3.1 Projects

3.1.6 Projects on disk

A project consists of several files and folders on disk.

First, all the information necessary to build the project is stored in a project file (.HDP file). Then there are the Dylan source files, and possibly Windows resource and static library (.LIB) files, that make up the code for the project.

The files that make up a project are stored in a folder called the project folder, which normally has the same name as the project. The files are stored in the project folder and in several subfolders of the project folder. The files themselves can refer to other folders where subprojects and used libraries are stored.

The project folder contains the following files and subfolders:

: 1. The project file. (.HDP file.)
: 2. The source code files. (.DYLAN files)
: 3. The bin folder.
: This folder holds the executable (.EXE) or DLL (.DLL) file produced from the project.
: In addition, the DLLs of the project's subprojects are automatically copied into this folder, so that they can be found when you execute your project's application.
: 4. The project-build folder.
: This folder, whose name begins with the name of the project, holds a number of intermediate files produced during builds. You will never have to do anything with these intermediate files.
: The folder also contains the compiler database file for the project. This file has the same name as the project and the extension .DDB. See "Compiler databases" on page 50 for more details.
: You can remove the compiler database and intermediate files with Project > Remove Build Products. This forces a complete recompilation of a project next time you build it.
: 5. The lib folder.
: This folder holds the linker file for the project. This file has the same name as the project and the extension .LIB or .DEFS. This file is needed for other projects to be able to link against the project, a process that is part of using a project as a subproject.
: The extension is .LIB if you are using the Microsoft linker, or .DEFS if you are using the GNU linker.
: 6. The release folder.
: This folder holds a stand-alone version of the project's application, suitable for redistribution to customers or other third parties without a copy of Functional Developer on their system. It is created when you choose the Project > Make Release command.