gwabuildtool

The gwabuildtool is a utility to build a GWA application with all the necessary files to run on a browser.

Syntax

gwabuildtool [ options ]
  1. option can be an option described in Options.

Options

Table 1. General gwabuildtool options
Option Short option Description
--program-dir directory -p

Directory of program assets such as compiled modules (.42m), compiled form files (.42f) icons, images, web components, and so on.
--output-dir directory -o

Directory where the application is created.

Default is "gwa_dist"
--main-module module_name No short option Name of the main module.

The default is "main"
--extra-asset directory -x Add asset outside of program-dir
--gbc directory No short option Directory of the Genero Browser Client.
--version -V

Displays version information.
--help -h

Display options for the tool.
--app-version version_number -a Application version number in the format: ?prefix?major.minor.build.suffix?
--webcomponent directory -w Adds web component from outside the program-dir/webcomponents directory.
--title name -t

Title for the web app
--include files [,...] -i

Include custom extensions/files in the bundle. Multiple files may be specified separated by commas. For example, gwabuildtool -i '*.per, Makefile'
--exclude files [,...] -e

Exclude custom extensions/files in the bundle. Multiple files may be specified separated by commas. For example, gwabuildtool -e '*.txt,bigfile'
--verbose -v

Display verbose information.
--W-excluded No short option

Warns about files in the program-dir not copied into the application bundle.
--app-dir-is-pwd No short option Sets the initial working directory of your GWA application to app in memory instead of the default (home/build_directory_basename). For a usage example and to see how it affects persistence, go to Set initial working directory to app (--app-dir-is-pwd)
--qa-version No short option Prints a simple version number.

Usage

To run gwabuildtool, you need to have it in your PATH (see Install Genero Web Application).

The gwabuildtool does not compile .4gl and .per assets, it is assumed that the compilation process has been done already.

For instance, if you have compiled your Genero application in a directory called myapp with a module main.42m containing MAIN, run the following command to create a GWA application:

gwabuildtool -p /usr/myapp

A directory called gwa_dist with all the necessary files is created in your current path. This gwa_dist can be packaged using fglgar gwa (see Packaging gwa files) and uploaded to a web space and a web server can serve the application at the URL https:servername/gwa_dist/index.html.

You can change the output directory with option -o.
gwabuildtool -p /usr/myapp -o mydist

This mydist directory can be uploaded to a web space and a web server can serve the application at the URL https:servername/mydist/index.html.

Set initial working directory to app (--app-dir-is-pwd)

By default, your application runs with its initial working directory set to home/build_directory_basename. Bundled files always reside in /app in the browser, so relative paths like ch.openFile("foo.txt","r") only work if the working directory is set to /app. Use --app-dir-is-pwd when your program assumes assets are in the current working directory — for example, the FGL demo launcher, which runs several other programs and expects each one to access resources relative to the launcher’s working directory. 
gwabuildtool --program-dir . --app-dir-is-pwd
This command changes the initial working directory to app, which is temporary and stored in memory only.
Tip:

If you use the --app-dir-is-pwd option, any files you save in app will be lost when the application or browser closes. To keep data persistent, copy files into your home directory home/build_directory_basename using operations such as os.Path.copy. For details, go to Manage persistence in the file system.