Neuron Developer Studio Help Pre-Release

Latest Version: 1.0 b6
Release Date: Jan 05, 2005
Next Update: Jan 31, 2005

Check What's New in "Version 1.0 b6".


We are very interested to hear from you. Please e-mail your bug reports, feature suggestions and/or comments to Support.

Release Notes

In order for Neuron Developer Studio to run, it requires that the following DLLs be installed on your system:

In order for the integrated visual debugger to run, DBGHELP.DLL - version 6.0 or higher is required. This DLL can be found in the bin directory of your Microsoft Visual C++ Toolkit 2003 installation. You can also get this DLL from Microsoft's download site.

User Interface

Neuron Developer Studio is a set of tools for developers combined in an Explorer style user interface. It provides a set of viewers for a number of file formats used in software development. The viewers expose the binary data structure of the files and allow extraction of data from them.

Neuron Developer Studio presents the information using tabs, trees, tables and syntax colored text. The user interface is centered around 5 tabs:

Workspace and Files tabs are providing two different views of the files stored on the disk. ODBC tab shows all database sources registered on the computer, and tables and other objects contained in these sources. Registry tab simply contains a view of the registry. Win32 tab contains major system DLLs and provides easy access for viewing.

The display area of each tab contains a vertical and a horizontal split. The left hand side of each tab holds a tree view of objects available for selection. When object is selected, the right hand side of each tab displays a set of available viewers for the selected object.

Object menus - access to functionality

In order to manipulate an object it needs to be selected first. Clicking on the right mouse button brings up a context sensitive popup menu providing access to various actions on the object. Each object provides the following functions:

  • View as text - shows the object text and the text of its immediate children as text in a separate window.
  • View detached - shows the object in a separate window
  • Copy - copies the object text to system clipboard

Files tab

Files tab shows all disk drives and all physical files on these drives. Deleting and editing these files and directories is directly affecting them on the disk. For example: deleting a file or a directory from the Files tab tree, deletes them on the disk.

Workspace tab

Workspace tab, unlike Files tab, is a set of links to actual files and directories on the disk. It is a collection of shortcuts to the actual files. It allows fast access to "favorite" directories and files.

Workspace does not have to reflect the directory structure on the disk, but rather allows the user to create a new structure and combine files and folders for easy access. Each of folders and file links can be connected to an actual disk directory and file. Folders can also simply be placeholders containing other folders and files. Single folder can contain file links linked to physical files contained in different directories. Deleting folder and file links does not have any effect on files and directories they are linked to. For example, the user can create a folder and use it to store links to all DLL, OCX and EXE files that are of interest.

Example: In order to include all Java source files from c:/java1.3/src directory in the workspace, select the root or any other folder in the Workspace tab, click on the right mouse button. Select "Add Folder" from the menu and select c:/java1.3/src directory. That will add "src" folder to the Workspace tab. If you want to change its name to "Java", select "Properties" menu and change the name in the dialog box. Select "Recursive" menu followed by "Scan Folder Directory". That will automatically create links to all directories and files within the c:/java1.3/src directory.

Neuron Visual C++

Neuron Visual C++ allows you to build C++ programs for Microsoft Windows family of operating systems using your compiler and development environment of choice. It supports the following compilers:

  • Microsoft Visual Studio C++ compiler version 6.0
  • Microsoft Visual C++ Toolkit 2003 compiler version 7.0
  • Intel 8.0 Compiler
  • MinGW GNU Gcc version 2.3.2

Here are the links to download site for free Microsoft compiler and development environment: Microsoft Visual C++ Toolkit 2003 and the Microsoft Platform SDK.

Here is the link to MinGW GNU Gcc compiler and development environment for building Windows applications using GNU Gcc: MinGW GNU Gcc

Compiles are organized in compiler type groups. All compilers in a particular compiler type group have a similar set of options. Neuron Visual C++ currently supports two different groups: Microsoft/Intel C/C++ compilers and GNU Gcc compilers.

Neuron Visual C++ is pre-configured to allow you to build programs using the default installation directories of these compilers and development environments. Using the Compilers section of the Settings tab you can configure any number of compiler/environment combinations and rebuild your source using them.

