Working with Projects

Project in Eclipse is a fundamental unit of compilation and execution. The project has to be created, then a source file (or files) needs to be added to it. The project then needs to be compiled, debugged. A successfully compiled project is run (executed).

Creating a C++ project:

If the current perspective is not C/C++, click Window > Open Perspective > Other... and select C/C++ from the list of possible perspectives.
On the main menu bar click File > New > C++ Project.
A window for creating a new C++ Project opens.
In the Project name field, type the name of the new project.
To specify a different directory in which to save your project, clear the Use Default Location check box, and enter the path in the Location box.
Select Executable as the Project type in the left pane. This provides an executable application. Note that the Executable project type folder contains three templates. Usually you will want to select Empty Project.
- Hello World C++ Example provides a simple C++ Hello World application with main().
- Hello World ANSI C Example provides a simple C Hello World application with main().
- Empty Project provides a single source project folder that contains no files.
Select Cygwin GCC as the Toolchain in the right pane.
To create your project, click Finish.

Your new project displays in the Project Explorer View. The new project does not contain any source files.

Tip: You can view and modify the properties of your project by right-clicking on the project in the C/C++ Projects view and clicking Properties.

Adding a Source File to the Project

In the project explorer view, right-click on the name of the project to add the file to.
From the dropdown menu select New --> Source File
In the dialog box that appears, type in the file name. Do not forget to add file name extension. For C++ programs the extension is .cpp
For the template select either < None> or Default C++ source template
Click Finish

The new file should appear under the project name in the project explorer view. The file also opens in the editor view for editing.

Building the Project

After the source file is entered, the project source files need to be compiled into executable. To build a project:

select the project in the project explorer view
in the pull-down menu select Project --> Build All. A shortcut for this option is a hammer icon on the toolbar or Ctrl+B keystroke.

The console view displays the output of the project compilation. There can be several outcomes:

If the output looks like "Finished building target: .exe". Then the compilation is successful.
Error message: Exec error:Launching failed or similar means that CDT cannot find GCC toolchain. That is, Eclipse/CDT is not installed correctly.
console messages:
```
../myfile.cpp: In function `int main()':
../myfile.cpp:11: error: expected `;' before '}' token
```
Signify syntax errors in the source program. In the offending source file, Eclipse indicates the particular line where the error occurs.

Note: If a build generates any errors or warnings, you can see those in the Problems view.

Running the Project

A Successfully compiled project can be run (executed). To run the project:

select the project in the project explorer view
in the pull-down menu select Run --> Run As --> Local C/C++ Application . A shortcut for this option is a run (green circle with a triangle) icon on the toolbar or Ctrl+F11 keystroke.

The console view will display the output and take user input for the program as it runs.