Is there a file somewhere that I can use to do massive changes to the context menu in an easier fashion?
The GUI:
gives me no way to move a command from one menu to another, nor does it let me see what the command actually is (in order to add that same exact command to another menu), thus I don't have much to work with.
And thus I am seeking a file (or a gigantic registry key? ugh.) that I can edit somewhere else where I have more powerful tools. (my VS version is Enterprise 2017 if that matters)
You can find the defaults at C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2017\Enterprise\Common7\IDE\Profiles, with a general settings and some language-specific overrides. There's an additional override in IDE\VC\Profiles as well.
In my case, I wanted to move 'Start new instance" on a Project into the top-level context menu. So I:
Made a copy of CurrentSettings.vssettings
Added a new command where I wanted it (via the Tools > Customize... GUI)
Found the command I wanted to clone and moved it up one
Closed VS (it saves on exit)
Compared the two files to find the diffs (use your favorite tool.) You'll find them under Category[#name="Environment_CommandBars"]\CommandBars\UserCustomizations as add remove and modify entries
Took the Cmd attribute from the moved entry and pasted it over the added one (it was Cmd="{1496A755-94DE-11D0-8C3F-00C04FC2AAE2}:00000164" for me, to save interested parties a few steps)
Undid the move to retain only the added entry
I wasn't able to find a command entry for this anywhere in the defaults, so had to figure it out the hard way.
I started working on a legacy software that uses Visual Basic 6 with TortoiseSVN on Windows.
When I work from the trunk, I am able to use the "Save Form As" contextual menu command to duplicate a form.
When doing the same when working on a branch, the command does not have any effect.
I have tried moving the project directory to the SVN ignore list.
I have also tried to take it out of source control all together.
I created a new repository and checked out the code. From this new repository, I could not copy a form in either the trunk or the branch.
I still cannot copy an existing form.
This tells me there might be an issue with file access permissions.
Sometimes .frm files have an accompanying .frx file (a binary file). Check whether this file is read-write. You may need to lock it in SVN. Since it is a binary file, the recommended practise is to mark it as needs-lock in SVN. VB6 sometimes fails to show helpful error messages if the .frm is read-write but the .frx is read-only.
I have a Clear Case VOB mapped on my Z: drive in Windows 7 and checked out 2 files. All the other files are shown as read only in Visual Studio 2013 but these checked out files seem to be editable (no lock symbol like on the others), but when I try to save the file it only allows shows a "Save As" dialog and when I try to overwrite the file I get a message "Access to 'Z:...\khmwdkwdmx.d0c' is denied" (which I suppose must be some kind of generated temp file, because every time I try to save it always has a different name). If I edit the file in Notepad++ it can be saved as normal, no errors in that case.
Additional info: The problem seems to be that as I can't create new files in a clear case dynamic view only change the files I have checked out, so VS cannot create it's temp files while saving (like m4s1c0nk.swt, jl0lb2ob.255 and other random generated ones) so the file saving always fails. Is there any possible way to turn these file generations off or to generate them somewhere else?
First, make sure of the state of the files within the parent folder of Z:\...\khmwdkwdmx, to check if those two files are indeed checked out.
Second, verify is there is no other processes keeping an handle of those files, preventing Visual Studio to update the actual files.
You can also fall back to a Visual Studio session opening your view using the full path of the dynamic view (M:\MyView\MyVob\...) instead of the subst Z:\MyVob
The problem seems to be that as I can't create new files in a clear case dynamic view only change the files I have checked out,
Check if you can at least check out the parent folder, or check is associated right:
cleartool descr -l parentfolder##
(the ## are for describing the element, not the version, of the parent folder).
Try a:
cleartool protect -chmod 777 parentfolder
More generally, write issues are described in "About the error Checked out version, but could not copy data to <some-file.txt> in view", and are following "About ClearCase permissions on Windows".
I am building a VS 2010 installer, and I want to copy files to app folder depending on what options I select in UI (UI is not simple, so the only option is to show custom dialogs in Install custom action).
The problem is that custom action is actually executed after files are copied already.
One possible solution I can think of is to install all these files into the app dir, and then delete some unnesessary files in custom action. But these files are "secure" in some way, so I don't want to copy them to filesystem, even for a short period of time.
