I am new into software developing. I have found this GitHub repository which I plan to modify. Let's just say I fork this repository and modify it. How would I then be able to export it from there. By export it I meant turn all of those files into one windows executable file. Thanks.
In general, building a project is a project-specific task unless the project is written in a language (such as Rust) that has a built-in build tool. If you're unclear about the steps to build a project, you should look in the documentation or the wiki for steps about how to do so, and failing that open an issue asking them to document the procedure for building the project.
Just looking at the project, it does not seem obvious that it should produce a binary executable of any sort since it's written mostly in JavaScript.
Usually you use a compiler to turn source code into machine code (exe files).
As bk2204 mentioned, this project is based on Javascript and Node.js.
Javascript is interpreted instead of compiled, so another program (Node.js) reads the source code and executes it directly every time instead of first compiling it into an exe file. That other program itself may be in an exe file.
The project you have linked is a fork of this project, and that one seems to have a Windows launcher/installer exe file (that probably installs or contains Node.js, but I haven't checked).
That installer is available here in both exe and source code form. So you could modify the launcher and rebuild it, but the main app is not in the launcher, instead it's in all the JS files. You may be able to edit the JS files and just use the same launcher without modifying it. There may be a packaging step required after editing the JS files, to package them into a form that the launcher expects. You would need to run this build step after every time you modify the JS files, to provide the new code to the launcher.
You would have to explore the project's structure and build process to find out the exact steps.
If you're very new that may be exceedingly difficult.
You may want to practice by learning Javascript and Node.js.
You could after that try Java which is compiled, and possibly more powerful than Javascript. Just for fun.
Maybe you could do 30 of these practice projects, then you'll have a chance of being able to modify this project successfully.
Related
Lets consider a project, with a following structure:
project
--main
--fileX.h
--fileX.cpp
--main.cpp // only file, that guranteed to have main()
--libA
--libA.h
--fileX.cpp
--fileY.cpp If they are outdated/not built - build them first
--libB
--libB.h
--fileZ.cpp
--fileW.cpp
Pretty simple, also lets consider that project must include and link something standart, like OpenGL lib.
On windows, where I came from, there is Visual Studio, and everything was extremely easy and in some kind of "standart" way:
You create solution project. This is like a root, which just incorporates projects, in a single tree
You create projects: main of type "binary" and a couple of libs libA, libB of "library" types (static or dynamic, whatever you require to). That will tell build system how should it glue them together
You edit main settings:
Add external include and lib names, and paths
Add dependencies. main requires libA and libB. That is simultaneously a hint on build order, plus a linkage hint
You add files here and there, code it all, make any changes.
Press debug/run and enjoy. Build system would (re)compile only nesesary files, and link everything needed
Everything involves less than 100 actions, I mean keystrokes and mouse clicks.
VS Commutiny IDE is totally free to use (so no "Use that cool paid IDE" offers could be made in comments and answers)
Now the question. I've installed Ubuntu and vscode, and I am running into wall, trying to setup same project. What actions should be done, so I am able to change any source file in the project, press F5 (Debug), and it would compile and run with same build setup and speed efficiency?
What I've considered?
Makefile: almost same as writing your own shell script. It's like you have to learn whole new language to do small pretty-standart task - build a project. High leven of entrance, to be good at it.
vscode launch.json/tasks.json - another language, with examples availble to compile only single file: main.cpp (or just active file). Hard to create manually, requires good knowledge of internal "env" variables
CMake - another new programming language, different from all others, don't even know how to make vscode and Cmake friends
How a beginner should start C++ debuging with a multi-lib project, without having to waste time maintain that infinite complex build systems?
I'm creating a RN app that is meant to be some kind of wrapper. It should have multiple targets (like in Xcode) and all its content (images, text, etc.) should be target dependent. Unfortunately, I cannot find any useful informations about how to achieve this without opening Xcode or Android Studio project and create those targets manually (like here). Is there any other solutions for this?
I was still struggling with described problem but I finally found a solution. It's not easy, needs writing a bit of boilerplate code and looks more like a workaround but I hope it will help someone in the future. What I did is I have completed my wrapper app with the resources for one of my targets so I can have visual effect. In the project's root directory I've created a folder with subfolders for each target. Inside each I have put files (images, source code files, other assets) that are target-dependent. Then I've created bash script that takes one argument - target's name. Based on it, it replaces all the target-dependent files from target's subfolder to the original file's destination in the project structure. In this proces all meta-data informations are also replaced so after firing .sh file I can build the app and upload it to both stores. It's really time consuming to create all these apps separately and publish them and it's maybe not the best solution, but at least it works!
