Tutorial Introduction. PURPOSE: - To discuss Access Paths and to explain why they are crucial to proper CodeWarrior operation

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1 Tutorial Introduction PURPOSE: - To discuss Access Paths and to explain why they are crucial to proper CodeWarrior operation OBJECTIVES: - Describe an Access Path and discuss why CodeWarrior uses them. - Describe how to add, change, or delete Access Paths. - Describe Absolute and Relative Paths. CONTENT: - 12 pages - 3 questions LEARNING TIME: - 15 minutes Welcome to this tutorial on Access Paths. Access Paths are mechanisms used by CodeWarrior to speed file searches and enable projects to be easily shared on different systems. Upon completion of this tutorial, you ll be able to describe the uses of Access Paths. You ll also be able to configure and use Access Paths. 1

2 What Are Access Paths? Where the Project Manager looks for files Critical when compiling Control with the Access Paths settings panel Edit ==> Target Name Settings ==> Access Paths panel User path example your project folder System path examples library source file directory OS interfaces directory An Access Path is the directory path required to access a file. Access Paths are used by the IDE in search operations to find files. In particular, Access Paths are used to find the library, source, and header files in a Build Target. If the compiler can t find a file used in the Build Target, your program will not compile. Essentially these are the Paths to where your sources/libraries are located on the computer. CodeWarrior uses two kinds of Access Paths: system and user. A system path is often the place where system-level library and header files are stored. A user path is often the place where your own source, header, and library files are kept, usually in the same directory structure as the project file. 2

3 Adding and Removing an Access Path You can add, delete, or change a Build Target s Access Paths using the Access Paths panel from the Target Settings Window. You can also change the characteristics of an Access Path, such as whether it uses platform-specific directory paths or recursively searches within subdirectories for files. How this task is performed is explained later in the tutorial. Note that when you add files to the Build Target, the IDE generates Access Paths for them automatically. 3

4 Adding and Removing an Access Path (cont d) Paths are automatically added (if needed) when you add files to a project. To add a new path manually, click the Add button. You can create a non-portable path if the file is outside of the usual directories. Then, specify the path origin. absolute -- a complete path (ex. D:\work\project\sources\file.c) project relative -- from the project file folder (ex. {Project}\sources\file.c) compiler relative -- from the IDE folder system relative -- from the Windows folder or a user-defined origin To change or remove a selected path, click the corresponding button. Whenever you add a file to a build target, the IDE checks to see if the directory where that file is stored is served by one of the current set of Access Paths. If the path exists, the file is added. If the path doesn t exist, the IDE automatically adds the Access Path in the Access Paths panel and then adds the file to the project. You can also add an Access Path manually using the Access Paths panel by selecting Edit ==> Target Name Settings ==> Access Paths panel. The Access Path s path origin is a variable that instructs CodeWarrior how to search for files. An absolute path completely specifies the entire directory tree from the hard drive to the desired file. A project-relative path is a path that starts at the folder containing the Build Target s project file. CodeWarrior locates this folder and starts searching for a file from the project folder, rather than from a root directory. A compiler-relative path is relative to the CodeWarrior folder itself and is part of the CodeWarrior installation. Systemrelative is a location in the system folder, which varies with the host, and is not often used. You can define your own variables to describe path origins, but this topic is not covered in this course. 4

5 Controlling Access Path Order Paths are searched in the order listed. User paths are searched first, then system paths. Drag an entry to reorder the path list. Files delimited by < > ignore user paths. If Always Search User Paths is on, it overrides < >. CodeWarrior allows you to control the order in which the IDE searches Access Paths. In the Access Paths panel, drag an access path up or down in the list. As the IDE performs a build, it searches each Access Path in order, from top to bottom in this list. Another way to control the way Access Paths are searched is the "Always Search User Paths" option. This option forces the IDE to search user paths even when including system-level files. 5

