiles which will be automatically generated as you edit
the project file.


**** Working with Makefile 

VIDE really compiles your program by starting make.
If you open a V project, the name of the makefile will
be filled in after you open the project.

You can also compile with makefiles you've written yourself.
Simply click the Select Makefile button to open a makefile.


**** Running VIDE


When VIDE first comes up, it has a blank message window.
Results of your makes will show up in this window. To
make a Makefile, you first must select which Makefile to
use. Either use the makefile automatically set by opening
a project file, or select a different one. You can
change to different Makefiles during the same VIDE session
if you need to.

VIDE currently supports three make targets:
   blank (equivalent to just running make)
   clean (equivalent to make clean)
   <target> (allows you to specify target)

VIDE first runs the Makefile in dry run mode. It uses
that output to then run the commands. It intercepts the
error messages for g++ and put them in the message window.
You can then right-click the error line, and VIDE will open
up the file in question, and put the cursor on the offending
line.  Whenever you click Make, VIDE will save the current version
of your files.

All in all, I find this process much easier than running from
a DOS command window.

**** VIDE Editor

This version includes a pretty decent editor based on
the V texteditor class. It supports real cut and paste to
other MS-Windows windows.
It has syntax highlighting for C and C++ files. It has
a few extra commands good for programming.

Things missing from the editor that WILL be included in
future versions:
    Auto indent for C and C++ code
    Selectable highlight colors
    Replace
    Macros
    Horizontal scrolling
    Permanent preferences
    Formatted source code printing
    Automatic Code formatting to the V standard


***** Future features

   More editor features
   Custom preferences for projects, VIDE
   Ability to launch different editors on errors
   C++ Class Browser
   V Dialog Box builder (this one is getting close!)
   Debug features
     initially, output window for vDebug, and primitive 
       interface to gdb
     eventually, full integration with gdb
   Help


Many of the project features of this version of VIDE were
contributed by Emilio Hirsch.

Currently, there is a volunteer working on the Dialog builder,
and it is looking pretty nice.
I hope to get working on the gdb interface next.

Help on help - I think I'd like to make help html based,
so I need to know how to launch the default browser on Windows.
This may end up being a part of the VIDE preferences file.
It would also be good to be able to access standard Windows
.hlp files.