On android, you can edit build.gradle files, java or properties, without having to launch Android Studio (which simply uses Gradle)
You can build different type flavours by only changing app/build.gradle
On iOS, that's another story. Project file (.pbxproj) is a mess,and other Workspace/Scheme files are not easy to read or script. So XCode is the way to Go.
I tried to have dynamic target & Info.plist, there are tools to script that like PlistBuddy
in the end, I saw there are many ways to launch a React Native app for developpers. Some prefer the command line, and only VSCode.
Others want to play with native IDE.
By the way, native IDEs are VERY useful.
e.g. : you want to fine-tune your application performance, using XCode view hierarchy debugger or android Studio Layout Inspector (and be sure you don't use to many views), or use any other performance tools these IDEs offer...
In the end, I used react-native-config along with multiple almost similar configs (Info.plist < target < Scheme for each), here's a post giving an overview of the setup.
I'm using JavaFX to build a GUI for the software I'm working on. I call it software but it's actually a series of automated steps, compiled into a standalone .exe file. I have about 6 of these executable files, which is why I'm building a GUI to act as the front-end, main menu of sorts.
Ideally I'd have the entire package (GUI, exes) combined into one file Jar which I'd then send to clients, or wrap it with JSmooth or Launch4j.
Questions:
1) Is it possible to combine all 6 .exe files into a package along with the GUI.? So if I click button 2 on the GUI, it runs .exe #2, etc. Which concepts should I understand?
2) Is this best practice, or is there a better method? I'm new to Java which is why I haven't built the entire software with it, just the GUI.
3) I've read that its best to extract the exe from the parent jar (or exe?) into a temp file on the users PC. Is this correct? Even for multiple wrapped exes?
Any answer is helpful. I'm trying to avoid building something only to realize I can't do what I needed. Thanks
It would be much easier to write an answer if you were a bit more specific regarding what those 6 .exe files do. Nevertheless, a few things can be pointed out. Answers are in the same order as questions.
Yes, you can package exe files into a jar. No, you can't run exe from within the jar. A common solution is to unpack exe either temporarily (while your application is active) or permanently, and then tell OS to execute it.
I'm not entirely sure what "best practice" refers to in your question. Ideally, your logic (back-end) code would be written in Java and all your 6 exe files would be a part of a single Java application. I respect that you are new to Java, so in your particular case having a front-end to your executables is perfectly fine. However, do keep in mind that your solution is Windows specific, unless you plan to provide other OS executables too.
Yes, you will need to extract the exe files. It doesn't really matter what parent executable you use (exe or jar). For the sake of simplicity, I'd go with the jar, because you won't need to use any 3rd party software to build such a jar.
Just to sum up, considering your situation, package your JavaFX app and the .exe files into a single executable jar. When the user needs to execute an ".exe", extract that ".exe" into the same directory where JavaFX is running from. When the app exits, delete all ".exe" files from that directory
I have recently begun the process of learning OpenGL to start making some Graphical applications using C++. I have installed the OpenGL SDK and I am able to build the projects properly on that. However, on the OpenGL SDK site there is little to no information what-so-ever on how to create new projects using the elements of the SDK, such as freeglut etc. I have Premake 4.0 and I understand I have to do something with the lua files, I do not know lua however and am not sure how to use the Lua files to create a new project. So could you help me out? Im using VS2010, should I create the project, then do something with premake? Or create some sort of lua file, then use premake on that? Any help would be wonderful because I am very lost, and would really like to get started with OpenGL. I have experimented a lot with this, such as copying the lua files from the sdk, but that came with no luck.
If you are not familiar with Premake4, then I strongly advise you to just use Visual Studio projects directly. If you're having trouble with that, then please amend your question with exactly what you did, and exactly the error messages that Visual Studio gave you when attempting to build. You should include:
The include paths. The full set of include paths, including full absolute directory names (including the path of your project and solution files).
The static library search paths.
The static libraries you are including.
The defines you are building with.
Note: If you don't know what any of these are, then you need to stop and learn a lot more about how C++ projects work. You need to understand how compilers deal with include paths, static libraries, #defines, etc.
If you are not familiar with Premake4, and you still want to use Premake4 with the SDK, then you first must become familiar with Premake4 without the SDK. I could give you an entire premake4.lua script that you could just plug in, change a few lines, and everything would magically work (and if you want that, you could look at how the SDK's examples are built. Specifically examples/premake4.lua). But if I did that, you wouldn't learn anything. You'd just be copy-and-pasting code, without having the slightest understanding of how it works.
So instead, I'm going to tell you what steps you should take to learn how to use Premake4.
