CodeSnip is written in Object Pascal and is targeted at Delphi 2010. It requires some language features introduced in this version so will not compile with any earlier compilers. The code may compile with Delphi XE or as a 32 bit application on Delphi XE2 but neither have been tested.
The Delphi 2010 IDE can be used to modify the source and to perform test builds. Final builds should be built using the provided makefile, but you can get away with using the IDE if you don't change any resources or the type library.
If you want to compile with an earlier Delphi, CodeSnip was compatible with Delphi 2006 and later up to and including v3.5.4. You could fetch the source for an earlier version from the repository. If you do this you should refer to the version of this file that accompanied the chosen version.
Several DelphiDabbler and other 3rd party libraries and components are
required to compile CodeSnip, most of which are included in the
code repository in the Src/3rdParty directory. Code not
included in the repository is noted below.
The Indy 10 Internet components ship with Delphi 2010. If you prefer to work with the latest release you can download it from http://www.indyproject.org/. If you download a copy of Indy 10 you should compile the source code separately with the same version of Delphi that is being used to compile CodeSnip.
Regardless of whether you are using the version of Indy 10 supplied with
Delphi or if you have downloaded and compiled your own version, you must set
the INDY10 environment variable to the directory where you
placed the compiled code.
Changes were made to the parameter lists of the TWorkBeginEvent and TWorkEvent events between early and later releases of Indy 10. Specifically, earlier versions use type Integer for the AWorkCount parameter of TWorkEvent and the AWorkCountMax parameter of TWorkBeginEvent, while later versions use Int64.
CodeSnip's source code uses conditional compilation to provide the
correct event handler signatures – and it makes an intelligent guess
at which signature to use depending on the version number provided by the
Indy library code. Should the program fail to compile with an error in the
UDownloadMonitor unit, you should check the event signatures in
your Indy IdComponent unit and then define the
INDY_WORKEVENT_INT64 environment variable if Int64
parameters are required or INDY_WORKEVENT_INT32 if
Integer parameters are used.
Goes without saying really, but you need the RTL and VCL that ships with Delphi.
The following tools are required to build CodeSnip.
A copy of the Delphi 2010 command line compiler is required to build the object Pascal code from the provided makefile.
You can use the Delphi IDE to edit the code and test compile it, but final builds should be created using the makefile, which requires the following tools that are supplied with Delphi:
DCC32
BRCC32
.rc) files.
TLibImpl
ExternalObj.idl.
The following environment variables are associated with these tools:
DELPHIROOT - required unless DELPHI2010 is
set.
DCC32, BRCC32 and TLibImpl
are expected to be in the Bin sub-directory of
DELPHIROOT.
DELPHI2010 - optional
DELPHI2010 is defined
DELPHIROOT will be set to the value of
DELPHI2010.
INDY10 - required
INDY_WORKEVENT_INT64 or
INDY_WORKEVENT_INT32 - optional
This is the make tool that ships with Delphi. You can use any version that works.
The MIDL IDL compiler that ships with the MS SDK is required to build
ExternalObj.tlb from ExternalObj.idl.
MIDL requires the use of Microsoft's CL.exe C Pre-processor
which in turn requires mspdb**.dll, where ** is a number that
depends on the version of Visual Studio used. I use MIDL v7 and
mspdb80.dll from the Windows 2008 (v6.1) platform SDK. So that
MIDL can find these files you need to update your system PATH to include:
CL.exe. This will probably be in a sub folder
of a MS Visual Studio installation folder. For example
C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\VC\bin.
mspdb**.dll
is located. For example
C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\Common7\IDE.
The MSSDK environment variable must be set and contain the
MS SDK install directory. MIDL.exe must be in the
Bin sub-directory of MSSDK and the required
include files must be in the Include sub-directory.
You can use a batch file with contents similar to the following to set the
path and the MSSDK environment variable before building
CodeSnip:
if not "%PATHSET%" == "" goto end set MSSDK=C:\Program Files\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v6.1 set PATH=%PATH%;C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\VC\bin set PATH=%PATH%;C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\Common7\IDE set PATHSET=1 :end
Note: You do not need a copy of Visual Studio for this – the required directories and files are created when the SDK is installed.
If you don't already have the MS SDK it's a big job to download and install
it just to compile one .tlb file. Therefore there's an
alternative that means you can compile without the SDK. This is described
in the section
Editing and Compiling Without MIDL below.
If you take this route, there's no need to set MSSDK or modify
the path.
This tool is used to compile version information (.vi) files
into intermediate resource source (.rc) files. Version 2.11.2
or later is required.
Version Information Editor can be obtained from
http://www.delphidabbler.com/software/vied.