Any thoughts?
If your files shouldn't ever be on the filesystem, you have a problem in the requirements. The .msi storage itself is an open format and can be read by many tools, so if someone knows the file it's possible for them to find and extract it manually.
I agree that it's better to avoid deleting the files after they've been installed for two reasons. One: it avoids wasted work, and two: it won't cause repair scenarios due to missing files that Windows Installer thinks should be present. You should probably figure out how to determine whether these files should be present at an earlier stage of the installation, and set properties that cause this to happen (disable components by condition, or change feature states).
Most controls in MSI dialogs use installer properties. For example, a checkbox may use a property named MY_CHECKBOX which is set to a value or it's empty, based on whether the checkbox is checked or not.
These properties can be used to condition files:
select your setup project in Solution Explorer
click File System Editor button from Solution Explorer top pane
select the file you want to condition
in its Properties pane set Condition field to the condition you want, for example
MY_CHECKBOX = "value"
I'm trying to wrap my head around Xcode's file organization - or lack there of. I can do all I want in project and it looks great with all the "fake" folders and structure. I go look at the file system and boom HUGE mess. I've tried importing files with the Create Folder Reference for any added folder option checked and that works, kinda. I get the structure I want both in Xcode and on the filesystem.
Issues: When I add a file to a folder on the filesystem that is a Folder Reference in Xcode, its not in Xcode when I go look, not even after reloading the project. Files/Subfolders in a Folder Reference can't be moved around in Xcode. When I move them on the filesystem I get red links (can't find the file?) in Xcode.
How do I keep a organized project and filesystem? How can I set up a project to just recognize a folder and show its (current and up-to-date) files and subfolders in my project?
Another issue I seem to run into, if I use a Folder Reference and change a file, the file is not updated in my application unless I do a full clean & rebuild. If I don't use a Folder Reference, all my files are dumped into the Resource folder of the application bundle, not in the nice structure I have in my project.
Should I care at all? Should I just use the fake folders and let everything go everywhere and not care? My application bundle will be a mess, the filesystem will be a mess, but it will all work... I would hope?
Edit:
My biggest reason for wanting an organized filesystem is that the resource files (images, sounds, other datafiles, etc.) are not edited in Xcode. I have to access them in 3rd party apps via the filesystem. If its a mess things are harder to find and maintain in the other 3rd party applications.
Also what happens if I want a structure like the following:
Images/Backgrounds/Name.png
Images/Icons/Name.png
Images/Titles/Name.png
Should I use long filenames rather than folders to organize?
Images_Backgrounds_Name.png
Images_Icons_Name.png
Images_Titles_Name.png
I also wish Xcode automatically kept itself and the file system in sync.
So much so, that I spent an hour doing so manually for a project called acani-iphone on GitHub. Basically, I just moved some of the files around using Finder, creating new folders as I pleased. Then, I switched back to Xcode and saw that the files I just moved were now red (because Xcode was thinking they're where I moved them from and so couldn't find them).
UPDATE: I just figured out that I could've then just clicked on the red group or file, pressed CMD+i (Get Info from the context menu, which you can open by right-clicking on the red file or group), and under the General tab, clicked Choose, then found where I moved the file to in the filesystem. But, I didn't do that, here's what I did instead, which also works:
Then, I just highlighted all the red files in Xcode and pressed command + delete to delete the broken (red) references. Then, I right-clicked on the Group I wanted to add the files to (usually the same group), and clicked Add > Existing Files.... Then, I found the same files in the new spot on the file system. I kept "Copy items into destination group's folder (if needed)" unchecked, I checked the radio button "Recursively create groups for any added folders," and I checked add to target acani if the files I was adding were being used to build the acani iPhone app.
I did the above with like a directory of files at a time. A few times I was more aggressive, adding multiple directories at a time, since I almost always selected the radio button "Recursively create groups for any added folders."
I found out that the files acani_Prefix.pch and acani-Info.plist had to stay in the root file system dir (although there may be settings you can set to allow these files to be elsewhere, like I think you can add a line to acani-Info.plist so that you can move/rename acani_Prefix.pch, but I'm fine with them in the root dir on the file system.
