How to link IDL 8 project to an external directory

When you create a new project in IDL 8, it will include the files within the same directory. It will also include  files in the child directories of the project location.  Sometimes, you may want to include files that are stored outside the project location. Two methods you can use to do this task are shown below:

Create a folder linked to external directory

The first approach is to link the project to the external directory. If you use this approach the external files will not be copied into the project directory.  To complete this task, you can use the procedure listed below: 

1) Right click on the project and select "New Folder..."

2) In the New Folder dialog click the "Advanced >>" button

3) Click the box "Link to folder in the files system" or "Link to alternative location (Linked Folder)"

4) Click "Browse" and browse to the file you want to link to.

Import files from external directory to project directory

An alternative approach might be to import copies of the external files into your project.  This approach might  be preferable  if you wanted to create an archive of the  project files and send it to another machine. A few ways you can import copies of the external files to a project are listed below:

1)  Right click on the project and select "Import ".  In the import dialog, click the browse button and navigate to the folder with the files you want to import.  Select the files you want to copy and click finish.

2)  You can also open the file explorer on your system (such as Windows Explorer or Finder). Then, drag and drop the files into the project folder in the Project Explorer. This may not be supported on all operating systems.

3) You can copy the files to the project directory through the operating system. 

 Reviewed by DS 9/17/2014