File Packaging Suggestion

ID:134533
 
May 24 2006, 2:43 pm
Could the file packaging be changed so that it does not require the dmb and rsc files and therefor does not require a compile? Several times now I have wanted to distribute something in library form that does not compile for one reason or another.

The reason my latest one does not compile is that it calls a function that is not defined. It is not defined because I want the library user to define it for use so that he/she can tell it what to do.
May 24 2006, 5:24 pm
A library should compile and run a demo version of itself out of the box anyway. (The demo should be compiled in with the library when the library compiled by itself, but NOT when it's included in another project; I forget how to do this off the top of my head, but it's not too hard. Just involves an #ifdef.)

So, yeah - just define the proc in your demo. You can then compile the library by itself and distribute it, but the library user will still have to define the proc themselves when they include it.
May 24 2006, 11:08 pm
In response to Crispy
 
#ifdef __MAIN__
#include "proceduredefinition.dm"
#endif

Voila!
I use macros like that quite alot, for systems that aren't quite ready for release but that I might want to test.
May 25 2006, 5:01 am
In response to Crispy
True enough. I was going to include a bunch of documentation including demo/tutorial material for this, so I wasn't thinking about that. I suppose I'll include some type of Hello World program for the demo.

Although this will be included in library format, it's more of a tutorial lib for teaching than it is a library. It doesn't actually add any usable features, and the user doesn't have to know about or use any of its functions except the one they will define themselves.

Either way though, we shouldn't have to be forced to compile in the packaging process if we don't want to - especially for the "World Source Files" option in packaging.
May 25 2006, 4:49 pm
In response to Loduwijk
If you really really must upload a library which hasn't been compiled, you could just zip it up yourself. There's nothing particularly special about BYOND's packager; you just need to create a zip file with the appropriate file structure inside. Take a look at a file that it's created to get an idea of how it's laid out.