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The Datafile PD-CD 5
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1995-12-24
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20KB
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640 lines
IIIII M M AAA GGG IIIII N N EEEEE
I MM MM A A G I NN N E
I M M M AAAAA G GG I N N N EEEEE
I M M A A G G I N NN E
IIIII M M A A GGG IIIII N N EEEEE
Project Management Utility
Imagine is
S H A R E W A R E
(c) 1995 R.F.Windley & The Really Small Software Company
Version 1.10 (26th November 1995)
If you continue to use it for more than 28 days then you
must send £10.00 to the address at the end of this file.
This entitles you to keep using the package after this period.
Cheques drawn against a UK bank are preferred and should be
made payable to 'R.F.Windley'. Failing this £10 cash will be
accepted.
Note that this software is supplied 'as is'. The author takes no
responsibility for any problems or data loss resulting from the
use or misuse of this software.
Requirements
In order to use Imagine the following is required:
RISC OS 3.1 or above
2M memory or above
A compiler of some sort (eg gcc/Acorn C/C++)
A linker of some sort (eg link/drlink)
BorderUtil module if RISC OS 3.1
In addition the following are recommended:
An ALF generator of some sort (eg libfile/makealf)
DDEUtils module
A template editor (eg FormEd/TemplEd)
Programmers Reference Manuals
Note that if you are not using DDEUtils then any generated
command lines must be kept under 256 characters. Also, the CSD
will be altered from time to time and only one project can be
built at once. See the section on Include paths for a way of
keeping command line lengths to a minimum.
Software used
The following was used in the creation of Imagine:
DeskLib
Zap
TemplEd
Acorn Desktop C Release 4 & 5
Make
link/drlink
libfile
What is Imagine?
There has been a lot of criticism of the quality of
programming tools available for RISC OS. Imagine has been
written in response to some of these criticisms and although
it does not pretend to be the ultimate application
generation tool, it is hoped that it goes some way towards
making programs easier to write.
The Make utility supplied with Desktop C allows the
programmer to specify the code and libraries that make up a
project. Imagine also allows the resources that make up an
application to be specified and maintained. All code and
resources are accessed through Imagine so there is no more
searching through directories to find a piece of code.
Imagine splits projects into different types.
Applications are normally RISC OS WIMP applications. As well
as source code they have a number of resources associated
with them such as a Messages file or window Templates.
Libraries are pieces of code that can be grouped together
into useful blocks. They are not tied to any one application
and may be used many times. For example, you might have a
dates library that is used to manipulate dates in a number
of different ways.
Utilities are like applications except they don't have any
resources. They are programs that will most likely be
invoked from the command line. An example of a utility is
the C compiler.
Classes are C++ specific. They may perhaps be thought of as
an object oriented version of libraries. Using the dates
example above, you would have a date object on which a
number of actions could be performed.
Note that it is assumed that the reader is familiar with
developing applications on the RISC OS platform. As it is
necessary for you to have a compiler and linker I do not
believe this is an unreasonable assumption.
Getting started
To load Imagine simply double click on the !Imagine icon in
the directory viewer. After a few seconds Imagine will load.
Note that if you do not have the DDEutils module you must first
edit the !Run file. Simply comment (|) out the first RMEnsure
that mentions DDEUtils. Imagine will then load.
The icon bar menu
Clicking Menu over the icon bar icon displays the icon bar
menu. This allows access to the different parts of Imagine.
Info
Choosing the Info option displays a standard About this
program information box.
Open
Choosing this item leads to the Open submenu.
This shows the way in which Imagine separates different
types of project. Selecting one of these options will
display a list of projects that fall into that category.
Preferences
This item leads to another submenu.
This menu allows the setup of Imagine to be changed and new
languages to be supported.
Quit
The final item on the menu causes Imagine to finish.
Managing Projects
Much of the functionality of Imagine is the same whatever
type of project you are writing. Unless otherwise specified
the following applies equally to all project types.
Choosing Open->Applications from the icon bar menu produces
a project list window.
This lists all the projects that are defined for this
project type.
In order to perform any operation on a project it must be
highlighted by clicking Select or Adjust. Clicking Adjust
will add to the selection of projects currently highlighted.
Clicking one of buttons down the right of the window will
then perform the action specified.
It is also possible to double click on a project. This will
produce the code window and, for applications, the resources
window.
Application resources
Clicking on the Resources button in the Applications window
will display the resources for the currently highlighted
application. This button does not appear for Libraries,
Utilities or Classes.
Editing resources
Application resources can be edited in a
couple of different ways. Either highlight the resource or
resources that you want to edit and click on the Edit button
or double click on the resource. It will be loaded into the
relevant editor for you.
Creating resources
To create a new resource click on the Create button.
In order to create a resource it must already have been
defined as a valid resource type. To get a list of valid
resource types click on the help menu icon. Choose the
resource type that you want and click on the Create button.
The resource will appear in the resource window.
Deleting resources
Resources can be deleted from an application by highlighting them
and clicking on the Delete button. You will be prompted to confirm
this is what you wanted to do.
Project code
Choosing the Code button in the project list window will
display the Project code window.
This window allows all of the code for a project to be
managed.
The top part of the window shows all of the code for a
project. This can be a mixture of different languages such
as C, C++ or assembler. In fact, as long as the object file
produced by the relevant compiler follows standards, any
compiled language can be used.
The bottom part of the window shows the header files that
form part of the project.
Double clicking on a code name or header file name will load
it into a text editor ready for you to edit.
There are a number of buttons down the side which work as
follows:
Create
Clicking on the Create button produces a small
dialogue which lets you create a new piece of source code.
The Name field must contain a valid filename. Note that it
is possible to type up to 32 characters into this field in
anticipation of filing system improvements. It is the
responsibility of the programmer to ensure that the name
entered is compatible with the underlying file system. The
Type field can be filled in by clicking on the help menu
icon which will produce a list of valid code types.
Clicking on the Create button will create the new code. A
default template will be supplied with some details filled
in.
Clicking the Cancel button will close the window.
It is possible to 'create' code in another way. If you
already have a piece of source code that you want to include
in your project it can simply be dragged to this window.
Imagine will attempt to discover the type of this source
code. If the source code is in a directory that matches a
code type Imagine knows about such as c, cc or s then the
code will be typed according to this.
Alternatively, if the code has a suffix such as _c, _cc, /c
or /cc then the code will be typed according to this. This
can be useful if the code is being copied from another
system such as DOS or Unix which rely heavily on file
suff