Creating A Simple GSWeb Application - Revision history

Comrade: Updated the component section to give an outline of files needed

2008-01-19T18:34:37Z

Updated the component section to give an outline of files needed

Comrade: Created mandatory files section and placed demo code

2008-01-19T17:50:40Z

Created mandatory files section and placed demo code

Comrade: Updated makefile section with common variables and includes

2008-01-19T17:09:20Z

Updated makefile section with common variables and includes

Dwetzel at 09:56, 2 January 2007

2007-01-02T09:56:17Z

Dwetzel at 09:51, 2 January 2007

2007-01-02T09:51:41Z

Dwetzel at 10:11, 29 December 2006

2006-12-29T10:11:31Z

Comrade: Initial version; GNUmakefile etc more to come

2006-12-20T22:56:31Z

Initial version; GNUmakefile etc more to come

New page

== Introduction ==

[[GNUstepWeb]] is a framework for creating web-based applications using Objective-C. This guide aims to provide an overview of what is required in the creation and design of a very simple web application.

It is assumed you are familiar with GNUstep, and have a working GNUstep installation, including the [[GDL2]] and [[GSWeb]] frameworks. Pre-requisites for [[GSWeb application deployment]] should also be in place.

== File Components ==

In building your web application you will need to create a number of files. From scratch, the following should be a rough guide to getting it working. These include the Makefile, ...

=== The Makefile ===

For a web application, a special makefile is needed: luckily it's very similar to makefiles you may have used for other kinds of project. There is currently no out-of-the-box way to have these files built for you, so you'll have to do it manually.

'''GNUmakefile'''

For more information as to customising this file, as well as setting up compiler options for third party libraries and includes, see the GNUstep makefile manual.

===The application dictionary===

=== Interface files ===

----

[[Category:GNUstepWeb]]
[[Category:Development]]

@@ Line 157: / Line 157: @@
 GSWeb uses a directory for every component. A component can represent a whole web page or just a part of it. It is easy to re-use pieces needed multiple times.
-A component contains three files they contain the HTML, the connections or bindings of your objects and additional information like the used encoding. Those files are suffixed .html, .wod and .woo.
 A more in-depth description of [[GSWComponent|Components]] is available.

← Older revision		Revision as of 17:09, 19 January 2008
Line 14:		Line 14:

