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| <h1 class="Head">Builds</h1> |
| <p class="Para">Builders create or modify workspace resources, usually based on the existence and state of other |
| resources. They are a powerful mechanism for enforcing the constraints of some domain. For example, a Java builder |
| converts Java source files (.java files) into executable class files (.class files), a web link builder updates links |
| to files whose name/location have changed, etc. As resources are created and modified, builders are run and the |
| constraints are maintained. This transform need not be one to one. For example, a single .java file can produce |
| several .class files.</p> |
| <h2>Auto-build vs. Manual Build</h2> |
| <p class="Intro">There are two distinct user work modes with respect to building: relying on Auto-build, or user |
| initiated manual building.</p> |
| <p class="Intro">If you don't need fine-grained control over when builds occur, you can turn on auto-building. With |
| auto-building on, builds occur after every set of resource changes (e.g., saving a file, importing a ZIP, ...). |
| Auto-building is efficient because the amount of work done is proportional to the amount of change done. The benefit |
| of auto-building is that your derived resources (e.g., Java .class files) are always up to date. Auto-building is |
| turned on/off via the <b>Build automatically</b> option on the <a class="command-link" href= |
| 'javascript:executeCommand("org.eclipse.ui.window.preferences(preferencePageId=org.eclipse.ui.preferencePages.Workspace)")'> |
| <img src="PLUGINS_ROOT/org.eclipse.help/command_link.svg" alt="command link"> <b>General > Workspace</b></a> |
| preference page.</p> |
| <p class="Intro">If you need more control over when builds occur, you can turn off auto-building and invoke builds |
| manually. This is sometimes desirable in cases where, for example, you know building is of no value until you finish |
| a large set of changes. In this case there is no benefit to paying the cost of auto-building. Builds can be invoked |
| manually in numerous ways, for example, by right-clicking the project and selecting <b>Build Project</b>.</p> |
| <p class="Intro">The disadvantage of manual building is that the problems that were generated to indicate build |
| errors quickly become out of date until you build. In addition, it is very important that you remember to manually |
| build before relying on build output (e.g. before running your Java program).</p> |
| <h2>Building and Cleaning</h2> |
| <p class="Intro">Builds work incrementally based on a previous built state. They will apply the transforms of the |
| configured builders only on the resources that have changed since that previous state was computed (i.e., since the |
| last build). Auto-building always uses incremental building for efficiency.</p> |
| <p class="Intro">A clean build (<b>Project > Clean</b>) discards any existing built state. The next build after a |
| clean will transform all resources according the domain rules of the configured builders.</p> |
| <p class="Intro">Depending on your needs, build and clean can be done over a specific set of projects or the |
| workspace as a whole. Specific files and folders cannot be built separately.</p> |
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