IDE (Integrated Development Environment)

Although ASP Compiler is mostly an additional tool it has UI application (ASPC IDE) which can be used to maintain the projects and edit the files. The features of the IDE are mostly oriented to the build process, but it includes integrated text editor.

ASPC IDE supports 3 window types:

1. Files - Only one window of this type can be opened. This is the file list for the currently opened project. The list contains the files to be processed and displays additional information about the processing options and so on. Columns:
   File name: Name of the file without the path
   Compile as: Processing option name. You can see details about it and also change the option by selecting the file and choosing the File options item from the edit menu or the right-mouse menu for the item. See details about the options in the Processing options.
   Path: The directory containing the file.
   Full file path: File full physical path and name.
   Processing description: The description of the processing option selected - corresponds to the Compile as column.
2. Output - This window lists the messages issued by the compiler during the build. Columns:
   Type: Icon and message type name.
   Code/Level: Error/warning code or message level index. Filled for the certain message types only.
   Description: Message text.
   File: Related file. Usually the file being processed in which the event occurred or the file being generated.
   
   Right mouse click over a message opens a dialog with the data listed in the output. You can copy/paste the message description from this dialog or open the related file in the editor. Also pessing enter opens in the editor the file related to the selected message.
   
   Message types:
   Error - Error message. Code/Level column specifies the error code. Note that the error code points only the general error type and the description shows the details about the particular message. See also errors.
   Warning - Warning message. Code/Level specifies the warning message code as like for the error messages. See also warnings.
   File - File message. Reports a file being processed or generated. Description column shows details about the file type/processing. Using these messages you can trap missing includes or just track the file processing process.
   Message - Miscellaneous messages. Various reports issued by the compiler. Most important are the messages issued after an error or warning message - they contain additional information for the error/warning. You can disable some of the messages by using the General options dialog box. To select which messages are not of interest use their level - shown in the Code/Level column.
   Success/Failure - End message - report about the build result.
3. Editor - Multiply windows of this type can be opened. Text edit windows support line numbers, saving/importing selections from external files, text search. This version does not support syntax coloring. There is no limit on the file size (Windows 98/ME). 

ASPC IDE also registers itself as handler for the project files and you are able to open them by double clicking them in the shell windows.

The general options can be accessed from the IDE's file menu - "General options". The dialog box is shown above.

File processing

In this part you can specify/change the default processing option policy IDE uses when a file is added to the Files window. The processing option selection depends on the file extension thus you are able to add new file extensions or change the existing ones. This may help to reduce the work when building projects by adopting the IDE behavior to your needs. For example if you have ASP files with non-standard extensions it will be good to add their extension here, connect it to the ASPtoVB processing option and thus avoid need to edit every file's options when adding it to a project.

Temporary file name is the file name (only) of the temp file used by the compiler when needed. In nearly all the cases this option will not be of use unless you have some problems caused by file name collisions.

Default project name is the project name set in the project settings when new project id created. It is recommended to set this option to some string (no more than 20 characters) derived from your company name. Read also ProgIDs chapter to learn more about the project name considerations.

After successful compilation: Specify what to do after successful build. There is a button on the toolbar which makes easy to start VB after successful build thus avoiding auto start of the VB could be convenient for you if you want to review the output always before continuing. Also don't forget about the file locking - if the older version of the DLL exist it may be in use by IIS or ALP for example. To avoid complicated situations dut=ring the development it is recommended to pay attention what applications use your DLL and stop them when using VB in order to allow it to replace the DLL. If it is IIS you will need to stop and restart it after making the DLL with VB, if it is ALP ensure you run the browser windows in separate processes to avoid need to restart the entire Windows shell (which will mean log off/log on in many cases). Note that successful compilation is any build without errors, thus warning messages does not mean the build is not successful but in some cases warnings may point to a potential problem which must be resolved before continuing.

Compiler messages level: Minimal message level to show in the output window. Meaningful values are currently between 0 and 3 - 0 means all the messages will be shown, 3 means only the messages related to the issued errors and warnings will be shown and also some other very important ones will be listed. The best decision can be done over the listed value in the Code/level column in the output window - see what messages you need and specify their level here.

Restore factory defaults: Restore default general options. Use this button to revert to the internally defined general settings in the ASPC IDE - installation defaults.