Various development tips

This page contains various tips for developing for Code::Blocks. It is meant for developers wanting to extend Code::Blocks.

Using Code::Blocks' global configuration

There are many cases where you may need to have persistent configuration values. For example, you may be writing a new plugin (or extend an existing). The global configuration object is a singleton, meaning that only one exists for the program's lifetime. It can be accessed like this:

#include <configmanager.h>
...
ConfigManager::Get()->Read(...); // "read" example
ConfigManager::Get()->Write(...); // "write" example

As you can see, all that's needed is to include the relevant header file. To access the configuration then, you use the static member function ConfigManager::Get() which returns a ConfigManager object (the only). ConfigManager descends from wxConfigBase and so it inherits all its public methods for working with configuration files.

Let's see a real world example. Suppose you 're writing a new plugin and it needs to keep a directory path in a configuration value. To write the configuration value, possibly prior to exiting (or after its imaginary configuration window is closed), do this:

// somehow set pluginDir to the value you want
wxString pluginDir;
// write it in the global configuration
ConfigManager::Get()->Write("/new_plugin/directory", pluginDir);

And to read the saved value, do this:

// write it in the global configuration
// if we never written the value before, "default" will be returned
wxString pluginDir = ConfigManager::Get()->Read("/new_plugin/directory", "default");

In the above examples, the "/new_plugin" part of the string should be replaced with something unique for the plugin you 're writing. For example, the compiler plugin uses "/compiler_gcc", the internal editor class uses "/editor" and so on. That's how simple is to use Code::Blocks' global configuration :)

One more thing: if you want your plugin's configuration to be included in the import/export list in "Settings->Import/export configuration", just add in your plugin's constructor(s) the following:

ConfigManager::AddConfiguration(m_PluginInfo.title, "/new_plugin");

This line will add your plugin in the import/export list. Neat huh?

JIT debugging

cd C:\mingw\bin
drmingw -i -v

this will install drmingw as the jit debugger (drmingw -u to later uninstall) (windbg from the platform sdk can be installed as the jit debugger with windbg -I but it doesn't support gcc gcc debug symbols. it does support vc5/6/7 .pdb files generated by vc++ toolkit, providing true source level debugging)

to test:

- create a win32 project using the gcc compiler as default
- place
 __asm("int3");
 somewhere in the code
- compile & run
 gcc -g

- create a win32 project using vc++ toolkit compiler as default
- place
 __asm{ int 3 };
 somewhere in the code
- compile & run
 cl /Zi
 link /debug