Guidelines for sharing projects between computers

Before you decide to share projects between computers, consider your sharing options and the effects of sharing.
You can transfer projects or files to another computer or workspace in two ways:

Files to share

Share only the files that someone else needs to work with the project. Do not share any files that can be generated from other files.

You might share the following files:
  • EGL source files
  • EGL build files
  • EGL deployment descriptors
  • Non-derived metadata files in the project, such as .eglpath and .eglproject files
  • Files that are necessary for Web projects to run on a server, including web.xmland files in the Enterprise Application Resource project, if you have one
Do not share the following files in a repository unless you have a reason to do so:
  • Derived files, including the .ir files found in the EGLBin folder
  • Output files generated from EGL source files, such as .java files and .class files

Regardless of the type of project, do not share derived files. Derived files are generated from source files and are not original data, so you usually do not need to share them. In the context of EGL Java™ generation, derived files include the Java source files that are created during the generation process and the Java class files that are created from those Java source files. EGL source files and build files are not considered derived, but .ir files created from the source files are derived.

When you include derived files, the size of the artifacts that you share increases. Moreover, including derived files might not be useful because they can be regenerated and overwritten when the files are imported into another workspace. However, if the person you are sharing the project with cannot generate the derived files, or if you are trying to diagnose problems with the derived files, you might want to share derived files.

The workbench flags each file to specify whether the file is derived or not. For example, class files created from Java files and .ir files that are created from EGL source files are automatically marked as derived. However, the workbench does not mark Java source files as derived, even if they are generated from EGL source files. In EGL, these Java source files are still considered derived because they are created from EGL source files.

To see whether a file is marked as derived:
  1. In the Project Explorer or Navigator views, right-click the file and click Properties. TheInfo page is displayed.
    Tip: You might want to use the Navigator view to examine derived files because the Project Explorer view filters out some types of derived files, such as EGL .ir files.
  2. On the Properties window of the file, if the Derived check box is selected, the file is marked as derived.
Many sharing methods, including Project Interchange files and some types of repositories, do not retain the derived flag. If you share a derived file and someone else checks out the file, that file will no longer be marked as derived.

Possible errors

When you share projects, dependencies and links within the projects can break as the projects are moved to different locations. To correct errors that you encounter while sharing projects, you might need to complete the following tasks:
  • If the project has other projects in its build path, correct the project dependencies.
  • If any source files use import statements to refer to other EGL parts, make sure that the project can find imported parts in the new location.
  • Verify that links between Web pages still work.

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