Managing your files
To begin using BVRDE, simply create a new project that connects to the remote server. Add files and folders to your project.
You can use your existing build scripts, or you can allow BVRDE to generate a compiler specific script for you. Once ready for compilation, the BVRDE system can take over and assist in issuing compilation commands and do interactive debugging.
Even though local files can be added to a project in the IDE, the primary support for file management is through a FTP or SFTP connection. The IDE will connect using FTP to the remote target to fetch and store files. This means that all files are stored on the remote target. No resources are needed on your local Windows PC - there is no need to keep anything locally.
Powerful editor capabilities
BVRDE has a very advanced code-editor, with many productivity enhancing features, and it is easy to extend with scripting. It has cool features such as intelli-sense, syntax coloring, mouse hover information, folding of code, line numbers, brace highlighting, and smart indentation.
On top of that, BVRDE supports macro recording and scripting macros (using the VBScript scripting language) allowing you to extend the editor and framework with your own routines.
BVRDE has some support for TAG files. They are files that contain symbolic information extracted from the source files, and are created with various utilities such as the CTAG utility.
Tags are used to provide intelli-sense (auto-listing of class members) and type information when you hover above a member variable with the mouse. Because standard tag information is quite inadequate for a professional IDE, BVRDE also uses a real-time C++ lexer to scan the source-code offering much more reliable and complete intelli-sense and auto-completion.
Compile your application
When the IDE wants to compile the remote project, it will start a Telnet, RLogin or SSH connection to the remote host. Then it will simply execute the build command. Usually this will be a make command or similar - but this can be customized.
All compile output is grabbed and redirected to an output window that slides into view when the project is compiling. To jump directly to a line marked with an error, simply double-click on the output line.
Debug your application
The IDE fully integrates with the GNU GDB and the Sun DBX debugger. The point to make here, is that the debugger is located entirely on the remote target. There is no need to install cross-platform debugging support or whatever - if you can debug the process on the remote target, you will also be able to debug it from your Windows PC.
The debug session is started through a Telnet/SSH prompt. You will never see anything related to Telnet while debugging, because it's all abstracted away internally in the appllication.
The debug manager allows you to to set breakpoints, add watches, see local variables and argument values.
The GDB needs to be at least version 5.3 to work with the application.
The debugger environment present you with a lot of additional information that you can optionally enable while stepping through the code. This includes disassembly view, memory dump, watches, quick watch evaluation, stack trace, register display, thread list and much more. You also get dynamic hover-tips, that display the current value of any indentifier the mouse hovers over while working in the editor.
