Building

A build turns the project into a file: an executable, a DLL, an ActiveX control or a package. The IDE does not compile anything itself. It asks the compiler to build, and shows the compiler’s log in the DEBUG CONSOLE.

  • Build and Clean — the two commands, the question for a project with no file, what the console prints, and what to do when a build fails or cannot replace the old file.
  • Build configuration — the box on the toolbar: 32-bit, 64-bit and safe mode, and what a change does.
  • What a build writes — the file, its path and name, the version numbers, the Fusion host, the Open Build Output Folder command, and what each project type produces.
  • ActiveX registration — how an ActiveX DLL or control is registered after a build, the warning for the machine-wide registry, and how Clean takes it away.
  • LLVM in the IDE — the progress box, the licence banners, and the cache.
  • Package Publishing — the pane that sets a package’s details, and the button that publishes it.

The commands are listed by menu in the File menu and Project menu reference pages, and as buttons in the Toolbar.

What the IDE offers

The IDE has two build commands, Build and Clean. They are in the File menu and on the toolbar, and a project must be open. Neither has a key.

Command Where Key
Build File → Build; the toolbar button Build none
Clean File → Clean; the toolbar button Clean (deregister & delete build) none
Build configuration The box to the left of the toolbar’s build buttons Ctrl+F1 chooses win64, Ctrl+F2 chooses win32
Restart the compiler The toolbar button; Tools → Restart the compiler none
Build the Fusion host No menu item and no button Ctrl+Shift+B

Manage Keyboard Shortcuts can give Build and Clean keys of their own.

The IDE has no Rebuild, no Build All and no choice between an incremental and a full build. It has no Debug and Release configurations: the only configuration is the architecture, and the pair of Compiler Options in Project Settings is the nearest thing to the split. It has no setting for signing the built file, and no menu command or key that runs the built file: the console’s Launch EXE link does. A signing tool is run from a procedure with the RunAfterBuild attribute, and App.LastBuildPath says where the file is.

The build log is the DEBUG CONSOLE. The IDE writes no log file, and the console ends a build with a line for the file, not with a summary such as “Build succeeded”.

What a build does not do

  • It does not save. The compiler builds the project as the IDE holds it, with every edit you have made, saved or not. The .twinproj file is not written, and the open editors are not saved. Build and Clean has the details.
  • It does not run the program. Start (F5) runs the project inside the compiler, without a built file. See Running. To run the built file, use the Launch EXE link that the console shows after the build, or open the file’s folder and start it as any other program. A file that you start from Windows Explorer has no PROCESS box in the status bar, which lists only programs that your program starts. See Running.

See Also