Visual C++ Vers 2.0 README.WRI, Part 2 Development Environment

The information in this article applies to:

• Microsoft Visual C++, 32-bit Edition, version 2.0 on the following platform: x86

SUMMARY

The following is based on the Visual C++ version 2.0 README.WRI file:

Customizing the Keyboard for Editing

You can use the Keyboard tab on the Tools Customize dialog box to set command shortcut keys for any of the Visual C++ editors. (For more information, see "Customizing the Keyboard" in Chapter 17 in the Visual C++ User's Guide.)

Enabling Autoscroll in the Output Window

Autoscrolling in the Output Window is disabled if the window cursor is not on the last line of the window. To enable autoscrolling, restore the cursor to the last line using the mouse or by pressing CTRL+END.

Shortcut Key Settings for "Main" and Specific Editors

Your command shortcut-key assignments for the Main selection and the specific editors in the Customize dialog box behave as designed, but they may not work as first expected. The following explanation clarifies this behavior.

In the Customize dialog box, each editor in the Editor drop-down list box provides default settings. For the editor you designate (Text, Dialog, or Image), the command shortcut key you specify overrides any previous assignment for that key in that editor. It also overrides any default shortcut key specified in "Main" for that command.

For example, you can assign CTRL+L to EditLowerCase in the "Main" editor, and use it successfully because there is no assignment for CTRL+L in any editor. However, assigning the shortcut CTRL+U to the EditUpperCase command in the "Main" editor does not enable you to change a Text editor selection to all uppercase. CTRL+U will change text to lowercase because CTRL+U is the default shortcut for EditLowerCase in the Text editor.

To set CTRL+U to activate EditUpperCase in the Text editor, either remove the assignment of CTRL+U to EditLowerCase in the Text editor, or assign CTRL+U to EditorUpperCase in the Text editor. Of course, this will leave EditLowerCase without a shortcut key. You may then assign CTRL+L or any other unassigned key to EditLowerCase.

You may encounter similar problems with other command shortcut-key assignments.

Rebuilding While a Project Browser File is Open

If you rebuild a project while the project browser file is open, the following message regarding the browser (.BSC) file is displayed in the output window:

Error getting status of file filename: The process cannot access the file because it is being used by another process. Creating browse info file. You can ignore this error message.

Using Wildcards with Browse Information Queries

You start a browse information query by choosing Browse from the Search menu or by pressing CTRL+F11. You can expand the scope of your query by using the wildcard character (*) in the Query on Name edit field. For example, you might enter On* and specify Call Graph in the Select Query list box. When you choose OK, Visual C++ version 2.0 displays the Resolve Ambiguity dialog box, which lists all the functions beginning with On (OnActivate, OnAppAbout, OnApply and so on). From the list, you can select the function of interest.

You can expand the scope of queries for file outlines by specifying filenames and extensions using the wildcard character (*). For example, if you specify O*.Cpp and select File Outline in the Select Query list box, Visual C++ version 2.0 displays information about all symbols contained in all files in your project that begin with the letter O and have the extension .CPP. If you enter O*.*, information is displayed for all files beginning with the letter O. If you specify O* with no extension, Visual C++ reports that it cannot find browse information for that file.

Project Directory Structure

Visual C++ writes all the files it creates into the same directory as the project file (for example, MYPROJ.MAK), or in a subdirectory of that directory. When Visual C++ writes filenames to the project file, it uses a path relative to the project directory -- for example, .\MYFILE.CPP. Because Visual C++ uses relative filenames, you can move entire projects from one directory to another, or one drive to another and the project file will contain the correct relative locations for its files.

If you add files, or files with dependencies (in #include statements, for example), that are not in the project directory or one of its subdirectories, Visual C++ writes a fully qualified filename in the project file. If you add the include directory D:\INCLUDE and then add SHARED.H in D:\INCLUDE as an included file in one of your source files to a project in a directory on C:, Visual C++ represents this included file as D:\INCLUDE\SHARED.H in the project file. If the file is on the same drive as the project, the drive letter is omitted. That is, if the include directory is C:\INCLUDE, Visual C++ represents the file as \INCLUDE\SHARED.CPP.

Projects that contain files with fully qualified filenames can be moved from one location to another. If you anticipate moving or copying projects, you should keep all the project files on the same drive. If you maintain several related projects that have common included files or common resource files, you can keep the project files in one directory, and keep all the related files in subdirectories of that directory. For example, you might have the following structure:

C:\PROJDIR\*.MAK C:\PROJDIR\PROJ1\*.CPP C:\PROJDIR\PROJ2\*.CPP C:\PROJDIR\INCLUDE\*.H

If you always want to use relative paths for a particular dependency in the project file, use the following form in at least one source file:

#include "..\INCLUDE\SHARED.H"