[Scons-dev] Possible minor bug + how to get (or assign) a builder to a file node?

[Left Right]

> Please respond to questions in line rather than a big blob at the end of the message filled with questions.


Sorry, it probably depends on the mail client you are using. But I'll
try to improve, we'll see if it's any better.

On Oct 5, 2012, at 7:59 AM, Left Right <olegsivokon at gmail.com> wrote:


>> - provide an additional (xml) file with settings (that's how I'm going

>> to go about compilation).



> Does this file have a static name and/or belong in a fixed place relative to the source file or the project file?

> (In essence this file becomes a source, since changing it should cause a recompile)


Erm... no, it's been deleted right after the compiler finishes. I'm
creating it only because constructing a command in the command line
may overload the command line. Perhaps in the future I'll have a
wrapper for the compiler to communicate to it directly, and this file
will not be needed.


>> - specify these settings on command line when calling the compiler (in

>> the worst case you risk to overload the command line, it may easily

>> get too long).



> This wouldn't apply to a SCons build right? You might specify FLEX_FLAGS or something like that that the user my alter in their scons logic.


Yes, this is what I wanted to get from Environment (Variables, or
whichever other way is best), or have some defaults. I'm not sure how
to answer about SCons build. It will only affect my extension code.


>> - read some of them from the source code - there are some particular

>> compiler metadata that instructs it about project settings / parts

>> (none of my concerns, the compiler will do here on its own)



> Does this impact the generated files from such a source file? (Does it change the name or produce more or less files?)


Yes, it does, here's a very basic example:

package {
[SWF(name="something.swf")]
class X extends Sprite { ... }}

This is how source code may look, and, let's say this file is called
something_else.as. The compiler will generate something.swf from it.
It can also cause more files to be produced (if it infers something is
a module, then it will compile it into a separate binary). I can't
think of a situation when there will be less files generated.


>>> So it parses the sources looking for info on it's dependencies?

>> It's not that simple... some times you need to "help" it. I.e. you may

>> force including a source, which isn't referenced directly from code,

>> or you may ask it to not link statically a particular source, because

>> you will provide it at runtime. And, in case when you compile a

>> library, you will most certainly be looking for the list of sources on

>> your own (just list all sources in a directory is what will do in most

>> cases).


How do you "Help"? How do you force including a source,etc.. (as you
state above)

There are many ways, but few common ones would be:

$ mxmlc <other argumens> -include-library lib0.swc -include-library lib1.swc ...

where mxmlc is the compiler and -nclude-library tells it to include
the entire library, similarly, it can be -include-class, -include-file
and perhas there's some more...
It can also include locales, stylesheets, some XML settings files for
RPC... well, I'd need to search through the options to build an
exhaustive list.
The thing about it is that including libraries is usually simple: you
only need to know what's the name of the library, and there aren't
many. But when including separate classes, you would need some
scripting help, because there will be tents or hundreds. One way of
doing it is by generating a manifest file, where all classes are
mentioned and give it to the compiler. It also knows how to handle
these particular files.


>> Re' environment. I'm not sure yet... can I somehow make users create a

>> different environment, when they do Env()?



> Not sure what you mean by this at all, can you restate it? (or clarify)



> Can you paste some code for this so we can see what you're doing?



> Hope that helps!

> -Bill


I've uploaded some code but, beware, it's REALLY UGLY :) Sorry, I had
to emphasize it. This is because I'm trying to understand how it
works, and by no means I'm not going to keep it like that.
So, here it is: https://code.google.com/p/scons-flash/

Best.

Oleg