Migrating IDL Workbench Project folders (7.0 and later) into a new or reset IDL workspace folder

Topic:
Sometimes it can be convenient to be able to transfer existing IDL Project folders into a brand new IDL workspace folder, perhaps to separate some projects into their own new IDL workspace folder.

NOTE: IDL Projects from IDL 6.4 and earlier *cannot* be used or imported by IDL 7.0 or later. This article only discusses access to IDL projects created in IDL 7.0 and later. Earlier versions of IDL projects are not compatible with the IDL Workbench environment.

This technique can also be useful to clear out/completely reset the workspace preferences of an old workspace folder, but without the need to create a new workspace folder and then moving project folders to the new location.

NOTE: If you are re-importing IDL projects from an existing IDL workspace, but are first wanting to clear out the old workspace preferences, then before proceeding do the following: Go to the actual target workspace folder (using your system file manager or from a terminal prompt) and then Delete the ".metadata" folder tree (or rename it to ".metadata-old")

Terminology:

• IDL Workbench : IDL 7.0 (and later) development environment (based upon the Eclipse Toolkit).



• IDL Workspace : Container for an IDL Workbench session projects and preferences for the Workbench session.



• IDL Project : Container for IDL program (and related) files, linked files and folder. (This article only discusses Projects created by IDL 7.0 and later.

Discussion:
To migrate existing IDL (7.0 and later) Project folders into a new (or reset) workspace folder, do the following:

1. Quit out of any existing IDL Workbench sessions.
   
   
2. Start an new IDL Workbench session.
   
   
3. From the Workbench Launcher dialog, select the target workspace folder either by selecting it from the Workspace pull-down field or by clicking on the "Browse..." button and then selecting the target folder containing your existing Project folders. Note that if your Workbench settings are already configured to automatically open the target workspace folder, then you can just proceed to the next steps.
   
   
   
   
4. Without an existing ".metadata" in the workspace folder, the IDL Workbench folder may open to the Welcome page. Click on the "IDL Workbench" icon to proceed.
   
   
5. Find the "Project Explorer" view (if not already visible, then from the "Window" menu item, select Show View -> Project Explorer).
   
   
   
   
6. At this point, in the Project Explorer window you should only see a "Default" folder. In order to be able to see the other IDL Project folders that already exist in the workspace folder, do the following:
   
   
   1. Select the Workbench menu item: File -> Import
      
      
   2. Expand "General" folder.
      
      
   3. After selecting the item, "Existing Projects into Workspace", click on "Next".
      
      
      
      
   4. Select/highlight the "Select root directory" radio button and then click on "Browse".
      
      
   5. Browse to and then select/highlight the target folder that contains the desired set of existing IDL Project folders, then click on "OK".
      
      
   6. A list of existing IDL Project folders should be displayed in the Projects window.
      
      
   7. Check "on" all project folder check boxes (or click on "Select All" button)
      
      
   8. Click on Finish

After completing these last steps, you should now be able to see and access the other project folders in the Project Explorer view.