path: root/doc/api/HowToAddApplicationTemplates.dox

/** \file HowToAddApplicationTemplates.dox
  * \brief How to add application templates to the application wizard part
  */
/** \page howToAddApplicationTemplates How to add application templates to the application wizard part

Project templates provide the developer with a basic application framework.
This is necessary for rapid application development (RAD) and makes it even possible
for an inexperienced 3rd party developer to create standard conforming
applications like kedit as well as plugins for example for tdevelop or noatun.\n\n
\ref templates_1\n
    - \ref templates_1_1
    - \ref templates_1_2
        - \ref templates_1_2a
        - \ref templates_1_2b
        - \ref templates_1_2c
        - \ref templates_1_2d
        - \ref templates_1_2e
        .
    .
\ref templates_2\n
\ref templates_3\n
\ref templates_4\n
<!-- @todo <b>Developer information:</b> The documentation for the related
<code>"Project"->"Import Existing Project..."</code> is available here: \ref appwizard_imports
-->
<hr>

\section templates_1 I. Example: How To Create a Simple KDE Application Template "KHello"

You can find this template in <code>$KDEDIR/share/apps/kdevappwizard/template-khello</code>.

\subsection templates_1_1 I.1. Step 1: Basic Skeleton

Create a directory <code>template-khello</code> with the files
<code><pre>
    - template-khello/app.cpp
    - template-khello/app.h
    - template-khello/app.desktop
    - template-khello/app.tdevelop
    - template-khello/appui.rc
    - template-khello/khello
    - template-khello/main.cpp
    - template-khello/preview.png
    - template-khello/script
    - template-khello/src-Makefile.am
    - template-khello/subdirs
    .
</pre></code>
\note The directory name must begin with <code>"template-"</code>.

\subsection templates_1_2 I.2. Step 2: The Files in Detail

Have a look into the files! There are some variables which the application
wizard will replace:
<code><pre>
    - \%{AUTHOR} ...... by the author
    - \%{EMAIL} ....... by the e-mail address 
    - \%{VERSION} ..... by the version
    - \%{APPNAME} ..... by the project name (KHello)
    - \%{APPNAMELC} ... by the project name in lowercase (khello)
    - \%{APPNAMEUC} ... by the project name in uppercase (KHELLO)
    - \%{LICENSE} ..... by the license (GPL, BSD, QPL, LGPL, ...)
    - \%{LICENSEFILE} . by the licensefile
    - \%{YEAR} ........ by the year
    .
</pre></code>
All this can be found in <code>$KDEDIR/share/apps/kdevappwizard/template-common/tdevelop.pm</code>.
\subsubsection templates_1_2a I.2.1. The Source Files

The files <code>template-khello/app.cpp, template-khello/app.h</code> and
<code>template-khello/main.cpp</code> contain the source code that should not
be too special so that the user can implement his own ideas.\n
(There may be variables included - see \ref templates_1_2 "Step 2: The Files in Detail").

\subsubsection templates_1_2b I.2.2. The File template-khello/khello

It may look like this:
\verbinclude khello/khello

The application wizard looks into this file to get
    - the information where to integrate the plugin into the the listview (<code>Category=</code>)
    - the name (<code>Name=</code>) and the comment (<code>Comment=</code>)
    - the preview image (<code>Icon=</code>)
    - and the file templates the project uses (<code>FileTemplates=</code>).
    .
Further information could be (not required):
    - <code>Comment=</code> a small comment for the template. Longer comments should go into a README.devel and shown on startup
    - <code>ShowFilesAfterGeneration=</code> a comma-separated list (without whitespaces) of files that should be opened immediately after the generation, for instance a README.devel or a source file the user has to modify, the path is relative to the project directory (example: <code>ShowFilesAfterGeneration=src/main.cpp,src/plugin.cpp</code>). And
        - <code>APPNAMEUC</code> will be replaced with the projectname in uppercase,
        - <code>APPNAMELC</code> will be replaced with the projectname in lowercase,
        - <code>APPNAME</code> will be replaced with the projectname.
        .
    - <code>DefaultDestinatonDir</code> changes the default destination dir for the project (~) to your value, whereas <code>HOMEDIR</code> is a keyword
    .

\attention The file <code>template-khello/khello</code> must have the same name as
the right half of the directory! If the directory is <code>template-foobar</code>
the file must be <code>template-foobar/foobar</code>.

\see AppWizardPart for more information.

\subsubsection templates_1_2c I.2.3. Some Additional Files

The file
    - <code>template-khello/appui.rc</code> contains information about the toolbar and the menu.
    - <code>template-khello/preview.png</code> will be shown in the aplication wizard.
    - <code>template-khello/app.desktop</code> describes the application.
    - <code>template-khello/subdirs</code> contains a list of the subdirectories (usually <code>doc, po, src</code>) and can be found in the project root directory. It is necessary for the autotools.
    .

\subsubsection templates_1_2d I.2.4. The File template-khello/src-Makefile.am

This file will be copied to the <code>$PROJECTDIR/src/</code>.
\verbinclude khello/src-Makefile.am

\subsubsection templates_1_2e I.2.5. The File template-khello/script

The following script is used to install the template and replaces all
variables by the corresponding value. The result is a hopefully working
tdevelop project!
\verbinclude khello/script
<br>
\note There are several application templates which use some identical
files - that's why some files are taken from the <code>"template-common"</code>-directory.

