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Tutorial
Creating and Using Projects

One of MultiEd's special features not found in common text editors is its ability to handle "projects". Projects have the following advantages:

MultiEd has a simple minded concept of a project. It is just a group of text files which are specified in a .proj file. Typical projects might include all the Java files used for a particular program or a group of HTML files for some web site. The Java project might include some data files or documentation files as well as the .java files. A project for a Java applet might include the .html file used to display the applet.

The MultiEd distribution contains some projects in the ExampleProject folder. We will use files in that folder in this tutorial.

Using an Existing project

  1. Open the project: If there are any open files in your copy of MultiEd, it may be helpful to close them first. Then click the project button . Select "Open" from the drop down menu. Browse to the ExampleProject directory in the MultiEd directory (normally C:\MultiEd\ExampleProject). Pick ShapeDemo2.proj. (ShapeDemo2 has some extra features not in the other project file. (Note: you can also open projects using the normal open file techniques. The result is the same either way.) This project consists of 4 .java files and 1 .txt file which contains documentation for the project.
  2. Use the project file window: Observe that MultiEd displays the project in a special window on the right side of MultiEd's window with a yellow background. The files in the project are listed. This project also includes optional C and Java style comments: // denotes an end-of-line comment and /* .. */ denotes the beginning and end of comments.
  3. Open and active files using the project file window: Double click one of the files the project window. The file is opened. Double click to open a second file. Double click the first file name to activate the already opened file.
  4. Open and active files using the project tree window: Observe the project tree on the left side of MultiEd's window. (If it is not displayed, select menu item "Project | Show tree" to display the tree.) Click on some file names and observe that clicking on a file in the project tree results in the same action as double clicking on the file in the yellow project file.
  5. Click the "Update" button: Click the "Update" button in top of the project tree window.
  6. Select a class or method: Notice some of the files have a small "+" in the box left of the file icon. Click on some of them. The tree expands. Lines marked with a "C" represent a class in the file. Click on the little "+" left of a class name. The tree expands again to show methods in the class. (F stands for "function", one of the traditional names for methods.) Click on a class or method name. MultiEd will activate the file (if needed) and then move to the line on which the name is defined. For long files, this feature may justify creating a project for a single file.
  7. Compile and run the program: Activate one of the .java files other than the "main program" ShapeDemo.java. Click special programmable tool button 6 (the fourth from the last one). MultiEd will automatically save any project file that has been changed and submit the "main" program ShapeDemo.java to be compiled. Java compiles any required file that has been modified. The resulting program is run in the AppletViewer. Programmable tool button 7 (the third from the last one) will run the program without recompiling it. Notice that the original Java compile button will only save and compile the active Java file.

    Note: MultiEd takes advantage of "javac" in this situation. Javac normally will normally recompile any required Java source file that has been saved since the last compile. Unfortunate, it sometimes misses newly saved files. You may have to compile individual files if updates in them seem to be ignored.

Creating a project

Again we will practice on the files in the ExampleProject folder.
  1. Open the files to be added to the project: In this case we assume that you have already have the ShapeDemo2.proj file open. If so, make sure all the four .java files are open but close the ShapeDemo2.txt file if it is open. Then close the yellow project file window. The project tree will close automatically.
  2. Create the project: Click the project button . A dialog box opens and asks for the name of the project. For Java, it is best to name the project after the name of the name of the "main" program. In this case the main program is ShapeDemo.java so type "ShapeDemo". and click OK. MultiEd then asks for the directory in which to store the project file. It is normally best to store the project file in the same directory as the files. So in this case select ExampleProject folder in the MultiEd directory (normally C:\MultiEd\ExampleProject). MultiEd creates the project file, displays it along with the project tree.
  3. Add a file to the project: Note that the project does not include ShapeDemo.txt yet. Open the file. While the file is the active file, select the menu item "Project | Add current file to project". MultiEd adds the file to the project file. Alternatively you can select "Project | Add all open files to project". Actually MultiEd is smart about this. If an open file is already in the project, it is not added a second time. The project file is not added to the project either.
  4. Optional: Add documentation to the project file The project file can be edited just like any other file. You can add Java / C like comments using // and /* ...*/ type comments.
  5. Save the project file: Select the project file window and click the save button .

Programming a tool button for projects

Normally the programmable file buttons apply only the current file. When using projects, they can be reprogrammed to apply to the whole project. Lets program a button to compile the project. Normally we clone an existing tool, modifying it to process the project instead of an individual file.
  1. Open the tool button setup dialog: Select the menu item "Options | Global and Tool Button Setup".
  2. Determine the tool to be cloned: Determine which button is used for "Java compile and run". By default it is #2 but it may be in a different location. Observe that the parameters box reads "%name% compile". "%name%" represents the name of the current file.
  3. Select the tool to reprogram: Select a tool that is blank or will not be needed while editing the project. In this case we will select tool 6. Click its tab. Note: if desired, you can use the same tool that will be cloned.
  4. Cloning dialog box In the "clone" combo box on the tab to be reprogrammed, select "Tool 2": MultiEd copies Tool 2 into Tool 6 substituting "%projectname% compile" for "%name% compile" in the parameter box. This means that tool will use the project name instead of the file name. It also sets the "Project only" radio button for you. That means that the tool button is reprogrammed while the project is open.
  5. Optional: Edit the tool name: The tool name is used as the tool tip when the cursor is on the button. In this case, you might want it to read "Java: compile and run project".
  6. Save the reprogrammed button: Click the dialog's "Save" button. The reprogrammed tools are saved in a .init file. The file will be processed whenever you open up the corresponding project.
  7. You can also clone the "Java run" button to make it work for the project. Select another unused or unneeded tool (for example, Tool 7), and in the "clone" combo box, select the original "Java run" button (Tool 3 by default).
  8. Close the tool setup dialog box
  9. Test the button: Modify any of the project files (but you don't have to save them). Select any java file in the project and click the reprogrammed tool button. MultiEd will save any and all project files that have been modified and then submit the project to the Java compiler.

Revised Feb. 2, 2006