You can create a unique stationery (template) project file that contains your customized collection of files and options. Configuring your own project stationery file allows you to re-use your customized settings each time you create a new project.

For beginners

To create your own project stationery file, follow these steps:

1. Create a new project from an existing project stationery file.

See "Creating a New Project" for more information.

2. Choose File > Save A Copy As.

A dialog box appears.

3. Use the dialog box to save the new project to the Project Stationery folder.

You must create a folder in which to store the new project. The IDE recognizes a project stationery file by its enclosing folder. Make sure to complete the project-file name with the .mcp extension. The Windows-hosted CodeWarrior IDE requires this extension in order to properly recognize the file.

4. Modify the project settings to best suit your needs.

Add and remove files as needed, rearrange files, and configure the project exactly as you would like to have for a base project. The CodeWarrior IDE duplicates these settings when using your customized project stationery file to create new projects.

5. Ensure that copies of all project source files are present in the project folder.

If the source files are not in the same folder as the project file, the IDE cannot duplicate those source files to any new projects created with your project stationery file.

6. Save your changes after you finish modifying the project.

The project now contains all the settings that the IDE needs to create new projects. Because you saved the project to the Project Stationery folder, the IDE recognizes the project as a project stationery file.

7. Close the project.

After closing the project, the IDE generates a project data folder for the project file. By default, this folder appears within the same folder as the project file. The name of the project data folder contains the name of the project file. For example, the IDE generates a MyProject_Data folder for a project file named MyProject.mcp.

8. Delete the project data folder.

The IDE does not use the project data folder to create new projects from stationery. After you delete the project data folder, your project is ready for use as a project stationery file.

After you save your stationery file in the Project Stationery folder, you can use that stationery the next time you choose File > New.

After you use your custom project stationery file to create a new project, the IDE duplicates all of the files associated with your project stationery file to the new project.

To learn how to configure the Preferences in your project stationery file, see "Choosing Preferences." See "Choosing Target Settings" to learn about configuring the Target Settings in a similar way.

For information about adding files or changing files in the project, see "Managing Files in a Project." See "Backing up files" for more information about saving a copy of the project under a different name.

Since you saved the project stationery file before continuing work with it, your favorite default settings become available again the next time you use your project stationery file to create a new project. New projects created with your project stationery file include all the settings you initially configured for that stationery file.

If at any time you decide that you want to use different project settings for new projects, you can create a new project stationery file. Follow the same procedure described in this section to create the new project stationery file. If you wish to replace the older version of the project stationery file with the newer version, save the new version to the same location as the old version, under the same name, and replace (overwrite) the old version.