What is the definition of a STM32 project from a path/directory point of view?

[TFlac]

I am new to STM32 products and development software. I have purchased the STM32F303RE Nucleus-64 Eval Brd. I'm also using SW4STM32 IDE as there are more examples. I have had some success, I still have some fundamental questions. I also downloaded and installed the STM32CubeF3 package. Within the "CubeF3" I was able to BUILD and run the GPIO_EXTI and download to target board. Wanting to make sure I understood the flow and file names, I went back using UM1766, PG 18 to load the next example GPIO project (GPIO_IOToggle). I flip the page UM1766, PG 19 as I'm using SW4STM32, this page states I go to the "workspace directory". Item (d) - PG 19 states browse to workspace directory and select project. My concern is; UM1766 Pg 15, under the EXAMPLE FILE STRUCTURE shown , there is no WORKSPACE in this file structure.

In order to load the PROJECT I had to go ALL the way into folder "GPIO/GPIO_IOToggle/SW4STM32" to load the project and note sure what I loaded. Note, no workspace was entered. Yes, I was able to load the PROJECT and BUILD. My question is what FILE in the final folder is the PROJECT file? Typically a software tool system will exist under a GLOBAL PROJECT file name, e.g. NAME.PRJ. This is important to know as the next step in UM1766, PG 19 is "DEVELOPING YOUR OWN APPLICATION" - . The engineer should know the definition of a PROJECT STRUCTURE and it's NAME. So my question is, what is the GLOBAL umbrella file for all the files that live under and in the 'SO CALLED" project space.

Is there one, or just a GROUP of files?

[Tesla DeLorean]

There is a .project file in one of the GPIO/GPIO_IOToggle/SW4STM32 tree nodes, source files in the project and library are relative to that, I'd assume.

I use Keil, the Eclipse Workspace nonsense always gave me headaches, with absolute paths breaking Atollic. Under Keil I can duplicate/clone a project directory at the same level, and all the relativity works properly. If I want to change the depth, it takes a minute or two doing search and replace on the .XML file in a text editor.

[TFlac]

You are correct Clive, it seems the KEY to what identifies a file folder to be a live PROJECT is the fact that the CPROJECT and PROJECT file are properly located under the folder space. I must stress the point that these FILES mentioned above must be under the IDE (tool folder) you select, and one file level down there is another folder which identifies the selected eval board; in my case SW4STM32. This structure will identify a PROJECT folder structure.

[TFlac]

So the folder structure would be:

C:\STM32Cube_FW_F3_V1.10.0\Projects\STM32F303RE\examples\GPIO\GPIO_EXTI\SW4STM32\STM32F303RE-Nucleo\

You are now there, here you will see CPROJECT and PROJECT files. Browsing to this FOLDER from within your selected IDE tool will open your PROJECT.