ProjPacker class

Unpacks a twinBASIC project file into a folder of source files, packs a folder into a project file, and runs the package’s own tests.

The class has three methods and no properties or events. It holds no data, so one instance serves any number of calls. The class is not predeclared: create an instance with New, then call a method.

Dim pp As New ProjPacker
Dim logPath As String
logPath = Environ$("TEMP") & "\projpacker.log"

If Not pp.Unpack(inputFile:=App.Path & "\MyApp.twinproj", outputDir:=Environ$("TEMP") & "\MyApp-src", logFile:=logPath) Then
    ' The log holds the reason.
    Dim f As Integer, text As String
    f = FreeFile
    Open logPath For Input As #f
    Do Until EOF(f)
        Line Input #f, text
        Debug.Print text
    Loop
    Close #f
End If

Results and errors

Each method returns a Boolean: True when it did its work, False when it did not. No method raises a run-time error. A file that does not exist, a folder that cannot be written, a damaged project file, a log file that cannot be opened and each refusal described on the method pages all give False. A caller that only needs to know whether the call worked tests the return value. A caller that needs the reason reads the lines the call printed.

Pack and Unpack print a summary line when they succeed. When they fail they print one line, Pack failed: or Unpack failed: and the reason. Test prints a line for each test.

The lines are printed with Debug.Print when the program runs in the IDE (when App.IsInIDE is True), so they appear in the Debug Console. A compiled program prints nothing. Pass logFile when the program needs the lines outside the IDE.

The log file

Every method has an optional logFile argument, the path of a text file for the lines the call prints. With the default, an empty string, no log is written.

  • The file is created, or emptied if it already exists, when the call starts. It is never added to, so a log holds the lines of the last call only.
  • The file is UTF-8 with CR LF line endings and no byte order mark, so a non-ASCII character, such as one in a folder name, is written correctly.
  • A log that cannot be created, for example because its folder does not exist, makes the call return False at once, before it does anything else. The reason, Cannot open log file for writing, is printed but cannot be logged.
  • The log holds the failure line too, so the reason for a False can be read from it afterwards.

Paths

Every path argument can be absolute or relative, and can use \ or / as the separator. A relative path starts from the current directory of the program, which is not necessarily the folder that holds the program. Paths longer than 260 characters are accepted.

Methods

  • Pack – packs a folder into a project file
  • Test – runs the package’s tests
  • Unpack – unpacks a project file into a folder

See Also