For Visual Studio 6, the typical directories are:

    C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\VC98\bin
    C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\Common\MSDev98\bin
    LIB = C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\VC98\lib
    LIB = C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\VC98\mfc\lib
    INCLUDE = C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\VC98\include
    INCLUDE = C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\VC98\mfc\include

For Visual C++ Toolkit 2003, the typical directories are:

    C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual C++ Toolkit 2003\bin
    C:\Program Files\Microsoft SDK\bin
    LIB = C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual C++ Toolkit 2003\lib
    LIB = C:\Program Files\Microsoft SDK\lib
    INCLUDE = C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual C++ Toolkit 2003\include
    INCLUDE = C:\Program Files\Microsoft SDK\include

For MinGW GNU Gcc, the typical directories are:

    C:\MinGW\bin
    C:\MinGW\lib\gcc-lib\mingw32\3.2.3
    LIB = C:\MinGW\lib
    LIB = C:\MinGW\lib\gcc-lib\mingw32\3.2.3
    INCLUDE = C:\MinGW\include

Building Code

The Neuron Visual C++ build environment revolves around folders, projects and targets. They are used to specify all the information required to build EXE, DLL and LIB files. The following information is required for a build:

  • Input source files: .c, .cpp, .rc, etc.
  • Build options : compiler and linker options
  • Output directories : directories for EXE, DLL, LIB and temporary OBJ files
  • System and other external libraries
  • Project-to-project dependencies
  • Which compiler and development environment to use

The main objective of the Neuron Visual C++ build environment design was to separate input source files from build options, output directories and compilers. This system allows the same set of input files to be built into a separate set of output directories, using different compiler and different build options.

Targets contain build options, output directories and external libraries. Given that different compiler types require different options, every target is always associated with a specific compiler type. Projects are simply a named collection of targets. They also contain dependencies on other projects. Input source files come from workspace folders.

You can build code using Neuron Visual C++ using three different project sources:

  • Using Microsoft .DSW and .DSP files
  • Using template projects found on the Settings tab
  • Using .neuproj project files

Neuron Visual C++ does not work with makefiles.

To build a new project, use the predefined targets and projects in the C++ compiler section of the Settings tab. Simply select a folder or a directory in the Workspace or Files tab and choose Build command. A dialog box will pop up allowing you to select one of the pre-defined projects. The settings from the selected project and the default target will be used to compile all the files in the selected folder. You can also save a project into a .neuproj file. If a folder or a directory you chose to build contains a .neuproj file with the same name as the folder, the program will use it instead of a one of the pre-defined projects.

To change the default target (Debug or Release), select the desired target in the C++ C++ Compiler section of the Settings tab and choose "Set Default" command. Both, default targets and targets within projects allow setting of output Bin, Lib and Include Directories. If project does not have them set, the program is using the values from the default target.

If you wish to rebuild your Visual Studio 6 project using the new Visual C++ Toolkit 2003 compiler without using the new C run-time library, simply point the "Visual C++ Bin" setting to the new compiler and keep the "Visual C++ Root Directory" and "Platform SDK/Visual Studio Root Directory" pointing to the Visual Studio 6 directories. Installation subdirectory cpp contains a file named PatchClMs7.cpp that provides help in resolving the differences between the two run-time library versions. Pre-defined "Mix : Visual C++ Toolkit 2003 with Visual Studio 98" compiler configuration contains these settings for the default installations of Microsoft Tools.

In order to build a project contained in a DSW file, open the DSW file, select the desired DSP it contains, select the desired target within the DSP and choose "Build" command. If you make your desired target default in the Setting tab, you can simply select the desired DSP and choose "Build" command. The log window contains the C++ compiler output. You can go to files containing compiling errors by double-clicking the error line, hitting the ENTER key or using F4 shortcut key.

Notes

Microsoft Visual C++ Toolkit 2003 does not include CVTRES.EXE that is required by LINK.EXE to support .RES files. You can use CVTRES.EXE supplied by the Microsoft Visual Studio 6.

