How Do I...


Package my application into a runtime image

See what's needed to build and distribute a software product No tips for this topic No example for this topic Get the files I need to ship with the packaged image

To package your application into a shrink-wrapped executable file, do the following:

  1. Create or find an empty directory on your workstation.
  2. In the VisualAge Organizer window, pick the application that you want to package into the finished product.
  3. From the Applications menu, select Make Executable.
  4. In the Windows to show at startup list, select the visual part you want to appear first when your application starts. You can pick more than one if you want, or you can select None.

    If you select None, make sure that the application class has a class method that provides startup logic. For information on startup logic, refer to descriptions of the method runtimeStartUp in materials on packaging in the IBM Smalltalk User's Guide .

  5. Check the list of prerequisite applications. Ensure that the application has all needed prerequisites and doesn't name edit-time applications such as AbtBuildViewsApp. If the Prerequisite applications list doesn't show the correct prerequisites for your application, select Change and fix the prerequisites in the displayed dialog.

    You can only include as prerequisites applications that you make and applications that IBM permits you to redistribute. For a list of redistributable applications, refer to the online .api file.

    Note:One way to see if your application names the correct prerequisites is to check messages printed to the System Transcript. If you see the message #<method>: should not reference <class>, the application you are working with needs to add a prerequisite. The application containing the class named in the message is what you should add as the prerequisite.
  6. Select OK.
  7. After a prompter opens, saying that it might take 15 to 30 minutes to package, select OK.
  8. In the displayed file dialog, select the empty directory, specify a file name such as myapp, and select OK. VisualAge starts the packaging and displays a window that gives you progress messages.

    If VisualAge finds methods that reference global variables or classes that don't exist in your application, it informs you that it found "packaging problems" and opens a Packager Reference control panel that lists the problems. Later, you can come back to this browser, change your application to resolve the problems, and try packaging again. If none of the problems listed refer to methods in your application, packaging is complete. Select Cancel.

  9. When VisualAge completes the packaging, the "empty" directory contains the startup executable, the runtime image, and diagnostic .ES files. So you can run the runtime image, copy the following files to the "empty" directory:

    Any .MPR, .DLL, or other files used by your application. For OS/2 and Windows, you might need to copy ESVM40.DLL, plus other DLL files, to the directory if your system's environment variables cannot find the file.

  10. Run the runtime image and test it. To run the runtime image, double-click on any icon for the startup executable or enter at a command prompt:
    <base .IMG and executable file name>
     
    

    That is, if you specified MYAPP.ICX for the packaged image name and the startup executable has MYAPP in its name, enter

    myapp
    

    on Windows or OS/2. On UNIX, enter

    myapp&
    

Your (main) visual part should open, like when you click on Test

For more details on packaging, refer to the following:


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