Of standalones, bundles and files

[Joel Guillod]

Dave,


> Date: Thu, 27 Jan 2005 23:27:32 -0700
> From: David Squance <dsquance at elkvalley.net>
> Subject: Of standalones, bundles and files
>
> I'm using RR2.1.2 on OSX, and would like to avoid using the standalone
> builder, as it takes 30 to 40 minutes doing something with a particular
> substack.  Is there a reason why I shouldn't just build the
> splashscreen stack and put the 'real' rev file in the same folder and
> avoid having it in the build?  And if I do this, is there a way to get
> the file inside the OS X bundle?
> Dave


Recently Trevor DeVore <lists at mangomultimedia.com> gave me the answer 
("the" at least for me!):

   http://mangomultimedia.com/developer/revolution/using_externals.html

My preferred way to fastly swap from developing to testing the 
implementation is to build the standalone as one stack with just the 
startup screen and the script below. That way I dont need to wait the 
long process of building a dozens stacks applications. My application 
folder looks like this:

path/Application Folder
path/StandaloneApplication -- this is the standalone
path/StandaloneStack -- Optional but practical for swaping between Dev 
and Standalone: This is the one stack used to build the standalone. Its 
card contains the script below and a splah screen.
path/plugins/Startup -- this is my initialization stack: I put in its 
"preOpenstack" all the scripts to executed to initialize my 
application.
path/plugins/ExternalLoader -- during initialization I do a: <go 
invisible to stack "ExternalLoader"> to load the externals (see the 
above link from Trevor).
path/plugins/many_other_stacks_used_by_your_application -- These are 
the stacks of my application.
path/plugins/externals/ -- this is the folder in which I put the 
externals
path/plugins/externals/revdb.bundle -- this is the externals for 
database
path/plugins/externals/revdb.dll -- this is the externals for database
path/plugins/externals/revxml.bundle -- this is the externals for xml
path/plugins/externals/revxml.dll -- this is the externals for xml

Script inside the unique card of the StandaloneApplication stack looks 
like this (I use a variant because I have a rolling script for a field 
displayed on the startup screen, I can share the whole stack if you'd 
like to):

on startup
   send startApplication to me in 3 secs -- dont do "startApplication" 
directly because some libraries will not be loaded, see documentation 
under the note under subject "revGoURL".
end startup

constant kStarterStack = "plugins/Startup"

/** startApplication
@purpose To start the application according to the convention.
@convention Just next to the application file there should be a 
"plugins" folder with a "Startup" stack (depends on constant 
kStarterStack).
@convention This "startup" stack is just responsable to start the 
application when it receives a preOpenstack message.
*/
on startApplication
   put the short name of this stack into kApplicationStack
   start using stack kApplicationStack
   put startupStackFilepath() into tStartupStack
   if there is a stack tStartupStack then
     hide stack kApplicationStack
     open stack tStartupStack
   else
     -- this is the french translation : answer error "Le module de 
démarrage de l'application est introuvable! Veuillez vérifier votre 
configuration!" &cr&cr& tStartupStack with "Quitter"
     answer error "The Startup module has not been found! Please check 
your configuration!" &cr&cr& tStartupStack with "Quit"
     quit
   end if
end startApplication

function startupStackFilepath
   set the itemdel to "/"
   put my_applicationStack() into f
   put kStarterStack into last item of f
   return f
end startupStackFilepath

function my_applicationStack
   put the filename of me into f
   if the platform is "MacOS" and char 1 of the systemVersion is "1" then
     --it's a bundle
     get offset("/Contents/MacOS/",f)
     if it>0 then delete char it to -1 of f
   end if
   return f
end my_applicationStack


Note that for MacOSX bundle it should be possible to adapt the 
startupStackFilepath() so the plugins folder is placed inside the 
bundle folder.

This is just a summary. If many are interested, I will take some hours 
to polish my own stacks and put them as a complete sample downloadable 
from the net. I wrote some usefull utility scripts to manage the 
application settings. Let me know!

Joel Guillod - www.imed.ch