To
assist you in creating standalone applications, VLISP provides the
Make Application wizard.
To run the Make Application wizard
- To start the wizard, choose File
Make
Application
New Application Wizard from the VLISP menu.
- Select
Expert mode and choose Next.
The
wizard prompts you to specify the directory in which to store files
created by Make Application, and to name your application. Make
Application produces two output files: a .vlx file containing
your program executable, and a .prv file containing
the options you specify to Make Application. The .prv file
is also known as a make file. You can use the make
file to rebuild your application, when necessary.
- Specify your Tutorial\VisualLISP\MyPath directory
as the application location, and call the application gardenpath. VLISP uses
the application name in the output file names (in this instance, gardenpath.vlx and gardenpath.prv.)
Choose
Next to continue.
- The
application options are not covered in this tutorial. Accept the defaults
and choose Next. (For information on separate namespace applications,
see “Running an Application in Its Own Namespace” in
the AutoLISP Developer's Guide.)
- In
this step, the wizard is prompting you to identify all the AutoLISP source
code files that make up the application. You could individually select
the LISP source files, but there is an easier way. Change the pull-down
file type selection box so that “Visual LISP Project file” is
shown, then choose the Add button. Select the Gpath project
file and choose Open.
NoteDepending
on how you worked through the tutorial, you may have several Gpath project
files showing up. Select the most recent file. If you copied in
the completed source code from Lesson 7, the project name to select should
be Gpath7.prj.
After selecting
the project file, choose Next to continue.
One advantage of compiled VLX applications
is that you can compile your dialog control files (.dcl)
into the complete application. This reduces the number of individual
source files your end users need to deal with, and eliminates any
of the search path problems when loading a DCL file.
- Change the pull-down file type selection box so
that “DCL files” is shown, then choose the Add
button. Select the gpdialog.dcl file, then choose
Open.
Choose Next
to continue building the application.
- Compilation
options are not covered in this tutorial. Accept the defaults and
choose Next. (For information on compile options, see “Optimizing Application
Code” in the AutoLISP Developer's Guide.)
- The final step is used
to review the selections you've made. At this point, you can select
Finish. VLISP will begin the build process, displaying the results
in the Build Output window. Several intermediate files will be produced,
as your individual source code files are compiled into a format
that can be linked into the single VLX application.
When
it is all complete, you'll have an executable file named gardenpath.vlx. To
test it, do the following:
- From
the Tools menu in AutoCAD, select Load Application.
- Load
the gardenpath.vlx application that
was just created and is found in the Tutorial\VisualLISP\MyPath
directory.
- Run
the gpath command.