Groups, Applications, and Libraries

Projects are organized into Group, Application, and Library nodes. The Projects view visually displays a project file (4pw) for easy management of project source files.

Group

Group nodes organize the Application and Library nodes that make up the project. Rapidly define default properties by setting them at the group level (TargetDir, Language, Compiler options, etc.) Properties defined for the Group node are inherited by all child nodes in the group.

Application

The Application node is used to generate an executable program (42r). Application nodes can contain both files and virtual folders.

Only one of the files in the Application node may have a MAIN statement: One Application node equals one executable. The name of the Application node is used as the name of the 42r file, so it must be unique and can only contain characters allowed by the file system.

The default application is shown in boldface. Use the Projects view integrated Toolbar to set a different application as the default. The options on the Build menu execute for the default application.

Library

A library node is used to group binary files into a single library and generate a library file (42x). It can contain both files and virtual folders. The name of the library node is used as the name of the 42x file, so it must be unique and can only contain characters allowed by the file system.

Libraries should be used when creating a set of features having a common goal, like the logic of an application, a library of mathematical functions, etc.

A library can also be used to group other project files together (images, styles or other resources).

If a library node contains no 4gl file, no 42x is built.

A library from a different project can be added to a project using the right-click menu option Add External Project.
Important: A library must be linked to any application in which it will be used by right-clicking the application node and selecting Advanced Properties, dependencies. The checkbox for any required library must be checked.