	'''GNUmakefile'''		'''GNUmakefile'''
		+
		+	Initial makefile includes needed to set up the make environment should be:
		+	<pre>
		+	include $(GNUSTEP_MAKEFILES)/common.make
		+	include $(GNUSTEP_MAKEFILES)/Auxiliary/gsweb_wo.make
		+	</pre>
		+
		+	Note that the second include forces GNUstepWeb to use Apple's WebObjects naming conventions. Dropping the <b>_wo</b> in the included filename will enable GSW naming conventions. It is useful to decide which convention you plan to use in the application early on because changing later will involve changing the naming convention of class names in many files in your project.
		+
		+	The key variables used in a web application's makefile are:
		+	;GSWAPP_NAME:used to define the project's name in the makefile, replace the <b><i>{PROJECTNAME}</i></b> with the name in the variables listed below
		+	;<i>{PROJECTNAME}</i>_HAS_GSW_COMPONENTS:used to indicate that [[GSWComponent]]s are present in the project. Normally, this is set to <TT>YES</TT>
		+	;<i>{PROJECTNAME}</i>_PRINCIPAL_CLASS:used to identify the main class of the web application
		+	;<i>{PROJECTNAME}</i>_RESOURCE_FILES:used to indicate the list of files that are needed in the runtime bundle
		+	;<i>{PROJECTNAME}</i>_OBJC_FILES:contains the list of Objective-C files needed to compile the web application
		+	;<i>{PROJECTNAME}</i>_COMPONENTS:lists the names of the components that will be used to create pages and other elements in the web application
		+
		+	The final makefile includes needed to set up the make environment should be:
		+	<pre>
		+	-include GNUmakefile.preamble
		+	include $(GNUSTEP_MAKEFILES)/gswapp.make
		+	-include GNUmakefile.postamble
		+	</pre>
		+	The preamble and postamble files are optional includes and will not error if they don't exist. It's good practice to have these in place to allow compile-time modifications during the development process and also for others if you distribute the code.
		+
		+	A worked-out example of a simple GNUmakefile for a GSWeb application is:
		+
		+	<pre>
		+	include $(GNUSTEP_MAKEFILES)/common.make
		+	include $(GNUSTEP_MAKEFILES)/Auxiliary/gsweb_wo.make
		+
		+	GSWAPP_NAME = SimpleDemo
		+	SimpleDemo_HAS_GSW_COMPONENTS = YES
		+	SimpleDemo_PRINCIPAL_CLASS = SimpleDemo
		+	#SimpleDemo_RESOURCE_FILES = Resources/SimpleDemo.eomodeld
		+	SimpleDemo_OBJC_FILES = \
		+	SimpleDemo.m \
		+	Session.m \
		+	SimpleDemo_main.m \
		+	Main.m \
		+	Details.m
		+
		+	SimpleDemo_COMPONENTS = \
		+	Main.wo Details.wo
		+
		+	-include GNUmakefile.preamble
		+	include $(GNUSTEP_MAKEFILES)/gswapp.make
		+	-include GNUmakefile.postamble
		+	</pre>
		+
		+	The name of the project is <b>SimpleDemo</b>, and it contains GSWComponents (the basic building blocks of GSWeb), its principal class is SimpleDemo, there are no resource files for the runtime (there is an entry, but it's hashed-out), there are five Objective-C source files, and two components. You can see that the syntax allows you to break lines using the backslash '''\''' character as the last on the line to assist readability, especially for long lists of values, like the OBJC_FILES.

	For more information as to customising this file, as well as setting up compiler options for third party libraries and includes, see the GNUstep makefile manual.		For more information as to customising this file, as well as setting up compiler options for third party libraries and includes, see the GNUstep makefile manual.

@@ Line 20: / Line 20: @@
 GSWeb uses a directory for every component. A component can represent a whole web page or just a part of it. It is easy to re-use pieces needed multiple times.
-A component contains thee files they contain the HTML, the connections or bindings of your objects and additional information like the used encoding. Those files are suffixed .html, .wod and .woo.
+A component contains three files they contain the HTML, the connections or bindings of your objects and additional information like the used encoding. Those files are suffixed .html, .wod and .woo.
 A more in-depth description of [[GSWComponent|Components]] is available.

@@ Line 21: / Line 21: @@
 GSWeb uses a directory for every component. A component can represent a whole web page or just a part of it. It is easy to re-use pieces needed multiple times.
 A component contains thee files they contain the HTML, the connections or bindings of your objects and additional information like the used encoding. Those files are suffixed .html, .wod and .woo.
+A more in-depth description of [[GSWComponent|Components]] is available.
 ===The application dictionary===

@@ Line 7: / Line 7: @@
 == File Components ==
-In building your web application you will need to create a number of files. From scratch, the following should be a rough guide to getting it working. These include the Makefile, ...
+In building your web application you will need to create a number of files. From scratch, the following should be a rough guide to getting it working. These include the Makefile, some mandatory "plumbing" code in Objective-C, [[GSWComponent]]s to provide the pages and subpage elements of the web application, and run-time resources.
 === The Makefile ===
@@ Line 67: / Line 67: @@
 For more information as to customising this file, as well as setting up compiler options for third party libraries and includes, see the GNUstep makefile manual.
 === Components ===

@@ Line 15: / Line 15: @@
 '''GNUmakefile'''
-For more information as to customising this file, as well as setting up compiler options for third party libraries and includes, see the GNUstep makefile manual.
+(DW:More about GSWeb Components should be in a separate article)
 ===The application dictionary===