That was annoying to do, and perhaps not even worth the trouble, perhaps procrastination, but going forward, before adding existing files to Xcode, I'll first make sure they're in the place I want them to be on the file system.
OK, so here is how it works:
Xcode doesn't know about any files until you tell it about them. That is, even if you add a file manually in the finder (usually a bad idea) to a folder that contains files in an Xcode project, it doesn't know about them until you "add existing file to project".
The best practice (imo) for adding an existing file (or group of files) to a project (say, some code you just downloaded) is to choose "add existing files" and then "copy items to destination group's folder (if needed)" in the next dialog, if you want your project to have a copy of the files in question, rather than merely a reference to them (there are advantages and disadvantages of both).
Don't worry too much about the naming of folders in Xcode, or where you put things, but try to keep to a standard that makes sense in your environment. For example, I always put the classes I write in "Classes", and have separate folders for any library code i've downloaded for use in the project. I always put images/icons/audio etc in to "Resources".
In short, if you like what's in the project folder to be approximately the same as what's in your project, always add existing files by choosing the "copy items to destination group's folder"
The flexibility in XCode is intentional. It's up to you to decide how you like to organise things.
Should I care at all? Should I just use the fake folders and let
everything go everywhere and not care? My application bundle will be a
mess, the filesystem will be a mess, but it will all work... I would
hope?
IMO no... :) basically. The whole point is that XCode has been designed to give you the best experience of programming. If Apple wanted you to physically organise all your files and folders within the actual filesystem then they would have made it that way.
I don't really understand why you would want to organise all the files and folders in this way anyway? It makes no difference to the running of the application and the "fake" folders (groups) in XCode adequately provide the necessary visual aid for yourself (and others) to navigate through your classes and other resources. Organising it correctly in your filesystem (as you have found) surely just makes things more difficult?
Use Synx.
It rearranges your files on disk to match your Xcode groups. I try to run it before committing any code that changes the Xcode groups, and it keeps the project nice and tidy.
It would be great if Xcode could keep itself and the file system in sync. Unfortunately it doesn't. One reason for wanting it to is so the hierarchy in your SCCS matches the one in Xcode.
I fall back to keeping things organized in Xcode, and leaving the file system separated into not much more than "Classes" and "Resources".
This changed with Xcode 9. From the release notes:
Groups in the Project Navigator are now more closely associated with
directories in the file system. (28612132)
Dragging files between groups in the Project Navigator moves the files in the filesystem and updates any associated SCM working copies.
When a group is connected to folder in the filesystem, creating, renaming, and deleting groups updates the corresponding files and
folders in the the filesystem.
To remove a connection between a group and a folder in the filesystem, select the group, and then open the File inspector and
click on the on the Clear path button (X).
To add or update an association from a file or a folder in the filesystem to a file or a group in the project, select the file or
group, open the File inspector, and drag the corresponding file or
folder onto the Location section in the File inspector.
The new behaviour is available from the 'New Group with Folder' command (which may appear as just 'New Group'), while the old behaviour is available from the 'New Group without Folder' command (which may also appear as just 'New Group'!) The dominant usage amongst any existing groups in the target folder seems to determine which command gets labelled 'New Group'. It's more than a little confusing, but if you are in the habit of choosing one or the other, the idea seems to be that you can just stick with the default 'New Group' command. (See rob mayoff's far more thorough explanation.)
What I do is create a group to represent each folder and then, before adding files to it, in the right panel, first tab, immediately below "Path", there is an icon that allows you to choose the folder. In that folder dialog, I create a folder that matches the group and choose it.
In xcode3, this resulted in new and add files dialogs starting in this path. That made it worth the effort. Xcode4, however, does not respect this setting. Therefore, its questionable whether there is any real value in it. I also wish XCOde would support better file system organization.
Considering that file names must be unique within a project, regardless of groups and folders, there is justification for accepting the flat folder structure default and using groups for IDE convenience. Its difficult to come from other platforms where this is frowned upon.
i feel you and personally cannot NOT care about the actual structure and just rely on workspaces.
what would be really great is a tool that will go over the workspace structure and re-organize the file system accordingly, taking care of any re-naming of folders etc. this would be a classic solution and IMHO should be implemented as an option as we re-organize our project as we move about it.
some issues could be source control though xcode4 works with both git and SVN.