When developing a 4D component, it can be useful to be able to test the component uncompiled to make it easier to add changes. For a normal binary format 4D database, a copy of the .4dbase package (Mac) or folder (Win) or an alias/shortcut of it would be dropped into the components folder of the host database.

For a project mode format 4D database dropping the database's folder does not work because of the naming convention. There are three ways instead.

The first is to rename the database folder and appened ".4Dbase" to it. The name will allow a host database to detect that this is a database. The entire database can then be dropped into the components folder.

The next is to create an alias or shortcut of the database after it has been renamed with ".4dbase" and drop in the shortcut into the components folder of a host.

The third way is to create an alias or shortcut to the .4DProject file should be dropped in. This file is located in the Project folder in the database's folder or
{Database Name}/Project/{Database Name}.4DProject

The second two should allow a coponent database to be modified easily and even more so it the directory is managed by a version control system. When the host database is loaded, the component is loaded, if there are any changes made to the component database, the host database must first be restarted to apply the changes.
When it is time to deploy, the component should be built and replace the alias/shortcut.