The program is expected to be on the path unless its install directory is
specified by the VIEDROOT environment variable.
HTMLRes is used to compile HTML.hrc which stores various
HTML, JavaScript, CSS and images into HTML resources. Version 1.1 or later
is required.
The HTML Resource Compiler can be obtained from
http://www.delphidabbler.com/software/htmlres.
The program is expected to be on the path unless its install directory is
specified by the HTMLRESROOT environment variable.
The Unicode version on the Inno setup command line compiler is needed to create CodeSnip's install program. v5.5.1 (u) or later is required.
You can get Inno Setup at http://www.jrsoftware.org/isinfo.php. Choose the Unicode version and ensure that the ISPP pre-processor is installed. If you already have the ANSI version the Unicode version can be installed alongside it - just use a different install directory and program group name.
The path to Unicode Inno Setup's install directory will be looked for in the
INNOSETUP_U environment variable, or, if that is not set, in the
INNOSETUP environment variable. If neither of these is set then
the correct version of Inno Setup is expected to be on the path.
This command line compiler is supplied with Microsoft HTML Help Workshop. It is used to compile the CodeSnip help file.
The program is expected to be on the path unless its install directory is
specified by the HHCROOT environment variable.
This program is used to create CodeSnip's release file. You can get a Windows command line version at http://stahlforce.com/dev/index.php?tool=zipunzip.
The program is expected to be on the path unless its install directory is
specified by the ZIPROOT environment variable.
You can configure environment variables either by modifying your system environment variables or by creating a batch file that you run before performing the build.
Configure the required environment variables. Compilation will fail if these environment variables are not set:
DELPHIROOT or DELPHI2010
INDY10
MSSDK (if using MIDL - see step 2)
Update the PATH environment variable to include the paths that
MIDL needs (explained above).
If you are not using MIDL then there is no need to modify the
PATH variable or set MSSDK. Instead you can
define IGNOREMIDL by setting it to some value, e.g.
set IGNOREMIDL=1.
Set any of the following environment variables that are needed to specify the path to any tools that cannot be found on the path:
VIEDROOT
HTMLRESROOT
INNOSETUP
HHCROOT
ZIPROOT
Set INDY_WORKEVENT_INT64 or INDY_WORKEVENT_INT32
if necessary (explained above).
If you don't already have it, download or checkout the CodeSnip source code. There are several options:
> svn co https://codesnip.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/codesnip/trunk PATH
PATH is the directory where you want to
place the working copy. You will not be able to commit
changes unless you join the project as a contributor.
>svn export https://codesnip.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/codesnip/trunk PATH
PATH is the directory where you wish to
store the code.
trunk
with tags/XXXX where XXX specifies the
version.
After checking out or downloading and extracting the source code you should have the following directory structure:
./
|
+-- Docs - documentation
| |
| +-- Design - documents concerning design
|
+-- Src - main CodeSnip source code
|
+-- 3rdParty - third party & DelphiDabbler library source code
|
+-- AutoGen - receives automatically generated code
|
+-- Help - help source files
| |
| +-- CSS - CSS code for help files
| |
| +-- HTML - HTML files included in help file
| |
| +-- Images - images included in help file
|
+-- Install - setup script and support code
|
+-- InstallHelper - source for install helper program
| |
| +-- Res - resources for install helper program
|
+-- Res - container for various types of resources
|
+-- HTML - html, css, js and images included in resources
|
+-- Img - images included in resources
|
+-- Misc - other resources
If, by chance you also have a Bin, Exe and
Release directory don't worry - all will become clear.
Subversion users may also see the usual .svn hidden
directories. If you have done some editing you may also see occasional
hidden __history folders.
Before you can get hacking, you need to prepare the code tree. Open a
command console and navigate into the Src sub-folder. Run any
script you have created to set the required environment variables then do:
> Make config
You may need to replace Make with the full path to
Make if it isn't on the path, or if the Make that
runs isn't the Borland / CodeGear version. If this is the case try:
> %DELPHIROOT%\Bin\Make config
or
> %DELPHI2010%\Bin\Make config
depending on which environment variable you have set.
Once Make config has completed your folder structure should
have acquired the following new folders:
./ | +-- Bin - receives object files for CodeSnip | | | +-- InstallHelper - receives object files for CSSetupHelper | ... | +-- Exe - receives executable code and compiled help file | +-- Release - receives release files | ...
If the Bin, Exe and Release folders
already existed they will have been emptied.
In addition, Make will have created .cfg files from
templates in the Src and Src\InstallHelper folders.
.cfg files are needed for DCC32 to run correctly. These files
will be ignored by Subversion.
