2.7. External XML Files
The Files menu in the toolbar helps you with all operations relative to file management in the currently open project:
With this menu you can:
Create a new XML file and add it to the project
Open an existing XML file and add it to the project
Import an existing XML file
Note
Opening a file means that System Designer will be working (and modifying) that file directly. Importing a file helps you make a copy of that file. The original file will not be modified by System Designer.
2.7.1. Creating a New File
To create a new file and add it to the current project, select New… from the Files menu:
![Creating a new file](_images/files_new.png)
This will open a file browser to select a name and destination for the new file:
![Creating a new file](_images/file_browser.png)
2.7.2. Open an Existing File
To open an existing file and add it to the current project, select Open… from the File menu:
![Opening a new file](_images/files_open.png)
This will open a simple file browser to search for an XML file to add to the current project.
2.7.3. Import a File
To import one or more files and add them to the current project, select Import… from the Files menu:
![Importing a file](_images/files_import.png)
This will open two file browsers. The first one looks for an XML file or an IDL file to import:
![Browsing for a file to import](_images/file_browser_for_import.png)
Once a file (or files) is selected, a second window lets you copy the content of the file(s) into an existing XML file or create a new XML file with the selected file content:
![Selecting a file to import](_images/select_file_to_import.png)
Note
If Code Generator fails to convert all the IDL files, the second window will not appear.
When importing an IDL file, System Designer calls Code Generator to convert the IDL to XML. If an error occurs while converting the IDL, a dialog box appears showing the issue:
![Error when converting an IDL](_images/convert_idl.png)
![Missing bracket](_images/enumerator_missing_bracket.png)