Debugging During Building

Language syntax errors are the most common errors preventing you from successfully building a program. To see how to locate syntax errors, make the following changes in your GENERIC program:

1.Use the editor to open the GENERIC.H file.

2.Comment out the first line declaring IDM_ABOUT. See Figure 5.2.

3.Save the file.

Any compiler and linker errors are displayed in the Errors window during the build process.

·To see how the Development Environment deals with an error:

1.Set GENERIC as the current project.

2.Choose Build from the Project menu.

Since the line declaring the IDM_ABOUT constant was commented out, the Development Environment stops compilation and displays the Errors window. The line in the source file that the error occurred on is highlighted.

The Errors window shows a list of all errors that prevent the program from being built, including filename, line number, and error number. If you don't understand the error, move the insertion point to the error number and press F1 to display online information about the error. The status bar, if displayed, gives a summary of the current error.

·To move through the list of errors:

From the View menu, choose Next Error to highlight the error following the current error.

Or choose Previous Error to highlight the error preceding the current error.

Or double-click or press ENTER on an error in the Errors window.

As each error is highlighted in the Errors window, the corresponding line containing the error is highlighted in the source window, where you can fix it.

You can also click errors with the mouse to move to them. Also note that the Errors window behaves like a source window, allowing the user to copy and print information from the window.