Alex, Thanks for the info. Great stuff. Now if only I could understand any of it ;-) Not to worry, I'll bang around and ask questions.
Who said Macs were easier? Not when it comes to compiling and delivering apps! (<--WARNING: OBVIOUS TROLL) Is it possible to edit the app bundle info.plist file with a text editor? I don't think I want to build a "hello world" C app as then I'd have to learn yet another IDE. Hey anyone, how 'bout making a Rev app do to all of this stuff automatically? best, Chipp > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Alex Rice > Sent: Thursday, February 05, 2004 11:08 AM > To: How to use Revolution > Subject: Re: Tutorials or instructions on delivering MacOSX apps... > > > > On Feb 5, 2004, at 12:50 AM, Chipp Walters wrote: > > > I've seen (and made) some tutorials on building icons for Windows > > apps. And > > using a utility like Install Creator from Clickteam > > (www.clickteam.com) is a > > great way to build an installer for Windows. > > For Windows I *highly* recommend InnoSetup (it's free too!) > http://innosetup.com or jrsoftware.org > > > > But, I've not yet built installers for standalones on MacOSX. Anyone > > know of > > a step-by-step way to produce and distribute commercial standalones > > for OSX? > > There is no canonical way to do it like there is on Windows (pick > Installshield, Windows Installer, or a work-alike like InnoSetup) > > First install the OS X Dev Tools CD you will get lots of good free > utilities with it. Here are some concepts I have found useful. > > App Bundle's Info.plist > You will probably want to replace the app bundle produced by Runrev. > > In the bundle, Info.plist is the file that specifies everything that > makes an app bundle an app bundle: the Icons filename, Get Info string, > HelpBook filename, Executable name, Copyright string, etc. > > What I recommend is using Project Builder or XCODE to build a hello > world C app, to get the App Bundle and Info.plist created for you > exactly how you want it. PB/XCODE has a nice GUI for entering all the > fields of the Info.plist. Then copy the Rev executable into the new app > bundle. I'll attach a shell script I use for this purpose. > > > App Bundle Contents > If you have a lot of files to manage, you can also attach a > shell-script build phase to the PB/XCODE project which can be used to > copy files into the app bundle. Or use Drag and Drop to attach files to > the project so PB/XCODE will put them into the Resources folder of your > app bundle. > > > Distribute with DMG > If your app is a single app bundle, or self-contained in a folder, I > would suggest using a DMG disk image. Although you can use > DiskUtility.app or CLI tools to create .dmg files, I use the shareware > DropDMG. DropDMG allows you to attach auto-open flags, and license > agreement texts to the DMG. See > <http://mindlube.com/download/files/Slacker-2_1_6.dmg> for an example. > > The basic idea with DMGs is they open up and the user can run the app > from right there (assuming the app doesn't write to it's own folder), > or the user most likely will drag-drop the app to their Applications > folder. > > It might sound overly simplistic, but it works good and in fact Apple > uses dmg images to distribute several of their apps. > > > Icon Composer (in Developer/Applications/Utilities) > Create 4 sizes of icons in Photoshop or whatever, then copy-paste them > into this app to create a .icns file. Reference the icns file in your > Info.plist > > > PackageMaker (in Developer/Applications/Utilities) > This is the "official" Apple installer-maker for MacOS X. It used to be > tough to use safely and sanely. But if you decide against DMG disk > images, then look at this. Packages still need to be imaged somehow > (.sit or .dmg for instance. Packages can also *run scripts* at install > time, so they are used for more complicated installs where drag-n-drop > won't work. > > > Property List Editor (in Developer/Applications/Utilities) > Edit Info.plist XML files with a nice GUI. > > > 3rd party Installers > If you decided against DMG and against Packages, then there are 3rd > party installers like WISE, VISE, Stuffit InstallerMaker and others. > > ---- > > This shell script takes the standalone output from Revolution, and > copies it into a custom application bundle I maintain. > > #!/bin/sh > > # > # build an OSX app bundle for ARC testing. > # > > # this is the binary executable produced by runrev > cp > build/FacilityCa_MacOSX_Standalone/FacilityCalculator.app/Contents/ > MacOS/Revolution \ > > build/NPSFacCalc/FacilityCalculator.app/Contents/MacOS/ > FacilityCalculator > > # revclips.bundle could go into Resources or Plugins instead, but > # but it works here to > cp -R revclips.bundle \ > build/NPSFacCalc/FacilityCalculator.app/Contents/MacOS > > # not using revxml yet > # cp -R build/Standalone_MacOSX_FacilityCa/revxml.bundle \ > # build/NPSFacCalc/FacilityCalculator.app/Contents/MacOS > > # supporting files > cp -R clips-models \ > build/NPSFacCalc/FacilityCalculator.app/Contents/MacOS > # delete emacs backup files > rm > build/NPSFacCalc/FacilityCalculator.app/Contents/MacOS/clips-models/*~ > > # supporting files > cp -R data \ > build/NPSFacCalc/FacilityCalculator.app/Contents/MacOS > > # unneeded files > rm > build/NPSFacCalc/FacilityCalculator.app/Contents/MacOS/data/ > UserData*.rev > rm build/NPSFacCalc/FacilityCalculator.app/Contents/MacOS/data/*~ > > # launch the app for testing > # open build/NPSFacCalc/FacilityCalculator.app > > -- > Alex Rice | Mindlube Software | http://mindlube.com > > _______________________________________________ > use-revolution mailing list > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-revolution > _______________________________________________ use-revolution mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-revolution
