CDT/Developer/FAQ

General

• Is it fun writing code for the CDT?

You betcha! And the Eclipse SDK is such a great environment to work in. We've pumped out quality code by the boat load without a lot of effort.

• Before you contribute, try reading Code like you won't be there tomorrow

Getting the source

CDT has moved from CVS repository to Git. See 'Getting started with CDT development', 'CDT/contributing', 'CDT/git'

• EGit/User_Guide contains the egit documentation and information on getting started with git.
• Git for Committers details using git in the Eclipse development process. This document describes how to use git to maintain your own development lines and use the tools to generate patches for upstream submission.

Release Engineering

• Where can I get the latest builds?

We have a build machine, cdt.eclipse.org, that we use for our builds. You can access them from the builds section on its home page. You can also generate your own builds by checking out the CDT out of CVS and using the Export -> Deployable Feature menu item provided by the PDE.

Extending CDT

How can I programmatically create a new CDT project?

Check out those:

• ResourceHelper.createCDTProject(...) in plugin org.eclipse.cdt.core.tests
• ManagedBuildTestHelper.createProject(...) in org.eclipse.cdt.managedbuilder.core.tests
• BuildSystemTestHelper.createProject(...) in org.eclipse.cdt.managedbuilder.core.tests
• CProjectDescriptionSerializationTests in org.eclipse.cdt.managedbuilder.core.tests

They sport a few flavors of creating CDT projects.

How do I contribute Include & Library paths to a project configuration?

• externalSettingsProvider extension point

The external Settings Provider extension point can be used to register a build settings provider and have it dynamically called back at your own control. You can use this to contribute paths to your build configuration, making decisions at runtime on what should be added.

1. Use the org.eclipse.cdt.core.externalSettingsProvider extension point, give it an "ID"
2. Create a 'provider' element pointing at a class that extends CExternalSettingProvider
3. Register the class on your CDT projects by adding your settingsProvider ID to the configuration descriptions list of settings providers:
   1. externalSettingsProviders = new LinkedHashSet<String>(Arrays.asList(ICConfigurationDescription.getExternalSettingsProviderIds()));
   2. extSettings.add(ID)
   3. ICConfigurationDescription.setExternalSettingsProviderIds(externalSettingsProviders.toArray(new String[0]));
4. You will get a call-back on:
   1. public CExternalSetting[] getSettings(IProject project, ICConfigurationDescription cfgd) {
5. which allows you to return appropriate macros and includes for the given configuration desc.
6. CDT will cache this response, when there is a configuration change which may require a change to your settings, you should call:
   1. cfgd.updateExternalSettingsProviders(new String[] {ID});

Bug 222738 has an attachment with a sample plugin employing this technique. You can download it to get started.

How to add new make targets in the "Make Target" view?

Something like that could do the trick:

  IMakeTargetManager manager = MakeCorePlugin.getDefault().getTargetManager();
  String[] ids = manager.getTargetBuilders(project);
  IMakeTarget target = manager.createTarget(project, "name", ids[0]);
  target.setStopOnError(false);
  target.setRunAllBuilders(false);
  target.setUseDefaultBuildCmd(true);
  target.setBuildAttribute(IMakeCommonBuildInfo.BUILD_COMMAND, "make");
  target.setBuildAttribute(IMakeTarget.BUILD_LOCATION, "/build/location");
  target.setBuildAttribute(IMakeTarget.BUILD_ARGUMENTS, "args");
  target.setBuildAttribute(IMakeTarget.BUILD_TARGET, "target");
  manager.addTarget(container, target);

container here is a subfolder in the project where you wish to place the target.

Writing to a Console in Eclipse

See solution based on MessageConsole

Am I headless?

See solution based on Platform & PlatformUI

Hints

• Can I find a method declare when my mouse point to a method for the CDT?

If you have a method selected in the Editor, pressing F3 will take you to the declaration (i.e. the prototype) and Ctrl-F3 with take you to the definition (i.e. the body). Both options are also available from the Context menu.

• Converting between Reader and Streams

BufferedInputStream bis=new BufferedInputStream(url1.openStream());
BufferedReader br=new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(url1.openStream()));

More?

• CDT User FAQ answers many more questions in the section "Working on the CDT".
• Andras Varga's CDT Developers FAQ - unofficial but actually more solid FAQ.
• CDT Wiki page provides assorted collection of links.