[Eric] ANN: Symbolic Linking Plugin for eric4-4.4.0

[Larry Shaffer]

Hi,

I made a plugin for eric4 that adds symbolic links to a project's directory,
allowing selected linked files to load into the source viewer.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4058089/eric4/PluginSymlinks.zip

PluginSymlinks-1.0: Adds contextual menu items to project source browser and
project menu to symbolically link files or directories into a project,
instead of copying. (Should fail to activate on Windows-based platforms,
which are not supported by the Python os.symlink function.)

It is very useful for inspecting the code of source files that you wish not
to copy, like an install of eric4, while working on a project.

It is recommended that symlinked items be stored in their own directory
within your project (e.g. symlinks), as eric4 does not offer indication of
whether a file is a symlink or not.

This plugin's use of symlinks was designed to help look at other source code
structure in the project source viewer only. Other eric4 features may fail
using symlinks.

Let me know if there are any issues with the plugin's functionality.
-- 
Larry


Notes:

Like removing normal directories from a project, links to directories can
not be deleted, just removed. Manual deletion of the directory links from
the actual project directory is necessary. Symbolic links to files can be
deleted from the contextual menu, while their linked-to files remain
unaffected.

Linked-in items have their paths represented relative to the link, not the
path of the original. Linked-in scripts will run from the link's working
directory, unless overridden in eric4's run script dialog. Links whose
originals are missing will cause eric4 to notify you that the link (not the
original) could not be opened.

While you can choose to bring in only certain select files from an initial
setup of a directory link, if you have the Project->'Search for new files on
open' and 'Automatically include found files' options enabled, the next time
the project opens all files you have configured to load into the project
will load (or you will be asked) into all project browsers for that linked
directory, though they are not copied into the project directory.

If you need extensive symlinking, or want to insulate your current project
from containing any symlinks, create a specific project for all your
symlinks and use the mulit-project feature of eric4 or open up another
instance of eric4 with your syminks project loaded. (e.g. I keep a project
with a single symlinked directory to eric4 open in an instance of eric4 on a
second display for immediate access to the whole code base while working on
plugins.)