Re: [cdt-dev] Some questions on the cdt

["Alain Magloire" <alain@xxxxxxx>]

> 
> I've been testing and using the cdt and had some questions regarding the 
> content and functionality:
> 
> - Is there some way to determine what the type of a project is after it 
> has been created? In project properties, the type is always just "project".

you probably mean "nature".  When you create a project a small file
containing the characteristics is created ".project"
Here is an example:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<projectDescription>
        <name>hello</name>
        <comment></comment>
        <projects>
        </projects>
        <buildSpec>
                <buildCommand>
                        <name>org.eclipse.cdt.core.cbuilder</name>
                        <arguments>
                        </arguments>
                </buildCommand>
        </buildSpec>
        <natures>
                <nature>org.eclipse.cdt.core.cnature</nature>
        </natures>
</projectDescription>

> 
> - What is the difference between a C and C++ project "behind the 
> scenes"? I was using the convert from C to C++ wizard and couldn't 

It can be use for many things.  Nature of projects is also a way
to filter projects so if you want to have view say a Class browser only
enable for C++ project etc ...

> figure out how anything changed when I converted the project. I guess 
> I'm not using that particular wizard in a meaningful way?
> 

For now it does not do much, but will in the future, for example the CEditor
will always use the C++ parser or the C++ keyword for highlight when it knows
this is a c++ project file etc ...

> - Is there a particular format that is expected of the Makefile in a 
> standard C or C++ project? I'm asking because I was expecting targets 
> from my makefile to appear under the project's "Make" context menu 
> option but they don't unless I explicitly add a target using the "Add 
> Make Targets" context menu option.  Is it supposed to work this way?

The new builder is not in yet, but this is a good idea.
There was a plan to have a specific GNU builder but no one came forward.

> 
> - How is Comment/Uncomment used in the C editor? I tried highlighting 
> lines of code (commented or otherwise) but both options always remain 
> disabled.
> 

hmm ... strange can you put a PR on this one.

> - If the editor encounters a ^L (page break) character in a C file, it 
> appears to stop parsing the file there and the outline view does not 
> show any elements below that character. If I remove an occurrence of the 
> page break, it will parse the file till the next one or the end, 
> whichever comes first. I was wondering whether this is an intentional 
> feature or whether it should be filed as a bug?

Bug in our JavaCC parser.  it will be rewritten in the future.

> 
> - lastly, I was using the GA candidate build and noticed that projects 
> now have red error markers on them as soon as they are created, before 
> any files have even been put into the project. Was this intentional?

When you create a project and you have on
Windows --> Preference --> Workbench --> Build on Resouce Modification

Eclipse will try,  to build it, since there is no Makefile, it
comes back with an error in the task, probably something like that.
make: *** No targets specified and no makefile found.  Stop.