Project Groups: what changed

Revision 0 to 1. Removed lines have a minus sign; added lines have a plus sign.

Title: Project Groups

New		Line
1	+	## Install
2	+
3	+	The package is available since Lazarus 1.5.
4	+
5	+	- Go to Package \> Install/Uninstall Packages.
6	+	- Search in Available for installation'' forlazprojectgroups'''.
7	+	- Select it.
8	+	- Click on Install selection.
9	+	- Save and rebuild IDE. The IDE will ask for confirmation, then it build the package, links it in and restarts itself.
10	+
11	+	## Features
12	+
13	+	### Menu items
14	+
15	+	- New project group - creates a new project group with the active project as target. Same function as the editor More / New.
16	+	- Open project group - opens a dialog to select an .lpg file
17	+	- Open recent project group - list of recently opened groups
18	+	- Save project group - same function as the editor Save button.
19	+	- Saves project group as - same function as the editor More / Save As button.
20	+
21	+	### Editor
22	+
23	+	<figure>
24	+	<img src="ProjectGroupsEditor2.png" title="ProjectGroupsEditor2.png" />
25	+	<figcaption>ProjectGroupsEditor2.png</figcaption>
26	+	</figure>
27	+
28	+	#### Editor toolbar
29	+
30	+	- Save - saves the .lpg including the .lpg files of nested project groups.
31	+	- Add
32	+	- Add from file - Add projects (.lpi), packages (.lpk), Groups (.lpg), single Pascal mfile (.pas, .pp) or scripts (e.g. .sh, *.bat)
33	+	- Add current project - Add active project to project group
34	+	- Remove - removes target from the list and puts it into removed targets.
35	+	- Compile - compiles the selected target:
36	+	- Project/Build Mode: if the project and build mode is active it calls the IDE function, otherwise it uses lazbuild to compile the project. lazbuild automatically compiles outdated packages used by the project - same as the IDE.
37	+	- Package: ompile using lazbuild. It uses lazbuild to compile a package in order to build independent of any project. It uses the target OS and CPU of lazbuild. lazbuild automatically compiles outdated packages used by the package.
38	+	- Pascal module: builds the file using the IDE directives.
39	+	- Project Group: builds all targets of the project group
40	+	- Script: runs the script
41	+	- Compile Clean - same as Compile, except it passes -B to lazbuild when compiling, telling FPC to rebuild every unit it finds sources
42	+	- Earlier - moves the target one position up
43	+	- Later - moves the target one position down
44	+	- Reload - reloads the current .lpg, rebuilding the whole tree.
45	+	- More
46	+	- New - create a new project group. Closes the old and opens the new.
47	+	- Save As - saves the project group as a different file.
48	+	- Undo - undo the last Delete
49	+	- Redo - not yet implemented
50	+	- Options - Opens the options frame. Same as Tools / Options / Environment / Project Groups
51	+	- Info - Opens a dialog showing some information, e.g. all source paths of the project group
52	+
53	+	#### Popup menu
54	+
55	+	Right clicking on a node gives the following menu items depending on the selected node:
56	+
57	+	- Copy filename - copies the filename of the selected target to the clipboard
58	+	- Run - Open the target in the IDEthis loads the project in the IDE
59	+	- Compile
60	+	- Compile clean
61	+	- Compile from here - compiles this target and all targets below.
62	+	- Remove
63	+	- Earlier
64	+	- Later
65	+	- Open - same as double click
66	+	- Project: this opens the project in the IDE (closing the currently active).
67	+	- Package: opens the package editor of the package.
68	+	- Pascal file: opens it in the source editor
69	+	- Properties
70	+	- Project: as open, except it also opens the Project Options.
71	+	- Package: opens the package editor of the package.
72	+	- Pascal file: opens the dialog to setup the IDE directives for Build and Run.
73	+
74	+	## Concepts
75	+
76	+	### Projects
77	+
78	+	- The IDE has only one active project. The active project defines the active target OS, CPU and processor, the loaded packages, search paths and other compiler flags. And the active project has exactly one active build mode.
79	+	- When compiling the active project build mode the normal IDE function DoBuildProject is called.
80	+	- When compiling another build mode of the active project the active build mode is switched and DoBuildProject is called.
81	+	- When compiling a non active project the external tool lazbuild is called and output is shown in the Messages window. Hints/Warnings/Errors of files outside the active project or its packages might be interpreted wrong by the IDE.
82	+	- Note: You can add the same project multiple times. For example add ProjectA with build mode Debug active, then ProjectA again, except with build mode Release active.
83	+
84	+	### Package
85	+
86	+	- A package is affected by the active project, for example the project defines the target OS and CPU.
87	+	- When compiling a package the tool lazbuild is called to make sure the active project has no effect. lazbuild uses the target OS/CPU it was compiled with.
88	+
89	+	### Pascal file
90	+
91	+	- If you want to see output of the Run command, add the following directive to the file:
92	+
93	+	``` pascal
94	+	{%RunFlags Messages+}
95	+	```
96	+
97	+	- Hint: You can use instantfpc scripts to write Pascal scripts to do arbitrary things, like creating a zip, update documentation, install, uploading files. See [[InstantFPC]]
98	+
99	+	Example for an instantfpc script:
100	+
101	+	``` pascal
102	+	#!/usr/bin/instantfpc
103	+	{%BuildCommand instantfpc --skip-run -B -gl myscript.pas}
104	+	{%RunCommand instantfpc -gl myscript.pas}
105	+	{%RunFlags Messages+}
106	+	begin
107	+	writeln('Running MyScript ...');
108	+	end.
109	+	```
110	+
111	+	### Nested Project Group
112	+
113	+	You can add a project group as a sub target of the project group.
114	+
115	+	## Other features
116	+
117	+	- By default if the project group editor was open when closing the IDE, the editor will reopen on next start with the last open group. You can disable this in the options.
118	+	- You can redirect Compile/Build to compile the selected target in the project group editor. See Tools / Options / Project Groups / "Compile" and "Build" compile target
119	+	- Option "Show target paths": Disable: show file names without path, Enable: show file names with paths relative to directory of lpg
120	+	- Find in files now has the option to search in all files in the currently loaded project group
121	+
122	+	## Bugs / ToDos
123	+
124	+	- Not yet updating menu items enabled state.
125	+	- Changes in the IDE are not yet updating the project group editor. After altering you need to click Reload.
126	+	- Changes on disk are not yet recognized. Use Reload.
127	+	- Show active build mode, active project
128	+	- "New" button to create a package/project/file and add to project groups
129	+	- clean function, like the Run / Clean up and build dialog
130	+	- drag and drop within the editor
131	+	- reorder targets
132	+	- move targets between sub groups
133	+	- move file to another project/package
134	+	- save session in project group, allowing to quickly switch the active project
135	+	- load sub projects in IDE to use code navigation for files not in the active project
136	+	- find references in files
137	+
138	+	---
139	+	From the Free Pascal wiki, page "Project Groups", as it stood on 2020-09-17 after a change by Trev, out of the wiki's dump of 2024-05-26. Copyright stays with the author who wrote it, according to the old wiki's [[Licensing]] page. If you have concerns about this material, [message the admin](/wiki-contact).
140	+	Category: Lazarus
141	+	Category: Lazarus IDE plugins
142	+	Category: Packages

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