6.6.2 Files Window View

The Files window allows you to view all of your project contents in a directory-based view, even files and folders not shown in the Projects window.

Figure 6-54. Files Window – Simple C Code Project
Table 6-9. Files Window Definitions
Folder Description
MyProject The project folder, which contains the Makefile file and C code or assembly application files.

Makefile is the main makefile for the project. This file is generated at project creation time and it is not touched after that (it will not be regenerated). You can make changes to this file if you are familiar with GNU Make. But MPLAB X IDE provides ways to add a pre-step and post-step (Project Properties) which can be used instead of modifying the Makefile itself.
build(1) The intermediate files folder. Files are contained in subfolders depending on project configuration, usage and location.

The build files are:

  • Run files (.o)
  • Dependency files (.o.d)
  • HI-TECH® intermediate files (.p1)
dist(1) The output files folder. Files are contained in subfolders depending on project configuration, usage and location.

The distribution files are:

  • Executable files (.hex)
  • ELF or COF object files (.elf or .cof)
  • library files (.a or .lib)
nbproject The makefile and metadata folder. Contains these files:
  • The private folder contains the user and computer specific settings of the project
  • Project makefile
  • Configuration-specific makefiles
  • project.xml IDE-generated metadata file
  • configurations.xml metadata file
default, MyConfig(2) The project configurations folders. If no configurations are created by the developer, all code is in default.
production, debug(2) The production and debug versions folders.
_ext(2) The external project files folder. If a file is referenced outside the project folder, it is listed here.
  1. You do not need to check these folders into source control. A build will create them. See also 8.9 Source Control: Revision Control Systems.
  2. These items are not shown in the figure above.

See also the NetBeans help topic. Select Help > Online Help Contents and in the Search tab enter Files Window C and C++. Find the first occurrence of “Files Window” in the list.