Both TCPmaker and its sister product, HIDmaker, work by generating source code that we expect you to modify.

People ask us, from time to time, what they should do if they get reasonably far down the development path, to the point where they have modified the generated code, and suddenly realize that they need to add another variable and re-generate code.

What happens to the modifications they have already added to the as-generated code? People ask us:

• "Does your product parse my modified code and add new generated code around it?"
• [Answer: No, this would add greatly to the complexity and cost of our products.]
• "Are my code additions overwritten, and therefore lost?" 
• [Answer: No, of course not!]
• "If not, do I have to type in those code modifications all over again, by hand?" 
• [Answer: Happily, NO!]

 As this tutorial explains in detail, TCPmaker and HIDmaker both save up to 10 previous versions of key files of your generated source code, so your modifications to this code are not lost. 

Getting your code modifications into the latest version of regenerated source code can be done simply, either by copy and paste operations, or very quickly with a low cost differencing tool such as the exquisite Beyond Compare product by Scooter Software at www.scootersoftware.com.  (The standard version of Beyond Compare costs $30 at the time of this writing, and they offer a 30-day free trial.) 

As we will demonstrate in this tutorial, Beyond Compare is so powerful that you can copy the changes into the re-generated code of your project in a matter of 5 to 15 minutes, with complete accuracy.