Builder - The Build Process

Initiate Build Process

There are several ways to initiate the build process... this includes:

• SAVE in the editor,
• right click one or more source file(s) in the Navigator view and choose "ProvideX Build" from the pop-up menu,
• a clean build

The Build Process

In any case, the actual process that occurs is the same...

For each file in the list to build

1. Execute each registered pre-process observer for the build process
2. If file is a tokenized ProvideX program, convert to text file; skip remainder or process
3. Do incremental build for file...
   • Execute build process 'Start-Up' program (if defined)
   • If 'Auto-Format on Save' is set, the source file is reformatted and updated
   • Scan program for errors
   • If no errors are found, build program using 'act_build_one.pvx' program
   • If errors were found (either in scan or during the build), log errors to 'Problem' View
4. Execute each registered post-process observer for the build process

A Simple Example Observer

The showtext.pvc class is simple observer that will output messages to the console view during the build process. This observer will be triggered during the build pre-process and the build post-process.

The source code for the class can be viewed by clicking on the link.

Reading Source Files

All observer actions that need to read a source file should use the program_reader class as shown in the following sample code:

! Create a new instance of the ProgramReader for the source file
aReader=new("program_reader",theSourceFile$)

while not(aReader'getEOF())
    ! Get the next source file line
    aLine$=aReader'read$()
    ! logic to process the program line
wend 
drop object aReader

What should not be attempted by an observer during the build process?

An observer cannot change the original source file - this will trigger a new build process. Any modifications to source files should be implemented in a contributed tool to avoid a run-away build process caused by continuously changing source files.

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