6 Controlling Access Path Depth Click the folder icon to control the depth of each path. icon present -- recursive search icon absent -- non-recursive search Recursive search -- searches all subdirectories search order not guaranteed easier setup, but slower search Non-recursive search -- doesn t search subdirectories must specify the path for any required subdirectory more setup work, but faster search You can control how deep into a directory structure the IDE will search to find a file. In the Access Paths panel, the folder icon at the beginning of the Access Path tells the IDE to continue searching for files below that path, recursively searching all directories. Recursive searching is the easiest to set up and is the default search method. Recursive searching also stops when it finds the first file of the same name. This might not be the file that you want. A non-recursive search can increase compile speeds substantially and avoid name collisions. You can disable recursive searching by clicking the folder icon in the search path. If you need to search a sub-directory, include it as an additional Access Path. 6

7 Using Access Paths on Multiple Hosts Projects can be used on multiple hosts. You control whether a path is valid for a host. Click the checkmark icon to control the status of each path. icon present - path is used on this host icon absent - path is not used on this host Use Host Flags pop-up to specify which hosts use the path. compiler- and project-relative typically work on all platforms absolute and system-relative paths typically do not Next, let s look at how to use Access Paths on multiple hosts. This topic is of interest only if your project files will be used on different host operating systems. CodeWarrior currently supports Windows, Mac OS, Solaris, and Linux. Both projects and source-code created originally on a specific host platform can be opened and used on another host platform. However, one change that might be required is changing Access Paths. To get around this potential problem, the IDE allows you to add Access Paths that are specific to a particular operating system. Using the Host Flags menu, you can control whether a particular Access Path is valid for a particular host. You should try to use project-relative or compiler-relative paths at all times; avoid absolute paths if possible. Using relative access paths allows the path to be valid for all the host platforms on which CodeWarrior runs. 7

8 Finding a Path to a File To find the access path to a file -- Select the file in the project window. Examine the attributes in the project inspector window To find the full path to a file -- Look in the default editor window toolbar. or Look at the caption of any source pane. Use the file command pop-up in the project window to open the file in Windows Explorer. or Examine the file attributes in the project inspector. A source or header file may potentially be accessible from multiple Access Paths. To determine the exact Access Path the IDE uses for a particular source file, click on the file in the Project window and examine the attributes in the Project Inspector. You ll need this information when the IDE is experiencing problems building a program. Many times, the trouble can be traced to the IDE using the wrong Access Path. You can then correct the problem by changing the path from the Access Paths panel. The full, or absolute, path for a file can be obtained in many different ways. The Editor window s toolbar, when shown, is the most common method. The Project Inspector is very helpful because it shows both the Full Path, and the Access Path for a file, as shown. 8

9 Question What is an Access Path? Click on your choice. A) The directory path to a file used by the Build Target B) The directory path to the library directory C) The directory path to the CodeWarrior installation D) The directory path to the system directory Let s complete this tutorial with some questions to check your understanding of the material. What is an Access Path? Answer: CodeWarrior uses Access Paths to search various directories for the files it needs to generate the Build Target. 9

10 Question How do you create Access Paths? Click on your choice. A) Click the Add button in the Access Paths panel B) Select Add Files from the Project menu and choose a file C) Drag and drop a file into the Project window D) All of the above How do you create Access Paths? Answer: There are many ways to create Access Paths in CodeWarrior. 10

11 Question What type of Access Path should you avoid, whenever possible? Click on your choice. A) Absolute paths B) Compiler-relative paths C) Project-relative paths What type of Access Path should you avoid, whenever possible? Answer: Absolute Paths work perfectly well, but relative paths are highly recommended. Relative Paths ensure that the IDE can locate a file because they start with a directory that CodeWarrior always uses. 11

12 Tutorial Completion CodeWarrior uses Access Paths to locate key files such as source, includes, and libraries. Access Paths define the path to the file. Relative Paths start from a directory that CodeWarrior uses, such as the compiler directory or project directory. Absolute Paths start from root of the hard drive. By using relative paths, you can move a project file to a computer with a different directory structure or operating system and the program will still build. Many times, the IDE will create the Access Paths for you automatically, but the Access Paths panel lets you configure them manually. Let s review what we discussed in this tutorial. CodeWarrior uses Access Paths to locate every file used to build a program. These paths are typically created by the IDE as you add files to a project. The path descriptions are almost always relative to a directory that CodeWarrior uses. This structure enables a project to be moved to other computers or platforms and the code still builds. This feature is valuable for software projects in which several programmers must share the work of developing a program. 12