Project properties

The properties for the project you are working with, are always available through the "Project-->Properties" menu and they may vary depending on the project type.

For classic projects, you will see a window like this:

Where you can specify the following information:

• The name of the project (each project must have a name) which will be the name for the exe, dll or lib file
• The type of processor (.386, .486, .586, etc.)
• The alignment of data (4, 8, or 16)
• The type of final version (Debug or Release)
• Include a Manifest to enable the new "common controls" (please see Including a Manifest in the project)
• Enabling the right use of the TextStr macro. It will return ANSI or Unicode text depending on whether the Build project as Unicode (Windows NT or later) is checked or not. In classic projects, this option does not anything else than defining the APP_UNICODE constant
• Compress the executable file (only Release mode) using UPX.EXE, included with Easy Code
• Including the ECMacros.asm file coming with Easy Code and located in its Macros subfolder (please see Easy Code macros)
• Including the Macros.asm file coming with Masm32, located in the Macros subfolder
• Enabling the Masm32 Unicode mode for MASM32 v11 or later (please see Masm32 Unicode)
• Include the Windows Common controls and/or Rich edit control (corresponding buttons in the tool box are shown/hidden)
• Additional options for the compiler
• Additional options for the linker
• Make all variables global

At link time, Easy Code always runs the linker file with the following options in the command line:

/nologo /subsystem:windows /machine:ix86

IMPORTANT: You are responsible for entering valid Macro Assembler options according to the linker and compiler syntax. If you specify an option that it is not supported, the compiler will generate the corresponding error.

By checking the Make all variables global option, you can make all variables (from any module) to be global to the whole project, that is, "to be seen" from any other module. When this option is checked, you don't have to write ExternDef directives for extern variables, as Easy Code takes care of them. Anyway, for structured programming, you can uncheck this option so that you decide which variables are global.

REMARKS: The Easy Code macros option is always checked by default when starting a new project. Sometimes, a macro name might conflict or you just may want not to include them. If so, uncheck the option and the Easy Code macros will not be included in your project.

For visual projects, the properties window will be the following:

Where you can specify the following information:

• The name of the project (each project must have a name) which will be the name for the exe file
• The main window of the application (startup window)
• The type of processor (.386, .486, .586, etc.)
• The alignment of data (4, 8, or 16)
• The type of final version (Debug or Release)
• How to link the Easy Code visual library (static or dynamic), which is needed for visual projects
• Include a Manifest to enable the new "common controls" (please see Including a Manifest in the project)
• Build the project to run as Unicode (please see ANSI / Unicode applications)
• Compress the executable file (only Release version) using UPX.EXE, included with Easy Code
• Including the ECMacros.asm file coming with Easy Code and located in its Macros subfolder (please see Easy Code macros)
• Including the Macros.asm file coming with Masm32, located in the Macros subfolder
• Enabling the Masm32 Unicode mode for MASM32 v11 or later (please see Masm32 Unicode)
• Add, remove or modify the compiler options
• Include the Windows Common controls and/or Rich edit control (corresponding inc and lib files are added/removed and buttons in the tool box are shown/hidden)
• Define a Header (a text string) which will be available at run time through the Header member of the App object (App.Header).

By the combo box showing the Main window, and for visual projects only, you can also see the icon of the application (for more information, please see The application icon).

The Easy Code mode (visual projects) needs to link the visual library. You can link it statically (default option) and the size of the final application will be larger, but it will have no dependency. On the other hand, you can link it dynamically and the size of your application will be smaller, but then you will have to join the ECDllMsr.dll (located in the Lib\Dynamic subdirectory of the Easy Code application path) when distributing your application. This case is useful when you are going to distribute several Easy Code applications, because just one copy of the ECDllMsr.dll, in the Windows\System directory (usually WINNT\System32 or WINDOWS\System32 for Windows NT40/2000/XP/Vista/7 and WINDOWS\SYSTEM for Windows 95/98/ME), is needed.

In all projects, visual and classic, when you specify a Debug version (Add symbolic information option checked), you can choose whether you want the corresponding *.asm files to be generated (those files are very useful for debugging the application). Easy Code will create a subdirectory, inside the project directory, named Debug or Release, where all generated files will be placed.

REMARKS: The Easy Code macros option is always checked by default when starting a new project. Sometimes, a macro name might conflict or you just may want not to include them. If so, uncheck the option and the Easy Code macros will not be included in your project.