Generate IDE project

Summary

./godelw goland generates the project files necessary to load a project in GoLand with "File Watchers" plugin configuration that runs ./godelw format on modified files on save.

Tutorial start state

• ${GOPATH}/src/${PROJECT_PATH} exists, is the working directory and is initialized as a Git repository and Go module
• Project contains godel and godelw
• Project contains main.go

Create GoLand project file

Goland is a full-featured Go IDE with many convenient features, and gödel makes it easy to generate GoLand project files for a project to start development on it with minimal overhead.

Run the following command to generate the IDE files:

➜ ./godelw goland

This generates an .iml and .ipr file for the project. The generated .ipr file can be opened in GoLand to reveal that the project has been set up properly:

We do not want to commit the GoLand files to the repository, so we will create and commit a .gitigore file that ignores these files:

➜ echo '*.iml
*.ipr
*.iws' > .gitignore
➜ git add .gitignore
➜ git commit -m "Add .gitignore file"
[master 84769ed] Add .gitignore file
 1 file changed, 3 insertions(+)
 create mode 100644 .gitignore

Tutorial end state

• ${GOPATH}/src/${PROJECT_PATH} exists, is the working directory and is initialized as a Git repository and Go module
• Project contains godel and godelw
• Project contains main.go
• Project contains .gitignore that ignores GoLand files

Tutorial next step

Format Go files

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File Watchers plugin

The project file generated by gödel configures the "File Watchers" plugin to run the ./godelw format task to automatically format modified files on save. It is recommended that you install the "File Watchers" plugin in GoLand to support this workflow. The "File Watchers" plugin is global to GoLand, so once it is installed all projects can take advantage of it.

Verify that the "File Watchers" plugin is installed and working by doing the following:

• Open main.go, remove line 8 (the newline preceding func main() {) and save the file

If the "File Watchers" plugin is installed and the configuration generated by the goland task is working properly, then the newline should automatically be re-added on save. This is because the GoLand project generated by gödel is configured to run ./godelw format on all modified files on save.