If you are intending to use the Delphi IDE to compile code, you should also do:
> Make resources > Make typelib > Make autogen
This compiles the resource files that the IDE needs to link into compiled executables, compiles the type library from IDL code and generates the Pascal file that provides an interface to the type library.
You are now ready to build the source. If you want to modify the source now's the time to do it.
If you don't have the MIDL compiler you need to get hold of a pre-compiled
copy of the ExternalObj.tlb type library and tell Make to skip
the MIDL compiling stage.
ExternalObj.idl as
that included in the source tree.
CodeSnip.exe into the resource file editor (Use
File | Open in XN Resource Editor). You need to
find the TYPELIB resource type. There should only be one, language
neutral, TYPELIB resource. Select this and export it as
ExternalObj.tlb in the Bin folder in your
configured source tree. (Use Resource | Export Resource in XN
Resource Editor).
If you are working on the latest development tree from the code repository
you should get ExternalObj.tlb from the latest release of
CodeSnip, unless ExternalObj.idl
has been changed since the last release. In this case you
must use MIDL to build the .idl file, because
a suitable .tlb file won't be available.
You can edit the type library from the Delphi IDE. Start the IDE, select
File | Open, change the file type to Type Library and navigate to
ExternalObj.tlb. This opens the type library. Edit as required
then save the changes. Delete any *_TLB files that appear.
If you do make changes you should also use the type library editor's
Export to IDL button to save a copy of the IDL in
ExternalObj.idl in the Src folder. The license in
the original code must be restored and you can add yourself as a
contributor, so take a copy of the license from ExternalObj.idl
before saving!
You must regenerate the associated Pascal file. Do this by running:
> Make autogen
You now need to prevent Make from trying to compile the .idl
file in the absence of MIDL. Do this by defining an environment variable
called IGNOREMIDL. This can be done from the command line or
a batch file by doing:
> set IGNOREMIDL=1
Alternatively, call Make with the -DIGNOREMIDL switch.
You have several options:
Each of these options is described below. All except the last assume that
Make config has been run.
This is the most common build and has a simple command:
> Make codesnip
This is the same as doing this sequence of commands:
> Make typelib > Make resources > Make autogen > Make pascal
The CodeSnip executable will be placed in the Exe
folder.
If you are building without MIDL, and have a suitable copy of
ExternalObj.tlb already in the Bin directory you
must either have defined the IGNOREMIDL environment variable or
you must do:
> Make -DIGNOREMIDL codesnip
This is the same as doing:
> Make -DIGNOREMIDL typelib > Make resources > Make autogen > Make pascal
To build the help file just do
> Make help
The setup program requires that the CodeSnip excutable and the
compiled help file are already present in the Exe directory.
CSInstallHelper.exe must also be present in the same folder.
We've already shown how to build CodeSnip and the help file.
CSInstallHelper.exe is built by doing:
> Make installhelper
As an aside, you can make all the required files by doing:
> Make exes
Make exes will require the use of the -DIGNOREMIDL
switch if MIDL is not available.
Once you have built all the required files you build the setup file by doing:
> Make setup
The setup program is named CodeSnip-Setup-x.x.x.exe, where
x.x.x is the version number extracted from CodeSnip's version
information. It is placed in the Exe directory.
If the SpecialBuild string is defined in CodeSnip's
version information the string will be appended to the setup file name like
this CodeSnip-Setup-x.x.x-SPECIALBUILD.
Once the setup file has been compiled you can create a zip file containing
the setup file along with ReadMe.txt from the Docs
directory. If either file is missing the build fails. Build the release by
doing:
> Make release
By default the release file is called dd-codesnip.zip. You can
change this name by defining the RELEASEFILENAME macro or
enviroment variable. For example, you can name the file
MyRelease.zip by doing:
> Make -DRELEASEFILENAME=MyRelease.zip release
You can do a clean build of everything, and generate the release zip file simply by doing:
> Make
without specifying a target. This is the equivalent of:
> Make config > Make exes > Make setup > Make release
Warning: You should not run this command if MIDL is not
available since Make config will delete any .tlb
file you may have placed in the Bin directory.
Various temporary files and directories are created by the IDE. These can be deleted by running.
> Make clean
Be warned though that this command removes the __history
folders that Delphi uses to maintain earlier versions of files.
If you are planning to re-use or modify any of the code, please see the file
SourceCodeLicenses.txt in the Docs directory for
an overview of the various licenses that apply to the CodeSnip
source code.
It is intended to change the licensing for the majority of the code base from the Mozilla Public License to the MPL / GPL / LGPL disjunctive tri-license. This could take some time. In the meantime if you would like to use parts of the code under the tri-license, please ask.