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Exporting a Project

Once you have completed your application, you can quickly and easily create an IDL Runtime distribution or you can easily move your application to another platform or distribute your source code to colleagues by exporting your project. All your source code or compiled code (.sav files), IDL GUIBuilder files, data files, and image files are copied to a directory you specify.


Note
For information on how to set up a directory structure so that your IDL Project can find the source files after exporting, see Where to Store the Files for a Project.

What is exported is dependent upon the options you have selected for the project from the Project Options dialog. If you have selected:

For more information on the options for a project, see Setting the Options for a Project.

Exporting Your Project's Source Files

To export your project's source files, complete the following steps:

  1. Open your project. Select File Open Project. Select the path and name of your project file.

    2.  

  2. Select "Source File (.pro)" or from the Project Options dialog.

    3.  

  3. Select Project Export. The Browse for Folder or Export Directory dialog is displayed.

    4.  

  4. Select the folder to which you want to export the project and click OK.

Your project is exported to the selected directory. When moving a project and its source files from one platform to another, there are a few items to be aware of:

Exporting Your Project to a Save File

To export your project to a save file, complete the following steps:

  1. Open your project. Select File Open Project. Select the path and name of your project file.

    2.  

  2. Select "Save File (.sav)" or "Licensed Save File (.sav)" from the Project Options dialog.

    3.  

  3. Select Project Export. The Browse for Folder or Export Directory dialog is displayed.

    4.  

  4. Select the folder to which you want to export the project and click OK.

    5.  

  5. A dialog is displayed asking if you want to export an IDL Runtime distribution with your .sav file. Select No to not include the distribution.

Your project is exported to the selected directory.

Exporting a Runtime Distribution

The process for exporting an IDL Runtime distribution of your project is slightly different depending on whether you run IDL on a Windows or UNIX platform.


Note
While a project exported with a Runtime distribution includes all of the support files necessary for a Runtime application, it does not include a Runtime license. If you are interested in including a Runtime version of IDL with your application, contact your ITT Visual Information Solutions sales representatives for more information.

Under Microsoft Windows

Under Microsoft Windows, you can use the Project Export feature to create a complete runtime IDL distribution tree. To create a runtime distribution, do the following:

  1. Open your project. Select File Open Project. Select the path and name of your project file.

    2.  

  2. Select "Save File (.sav)" or "Licensed Save File (.sav)" from the Project Options dialog.

    3.  

  3. Select Project Export. The Browse for Folder dialog is displayed.

    4.  

  4. Select the folder to which you want to export the project and click OK. If the directory does not exist, you will need to create it: the Project editor will not create it for you.

    5.  

  5. A dialog is displayed asking if you want to export an IDL Runtime distribution with your .sav file. Select Yes.

    6.  

  6. The Export Files dialog appears, allowing you to select files to be included in the distribution.

    7.  

    Figure 22-11: The Export Files dialog (Microsoft Windows only).

    Figure 22-11: The Export Files dialog (Microsoft Windows only).

The Export Files dialog lists directories and files. Check marks indicate that a file is to be exported. The first time a project is exported, the files included in the manifest_rt.txt and manifest_aux.txt files are listed in the Export Files dialog. Only the files from manifest_rt.txt are checked for export.

Your project, all of the selected IDL Runtime support files, and any other files you specified in the export list are exported to the directory you selected.

If an error is encountered during export, an Export Log detailing the export and the error is displayed in the bottom pane of the Export Files dialog.

Using the Export Feature without a Project (Windows Only)

On Microsoft Windows platforms, you can also use the Export feature without creating an IDL project file:

  1. Select Project Export. The Browse for Folder dialog is displayed.

    2.  

  2. Select the folder to which you want to export the project and click OK.

    3.  

  3. The Export Files dialog appears, allowing you to select files to be included in the distribution.
    • Click Add to select files to be added to the export list. Whether or not the files are actually exported depends on whether you check the checkbox next to the file's name.

      •  

    • Click Remove to remove a file from the distribution to be exported.

      •  

    • Click Default to restore the list of files to that are exported by default. By default, the files listed in the manifest_rt.txt file from the \bin\make_rt subdirectory of the IDL distribution are selected for export, and the files in the manifest_aux.txt file are displayed, but not selected for export.

      •  

    • Click Export to export the files to the directory you specified in step 2.

      •  

    • Click Close to close the Export Files dialog without exporting the files. Your changes to the export list will be saved when you save the project file.

      •  

    • Click Cancel to close the Export Files dialog, discarding any changes.

The files specified in the export list are exported to the directory you selected.

Under Unix

  1. Open your project. Select File Open Project. Select the path and name of your project file.

    2.  

  2. Select "Save File (.sav)" or "Licensed Save File (.sav)" from the Project Options dialog.

    3.  

  3. Select Project Export. The Export Directory dialog is displayed.

    4.  

  4. Select the directory to which you want to export the project and click OK.

    5.  

  5. A dialog is displayed asking if you want to export an IDL Runtime distribution with your .sav file. Select Yes. A complete list of the runtime distribution files that will be copied to your distribution directory is provided in the manifest_rt.txt text file. See Modifying the Manifest File for details on this file.

Your project is exported to the directory you selected.


Note
The Project  Export feature copies IDL binaries only for the platform from which you are currently running IDL. If you wish to create a distribution that supports multiple UNIX platforms, you must use the Project  Export feature to export a distribution for each platform you wish to support. You can specify the same destination directory each time you use the Project  Export feature, thereby creating a distribution with a bin.platform directory for each supported platform.

Modifying the Manifest File

The manifest file is located in idl-dir/bin/make_rt/manifest_rt.txt, where idl-dir is the main IDL directory.

To modify the manifest file to include other files, complete the following steps:

  1. Open manifest_rt.txt in any text editor.

    2.  

  2. For an application that uses IDL DataMiner, copy the appropriate DataMiner files from manifest_aux.txt, (located in the same directory as manifest_rt.txt) to manifest_rt.txt.

    3.  

  3. Add the path and filename of any other files in the IDL distribution that you want to include to the list of files to export. Make sure that the path is relative to the idl-dir. Note that only IDL files can be added to the manifest.

    4.  

  4. Make sure that you have not included any blank lines in the file.

    5.  

  5. Save the file.

  IDL Online Help (March 06, 2007)