Step 1: Hello World, Premake-style. You should make a single .cpp file that is a Hello World application. It just has a standard main function that prints "Hello World" to the console. That's the easy part.
The hard part is the Premake4 script. Rather than creating a Visual Studio project directly, you are going to write a Premake4 script to build that project for you.
The Premake4 documentation can walk you through the steps of making your first solution and project. You will of course need to add files to that project. You should also learn how to use configurations, so that you can have a Debug and Release build. The Debug build should have symbols, and the Release build should be optimized.
Step 2: Multiple projects. Here, you have two .cpp files: test.cpp and main.cpp. In test.cpp, place a function that prints something. The function shouldn't take parameters or anything. In main.cpp, you should have the main function that calls the function defined in test.cpp. There should also be a test.h which has a prototype for the function defined in test.cpp.
The trick here is that you aren't compiling them into the same executable. Not directly. You want two projects: one named test and one named main. The test project should be a static library, which compiles test.cpp. The main project will be the actual executable, which compiles main.cpp. Both of them should include test.h in their file lists.
Here, you're learning that solutions can have multiple projects. The two projects have different file lists. Each project can have a separate kind, which determines the type of build for that project alone. The test project should be a StaticLib, while the main project should be a ConsoleApp.
You will also need to learn to use the links command to link them together. The main project should use links to specify test. test does not need to link to something.
Step 3: Mastering directories.
Here, you're going to do the same thing as Step 2. Except for one thing: put test.h and test.cpp in a different directory (a subdirectory of the current one). You also want a test.lua file in that directory, which you will execute from your main premake4.lua file with a dofile command. The test.lua is where you define your test project. You can call dofile on the test.lua file anytime after you have created the solution with the solution command.
Note that the main project will need to change the directory where it finds test.h. You will also need to use the includedirs command in the main project to tell the compiler where to search for the test.h header you include in main.cpp.
Step 4: Back to the SDK. At this point, you should now be familiar enough with Premake4 to look back at the instructions I pointed you to and understand them a bit better. Then, just do what the instructions say. When it tells you what the first line of your script should be, make that the first line of your script. Put the UseLibs function where it says to put them; it even gives you an example of where it goes. Think of UseLibs as a fancy combination of links and includedirs.
I am writing a small application at the moment and am trying to organise my build output to be a little closer to the finished product. The application is made up of a number of different projects. There is a core library that contains most of the functionality, a GUI app and a command line app that both reference the Core Dll, and a number of Plugin Dlls that are loaded at runtime and implement different data sources, these all reference core.dll, these also may include some other third party dlls. There are also a number of peripheral files such as a readme. And finally the core.dll and the datasource plugins are unit tested.
I would like to configure my build so that everything is output into directories as I would expect it to be when installed. I want debug and release builds to be built into different directories but otherwise have the same directory structure. I only want tests to be built for debug builds, and want them to be runnable, but seperated (I guess all test dlls would get output into a seperate directory). Here is how I imagine the structure will be.
Code/
solutions etc here
Debug/
Project.Core.dll
Project.Gui.exe
Project.Cli.exe
readme.txt
lib/
ThirdParty1.dll
ThirdParty2.dll
DataSource/
DataSource1.dll
DataSource2.dll
Tests/
Project.Core.Tests.dll
DataSource1.Tests.dll
Release/
same as Debug but without tests.
Is there any way of getting a solution to build like this? I'm beginning to think it will be difficult to build the plugins and the app all from one solution, and probably not even wise, but as they will all be distributed together it would be nice. I am open to using Nant or another build tool if that will make it simpler.
It is possible. Just modify OutputPath tag manually in each .csproj in both Debug and Release file to something like this
<OutputPath>..\$(Configuration)\any_subdirs</OutputPath>
You can disable tests building for Release using Configuration manager.
Modifying each project every time you create a new one is annoying.
Here's the solution:
Locate the real vs project, it'll be somewhere under ("%programfiles(x86)%\Microsoft Visual Studio 10.0\Common7\IDE\ProjectTemplates*")
Copy it locally somewhere.
Extract it.
Edit the contents making changes that better suit your project layout style. Make sure you update the project name, the name is what you see when looking for the project in the new project dialogue box. It's xml tag is Name, you'll find it in the {something}.vstemplate file.
Compress the content again. (Note: the contents must NOT be in a sub folder, so /* and NOT /{somefolder}/*).
Place your custom project under ("%USERPROFILE%\Documents\Visual Studio 2010\Templates\ProjectTemplates*").
Add a new project is Visual Studio, selecting your custom one, and enjoy!