May I ask for more details on the intended use of this feature? Is it enough to display shortcuts in Select Path directory, or you would like idea to resolve the shortcut every time the source files are accessed? The latter is not likely to help IDEA's performance, I guess.

I want to use the shortcut directory as the new Content Root. This allows me to have the IDEA project files (ipr, iml, iws) on my local Windows filesystem (for speed) and use relative pathing from there to have the content root which is a slow-for-IDEA remotely mounted samba filesystem that we're required to use due to corporate rules. I know that the samba mount will be no faster as a shortcut, but at least the IDEA project files will be local AND with relative pathing I'll be able to share those IDEA project files with other developers such that it doesn't matter what drive they remotely mount to, where IDEA files are, etc as long as they do the same simple directory shortcutting relative to where their IDEA project files are.

So, the workflow would be like this:

1. You create IDEA project on your local drive
2. You create shortcuts to remote directories under the IDEA root.
3. You commit ipr and iml files to version control
4. You tell your teammates which shortcuts they should create and which network locations they should refer to.

I wonder if Path Variables would solve this problem. You simply use absolute paths to your remote content roots AND define path variables corresponding to those root (or, more likely, to several common prefixes of those roots). When someone opens shared ipr for the first time (or after update) they will be requested to define these variables. Give them descriptive names, and step 4 is redundant.

I give that a try, Vladislav.

This worked but can you tell my why you don't want to allow shortcuts to be content roots?

Also, why don't you allow relative pathing up from a Path Variable?

Thanks,
Jon

I knew it would work :)

The only problem with shortcuts is that we need to explicitly support this feature of Windows file system (as if we did not have enough problems with file refresh already). Having a viable workaround, I would rather spend time on something else. In fact, Path Variable are more that a workaround, they are much better since they are more portable.

As for relative pathing from a Path Variable, this is very difficult to support in current architecture. Unlike Eclipse, IDEA substitutes Path Variables automatically when reading/writing project/module files. Guessing that something is just above the existing variable is not what every user would like.

Yes, the Path Variables are the better way to go even if you did support shortcuts. Okay on the problems that supporting shortcuts could add and on the relative pathing.