Neuron Visual Java

Neuron Visual Java allows you to build Java programs using your compiler and JDK version of choice. Using the Java Compiler and Java Run sections of the settings tab you can configure your Java development environment.

In order to build Java classes, simply select the desired .java source file or a folder containing .java source files and choose "Build" command. The log window contains the Java compiler output. You can go to files containing compiling errors by double-clicking the error line, hitting the ENTER key or using F4 shortcut key.

To run a Java class that contains a static main function, simply select the .class file or the source .java file and choose "Run" command.

Make sure to select the "Class Path" directory, otherwise the Java tools will fail.

Neuron Visual Java includes the integrated visual debugger. To debug a Java class that contains a static main function, simply select the source .java file and choose "Go" command or press F5. The visual debugger will load jdb.exe, set your pre-defined breakpoints and start the execution. The application main window will enter a debug state that shows the debug toolbar, call stack and variables windows. The debugging session can be terminated by terminating the debugged program of choosing "Stop Debug" command.

Uninstalling

Simply delete the directory containing Neuron Developer Studio. The program does not affect any files outside of the directory it is installed in and it leaves no trace on your computer.

Features

Neuron Developer Studio provides the following functionality:

    Edit and build C++ programs using free Microsoft Visual C++ Toolkit 2003
    Compile Visual C++ projects (DSW and DSP).
    Edit, build and debug Java programs.
    Source Code Analysis : C, C++, Java, C#, Visual Basic, COBOL
    DLL, OCX and EXE viewing and disassembling
    Resource viewing, conversion and extraction for PE files (DLL, EXE, OCX)
    Java .CLASS viewing and disassembling
    Search for text across source code file formats and directories
    ODBC Browser
    HTML, XML, DTD viewers
    Image and media file binary structure viewers
    Misc file binary structure viewers: structured storage, Outlook Express
    Compression File Formats : ZIP, JAR, CAB, TAR, GZ etc.
    Simple IDE for viewing, editing and building Java classes.

Integration with Microsoft Visual C++


Edit and build C and C++ programs using free Microsoft Visual C++ Toolkit 2003 and the Microsoft Platform SDK. In addition to creating new projects, the program allows developers to rebuild their existing Visual Studio 6 projects (DSW, DSP) using the new C++ compiler 7.0 and take advantage of smaller and faster code generation.
    Build your Visual Studio 6 DSW and DSP projects using the new version 7 C++ compiler.
    Build new projects using Neuron .neuproj files
    Edit C and C++ code

DLL, OCX and EXE


View all the internals of DLL, OCX and EXE files including the disassembled code, exports, imports and resources. This tools is very helpful while debugging calls to DLLs with no access to the source code, including the operating system libraries. It is also useful in evaluating the code generated by compilers for performance and optimum size.
    View the binary contents, sections, structures, segments, import and export tables
    Intel ASM and C/C++ view of the code, call and caller trees
    View and extract resources: bitmaps, cursors, icons, dialog boxes, menus, string tables, message tables
    Convert resources to Java classes: dialog boxes, menus, string tables, message tables

Java .CLASS


View all the internals of .CLASS files. Read the Java byte code and view the source Java code.

Source Code Analysis


Parsers and viewers for C, C++, C#, Java, VB and COBOL.
    Syntax coloring
    Parsing and exposing methods and objects
    Object models and inheritance graphs
    Code statistics: lines of code, number of classes, number of methods, number of comments, etc.

ODBC Browser


    Table data viewers
    Conversion of table data to delimited text files
    View SQL statements behind table definitions

Image And Media File Viewers


Read internal binary structures for major image and media file formats: JPEG, GIF, BMP, PhotoShop, TIFF, PNG, AVI, WAV.

Misc File Viewers


Read internal binary structures for structured storage files (Microsoft Word, Excel etc.), Outlook Express .dbx files etc..

Compression File Viewers

    View internal binary structures for ZIP, JAR, CAB, GZ and TAR files.
    View compressed files stored in these formats directly without extraction or extract them to disk.
    Create TAR and GZ archives.

Support


Please e-mail bug reports, feature suggestions and/or comments to Support.