\section templates_2 II. Registration/Installation Of The Application Template

The easiest way to install your template is to provide an "install.sh" shell script.\n
Example:
\code
#!/bin/sh

kde_prefix=`kde-config --prefix`
if  [ `id -u` = 0 ]; then
  # we are root so install the template into the global kde directory
  kde_dir=`kde-config --prefix`
else
  # we are a user so install it into $HOME/.kde/share/apps/kdevappwizard directory
  kde_dir=`kde-config --localprefix`
  echo "Note: It would be better to install as root. Press CTRL+C to abort"
fi

# use usual path or another one?
echo "Install dir [${kde_dir}/share/apps/kdevappwizard]:"
read newdir

if [ "$newdir"a = a ]; then newdir="${kde_dir}/share/apps/kdevappwizard/"; fi

# make sure the directories exist
if [ ! -e "${newdir}/template-khello" ]; then mkdir -p "${newdir}/template-khello" ; fi;
if [ ! -e "${newdir}/templates" ]; then mkdir -p "${newdir}/templates" ; fi;
if [ ! -e "${newdir}" ]; then mkdir -p "$newdir" ; fi;
if [ ! -e "${newdir}/template-common" ]; then ln -s "${kde_prefix}/share/apps/kdevappwizard/template-common" "${newdir}/template-common" ; fi;

# install now
cp -R --target-directory "$newdir" template-khello
# the file template-khello/khello must go to the "templates" directory that
# tdevelop knows that it exists
mv "$newdir/template-khello/khello" "$newdir/templates/"
echo "done"
\endcode
\n
\attention Please test your template whether it installs and behaves correctly! Test, test and test again! ;)

\section templates_3 III. How To Add The Template To KDevelop CVS HEAD

This section is for tdevelop developers only. Most probably you don't have to read this!.\n
Move the directory <code>"template-khello"</code> to <code>tdevelop/languages/cpp/app_templates/</code>
and then add the following files in <code>tdevelop/languages/cpp/app_templates/template-khello/</code>
(in this example the language is c++ if you use other language replace cpp with the language name):
    - <code>".kdev_ignore"</code> is an empty file. It prevents KDevelop's
    C++-parser from parsing the C++ template files. This is necessary because the template files are just code templates and not real code (yet).
    - <code>".cvsignore"</code> looks like this:
\code
Makefile
Makefile.in
script.local
\endcode
    - <code>"Makefile.am"</code> looks like this:
    \verbinclude khello/Makefile.am
    .
Finally add <code>"template-khello"</code> to "SUBDIRS = " in <code>tdevelop/languages/cpp/app_templates/Makefile.am</code>.\n
\attention Please test your template whether it installs and behaves correctly!
Test, test and test again! It works? Well - now talk to the tdevelop guys so
that they know what's going on and probably you may commit. ;)

\section templates_4 IV. Changes to the template system (VERY IMPORTANT)

The entire app template system described above has been changed.
To port a template to the new system the
information from the script file will need to be moved into the ini file.
The example is as follows:
\code
install(
"${src}/template-chello/app.tdevelop","${dest}/${APPNAMELC}.tdevelop" );
\endcode
becomes
\code
[PROJECT]
Type=install
Source=%{src}/template-chello/app.tdevelop
Dest=%{dest}/%{APPNAMELC}.tdevelop
\endcode

Things like <code>installIncAdmin();</code> and <code>installGNU();</code> now involve unpacking
the tar archives.  This is done by creating a target in the ini file as
follows:
\code
[GNU]
Type=install archive
Source=%{src}/template-common/gnu.tar.gz
Dest=%{dest}
\endcode

The popular script functions convert as follows:
\code
installIncAdmin(); %{src}/template-common/incadmin.tar.gz
installGNU();  %{src}/template-common/gnu.tar.gz
installAdmin(); %{src}/template-common/admin.tar.gz
installGnome(); %{src}/template-common/gnome.tar.gz
installWX(); %{src}/template-common/wxwidgets.tar.gz
\endcode


To create directories is now:
\code
[SRC]
Type= mkdir
Dir=%{dest}/src
\endcode

New additions are as follows:
\code
[MGS]
Type=message
Comment=A simple C project was created in %{dest}.
\endcode

Will allow you to display a custom message when the template has
finished installing.  This is very handy for projects that require
custom variables to be set.

The concept of custom variables was also introduced.  To create a
variable that can be edited from the project wizard you need to add an
entry as follows:
\code
[LIBS]
Type = value
ValueType=<Qt Data type>
Value= <Value Name that will be substituted in the code>
Comment= <The label in the UI>
Default= <The default value>
\endcode

One special value can be used to turn targets on and off.  This is done
by adding a value as follows:
\code
[DOCSOPT]
Type = value
ValueType=bool
Value=INSTALL_DOCS
Comment= Install Docbook documentation templates.
Default=true
\endcode

Then in the targets you wish to make optional you add the Option
property with the value's name as the data. This will look as follows:
\code
[DOCSDIREN]
Type=mkdir
Dir=%{dest}/doc/en
Option=INSTALL_DOCS
\endcode

The Option target is available to the mkdir, install, and install
archive targets.

The last new addition is the optional post processing of the files as
they are copied.  For install and install archive you can add a
<code>Process=true</code> or <code>Process=false</code> to turn the processing on or off.

A note on the UI. its not final, it will get better.  Suggestions or
bugs should be noted asap.

*/