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The C++Builder IDE Explored: Projects and Forms
As you can see, C++Builder does a good job of managing units for you. You have to be sure
that you use the Include Unit Hdr option so that one unit can see the class declarations of
other units, but for the most part, C++Builder frees you from having to worry about your
source files. Later, when your programming needs are more sophisticated, you’ll have to do
a little more source file management, but at this stage of the game, C++Builder does most of
the work for you.
Now let’s take a moment to look at the different compiling options available to you when
you’re writing programs in C++Builder.
Compiling, Building, and Linking
Each time you click the Run button, C++Builder compiles and links your program. But it
doesn’t necessarily compile every unit in the project. It only compiles any units that have
changed since the last compile. This feature saves you time because you don’t have to wait
for the compiler to compile files that haven’t changed. C++Builder keeps track of which files
have changed and which haven’t, so you don’t need to do anything special to use this
feature—it’s automatic.
Most of the time you want to see in action the results of any changes you have made. In those
cases you click the Run button and the program is compiled, linked, and executed.
Sometimes, however, you don’t want to run the program. For instance, you might want to
compile the program just to see whether there are any errors. C++Builder has three menu
items in addition to Run that allow you to control the compile/link process. If you choose
the Project menu item on the main menu, you will see three menu items called Compile Unit,
Make, and Build All. Let’s take these in order of simplest to most complex (from the
compiler’s perspective).
The Compile Unit option is one I really like. This feature causes C++Builder to compile the
current unit in the Code Editor and report any errors and warnings. This is the fastest way
to check for errors in your code. C++Builder only compiles the file—it does not perform a
link. The purpose of the Compile Unit option is to check your code for syntax errors as
quickly as possible. Because the link phase takes extra time, the Compile Unit option skips
that step.
The Make option compiles any units that have changed since the last compile just as the
Compile Unit options does, but it also links the entire project. Naturally, this takes slightly
longer than the Compile Unit option. Use the Make option when you want to be sure the
program will compile and link but you don’t want to run the program.
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