How-Tos for Eclipse

SE 2040 Eclipse CDT How-Tos

See here for installation directions.

Note: some of the directions below are for pre-2019 versions of Eclipse and are in the process of being updated.

Configuration

Temporarily changing the font size for presentations:
Press Control-Shift-+ to increase the font size, Control-- (control-minus) to decrease it.
Turning off hard tabs:
1. Windows | Preferences
2. General | Editors | Text Editors | check Insert spaces for tabs
3. C/C++ | Code Style | Formatter; click the New button to create a new profile, then OK to continue. The system will pop up a formatting dialog; on the Indentation tab, change the policy to "Spaces only"
Making C++14 the default for the editor:
1. Windows | Preferences
2. Expand C/C++, Build, and select Settings
3. Select the Discovery tab
4. Click on CDT Cross GCC Built-in Compiler Settings
5. In the Command to get compiler specs box, add the following before "${INPUTS}":
```
        -std=c++14
```
Set GCC to be the default compiler for new projects:
1. Windows | Preferences
2. C/C++ | New C/C++ Project Wizard
3. In Project type, select Executable
4. in Toolchains, select MinGW GCC
5. Click on the button Make toolchain(s) preferred
Improving the behavior when you run or debug programs:

Windows | Preferences
Expand Run/Debug and Launching
Set Continue launch if project contains errors to Prompt
In Launch Operation, select Launch the associated project and Terminate and Relaunch while launching
Adding a margin line to identify long lines

Windows | Preferences
General | Editors | TextEditors
Check Show print margin and set the margin to the appropriate number.

Creating New C++ Projects

File | New | C++ Project, select Hello World C++ Project, MinGW GCC and set the project name. There should be no spaces in the name.
To control where your project is located, deselect Use default location and browse to where you want your project files to be located. This is more robust than placing them in the workbench, and helps tremendously when browsing to the project outside of Eclipse.
If MinGW GCC is not an option when you create a new project, create the mingw32-gcc.exe file and restart Eclipse.
To enable modern C++ features,

Project | Properties
Expand C/C++ Build and click on Settings
Under GCC C++ Compiler click on Dialect
Set the Language standard to ISO C++1y
Click OK

Running Programs from Eclipse

If there is a build error about not being able to access the executable, try killing the debugging sessions:

Window | Open Perspective | Debug (or click on the debug icon in the Quick Access area)
Right click in the Debug area (upper left) and select Terminate/Disconnect All or Terminate and Remove

If there is a build error like "Function 'stoi' could not be resolved",

Project | Clean...
Project | Build Project

To redirect standard input to read from a file,

Run | Run Configurations...
Select the project (if necessary)
Common tab
Check Input File
Use the File System... button to select the input
Select Apply and then close the configuration manager
Note you can also save different input file settings as different run configurations; see the next entry.
Setting command-line arguments:

Run | Run Configurations...
Select C/C++ Application and click on the icon to create a new configuration
Click on the Arguments tab and enter the argument such as
-f myfile.xyz

Rename the configuration to something like "use myfile" so that you can keep it separate from other configurations
Select the Common tab and check the entries for Debug and Run in the Display in favorites menu box
Select Apply and then close the configuration manager.
You can then select the new run configuration from the dropdowns next to the debug and run icons .