How SKILL IDE Works
When you open a file in SKILL IDE, it automatically opens in the SKILL IDE editor window. If you open multiple files, they are displayed on different tabs in the tab bar. To switch between files, click the required tab.
When you open a file, only the editing features are available; debugging operations are available only after you load the file. SKILL IDE does not start debugging until you run a function belonging to the file that has been loaded. You can also open a file in read-only mode. However, none of the editing or debugging features are available in this mode.
When you run a function, SKILL IDE checks for the presence of the function in the files that have been loaded and executes it. Before executing the function, you can make use of various debugging facilities, such as breakpoints, to identify the source of errors in the code.
You can use the load() function to load a SKILL file directly from the CIW. If you do this while SKILL IDE is open, the functions contained in that file are also available for debugging.
SKILL IDE saves a backup copy each time you edit a SKILL file. This backup copy is saved in the same directory as the original file and has .skillide prefixed to the name of the original file. For example, when you open a file named demo.il, a backup file with the name .skillide.demo.il gets created. This backup file can be used to recover any unsaved edits if the Virtuoso session terminates unexpectedly.
When you open a file in SKILL IDE, Virtuoso searches the directory where the file being opened resides for any corresponding backup file. If a backup file exists and it is different from the original file, a question dialog box appears seeking input whether to open the original file or restore its backup file. Consider a case where the system crashed while you were modifying the demo.il file. When you restart Virtuoso and reopen this file in SKILL IDE, Virtuoso checks the contents of the .skillide.demo.il backup file that had got created for it. If the two files have different content, you get the question dialog box to specify your choice. However, if both files have the same content, the demo.il file opens instantly.
Also, when you open a new file Document_<N>, SKILL IDE checks if a temporary backup file (.skillide.Document_<N>) for Document_<N> exists. If such a file exists, SKILL IDE names the new backup file as .skillide.Document_<N+1>. For example, if a temporary backup file skillide.Document_6 exists, to prevent overwriting of Document_6, SKILL IDE opens the new file as Document_7 and names its backup file as skillide.Document_7.
Related Topics
SKILL Integrated Development Environment
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