Working with the Debugger
Data Viewer Plugins
Data Viewer Plugins
Data Viewers are plugins that include an user interface to show a custom view of data.
These plugins are often platform specific. Data editors are data viewers that also let you modify and write data.
The IDE will keep a registry of plugins that can view particular types. The plugins will register themselves with the IDE and indicate which formats and platforms they support.
When a variable or memory address is selected, you can choose the plugin from the Data menu.
A Data Viewer plugin may also designed without a custom user interface. This type of viewer would override the built in debugger methods of showing a variable value as text and parsing an edited value back into variable data.
External Builds Support
The IDE performs these tasks on external makefiles:
• Build
• Debug
• File Management in Project Manager window
• Source Browsing
• Error Lookup
The IDE can build an external makefile and debug its output. A linker plugin will enable the IDE to manage a command line and targets associated with a makefile. The command line is executed when a build step is initiated. The linker plugin will also supply the executable to use for debugging.
The linker plugin will provide a preference panel named External Build that is used to configure a target. The preference panel provides text fields for you to configure the command line for the target (which will enable building), specify the working directory and the output file used to launch a debugging session, and the debug platform.
The linker plugin is generic so that it can be used regardless of the target CPU and OS.
The list of available debugger preference panels will be updated by the IDE when you select the debug platform.
Figure 17.4
shows the External Build Target preference panel.
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Figure 17.4 External Build Target Panel
Working with the Debugger
External Builds Support
Use this panel to enter the following information:
• Build command line to be executed in the build step
The command line will be sent to the OS shell and will contain all parameters and/or switches that are necessary for proper building of the make file.
• Build directory in which command line will be executed.
• Output file name—Executable to be launched in the debug step. The file will be relative to the output directory specified in the Target Settings preference panel.
• Debug platform—The debugger platform represents the combination of OS and CPU that your build is targeting. “Unspecified/Remote debugging” is the default, which indicates you have not specified a debug platform. In most cases, not specifying a platform will result in not being able to debug. However, some platforms may allow debugging if no additional debugger preference panel is used. If only one platform entry exists with the “Unspecified” option, then it will become the default entry.
After the IDE converts the makefile into a CodeWarrior project, source files can be added in the project manager window. Files that appear in the project manager will be parsed by the language parser and will supply Source Browsing information, such as code completion.
When a build step is initiated, the linker plugin will gather output after the command line begins executing. Output is directed to the IDE and displayed in a read-only Build Output
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External Builds Support
Window. A build output window, such as
Figure 17.5
, is displayed for each target. The
build output window can be displayed manually by selecting the menu command View >
Build Output (Windows) or Window > Build Output (Linux/Solaris/Mac). This command is enabled for targets that use the external build linker.
Figure 17.5 Build Output Window
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If multiple build steps are performed on the same target, the output from each build step will be appended to the build output window. Each block of output will be separated by “-
---Build started----” and “----Done----” tags.
The build output window will allow users to navigate directly to the location of a compilation error. Double-click a line that contains an error message or press Enter when the cursor is in the line. If the IDE determines that a valid error message exists on the selected line, the source file is opened to the line on which the error occurred.
Click the right mouse button in the build output window to display a context menu.
• The Copy command will copy selected text to the clipboard. If no text is selected then the line that contains the cursor will be copied.
• The Clear All command will clear contents of output window.
• The Go To Error command will navigate to the error location. This is identical to double-clicking.
External Build Wizard
Figure 17.6
and Figure 17.7
show the two pages of the External Build wizard. This wizard
prompts you for project-creation information based on external make files. The wizard collects data about the make file and creates a CodeWarrior project with a single target.
The target is then configured to build the user-specified make file.
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Working with the Debugger
External Builds Support
The wizard can be launched by selecting File > New... and selecting External Build
Wizard. The New... dialog will collect the name and location of the project before launching the wizard.
Figure 17.6 External Build Wizard Page 1
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External Builds Support
Figure 17.7 External Build Wizard Page 2
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If the Output filename entry is blank, you can still finish the wizard, but no debugging can be done until you enter an output file in the External Build target panel. You can also finish the wizard if the Debug platform choice is set to “Unspecified”. Although, no debugging can be performed until you specify a debug platform in the External Build target panel.
Completing the wizard will generate a new CodeWarrior IDE project and configure it for use with the external make file. The wizard will automate these tasks:
• Create project with single target named “External makefile”
• Set Linker to external make file linker
• Define settings in External Build target panel based on data collected from wizard
IDE 5.7 User’s Guide
