EiffelStudio: Creating a new project

The first thing to do to start Eiffeling is to create a project. Most commands are disabled when no project is created.

When opening EiffelStudio, by default a dialog is popped up that proposes to create or open a project:

Under Create project, several options are offered, which depend on the platform you are on.

• Basic application is the most basic new project that can be generated. It only includes the base library and by default only creates the frame of the project. This is the ideal choice to start a textual (console) application, or to discover Eiffel. Indeed, the project is very light and includes only things that are essential in any project. It is available on all platforms.
• .NET application has by default all essential components to start a project targeting the Microsoft .NET platform. Of course, it is only available on Windows, and only if you have chosen to install the .NET support during the installation.
• Vision2 application creates a new project that includes the Eiffel Vision2 library . This is the perfect choice to start a platform-independent graphic application, or even any graphic application, since EiffelVision2 is easier to use than platform-specific libraries. This option is available on all platforms.
• WEL application generates a project using the Windows Eiffel Library(WEL) . This option is recommended for projects needing advanced Windows features, or Windows applications that are time-critical, since the graphic functionality provided by WEL is more efficient than the one provided by Vision2, which on the other hand provides a platform-independent abstract interface. This wizard is only available on Windows.
• EiffelWeb application creates a new project based on the EiffelWeb framework (EWF). This is the choice to build a platform-independent web server application on top of various solution (CGI, libFCGI, or standalone EiffelWeb server). This option is available on all platforms.
• This list of wizards is not definitive, and may change in the future, to bring new solutions.

All those options are also available in the File/ New project... menu. This pops up a dialog with all the options to generate a new project:

Tip: If you checked the "Don't show this dialog at startup" checkbox in the start-up dialog but want to get it back, you can use the Preferences dialog to reset the default value.

See Also: Retrieving a project from an configuration file