Re: luasetup.h and wxLua build system (was Re: [Wxlua-users] wxLua Compiles and works in Linux)

[John L. <jla...@gm...>]

On 11/22/05, klaas.holwerda <kho...@xs...> wrote:
> So wxArt2D has its own module with *.i files, leading to an extra
> library  with wxLua art2d  bindings.  To conclude, this  is part of its
> own project files. No need for a dedicated project file from wxLua itself=
.
> If however one only wants to link in a partly wxLua ( which can be the
> case for certain wxArt2D applications, where lua is used only for a
> command interpreter, and nothing fancy ), we get to the situation that
> John explained.
> And again here i think it should be the job of the wxart2d\project/make
> files to generate this partly wxLua by taking only parts of *.i , having
> a customized luasetup.h in wxArt2D.

The beauty of the new genwxbind.lua program (over wxluawrap.lua) is
that it generates .cpp files that contain all the appropriate #if
statements to run in any platform and build. This means that you only
run genwxbind whenever you edit the .i files. wxLua itself will
distribute a full set of wrapped files for wxWidgets in
modules/wxbind, I just haven't committed them yet until we get the
build system figured out.

I will add some docs about this. As I adapt my project and wxLua to
work easily with external projects I'll write the docs.

> In short i think we need a system for external wxLua project ( app or
> lib ), in which on can take the complete wxLua or a partly binding and
> at the same time extend it with extra bindings, and that alltogether
> could best go into a library which belongs to that external project itsel=
f.
> I would non be suprized that in some far future there will be a
> lua_art2dsetup.h next to the luasetup.h, making it able to choose
> between  the various wxArt2d modules wrapped into lua.

wxArt2d should have it's own set of .i files (for wxArt2D) and the
result of running genwxbind.lua (the generated .cpp wrapper files) in
wxArt2d's cvs.

This is what it looks like

make wxLua (modules/wxlua modules/wxluadebug whatever else)
-> have lib_wxlua lib_wxluadebug to link to in wxLua's build tree

from wxArt2d compile you OWN lib_wxbind (from modules/wxbind) that
contains the appropriate classes as set by luasetup.h (or just use the
default, eg. you may not want to wrap wxStyledTextCtrl or wxGrid if
you don't use it)
-> have wx_wxluabind in wxArt2D's build tree somewhere

compile wxArt2D's equivalent to modules/wxbind, pregenerated from your
.i files by the same genwxbind.lua that wxLua uses itself, using your
own settings similar to bindings/wxwidgets/wx.rules
-> have lib_wxluaart2d in wxArt2D's build tree somewhere

build the rest of wxArt2d
-> lib_wxart2d...

build your app and link to
   lib_wxlua, lib_wxluadebug, lib_wxluabind (your own version),
lib_wxluabindart2d, whatever else.

When you create a new lua_State you need to add the bindings in
lib_wxluabindart2d (the ones in lib_wxluabind are automatically
added). All of wxArt2d is accessible to wxLua in the lua "namespace"
of wxart2d (or whatever you want to call it). This part needs some
work and is completely untested by me, but there should be no
implementation problems with it.

> So i wonder if a VC project file is really helping in such a situation.
> But of course it will be good to help a user on his way, since wxLua/lua
> is often really meant to be used with/inside other applications to
> extend them with scripting.  We must make something which makes this
> easy to do.
> Maybe we must generate some sort of template makefile/project files, or
> even better bakefile template itself, within wxLua, which makes this
> easy to include in our own projects?

This is another solution, but I think that the existing
bakefiles/buildfiles are good enough for templates. My worry about
luasetup.h is that I want to be able to use the wxLua build files from
external projects. This should work for most people, the people who
have really special needs will be on their own.

> John would you be able to explain how you picture the use of
> genwxbind.bat in an external project ?  e.g. should one extend wx.rules?
> In that case, one will need a copy of that file in its own projects i
> think, but will it still work from  there? Did you already use wxLua
> like it is now in one of your own project (which has its own bindings ).
> How do you do that?

I have not used the new version yet, see above about wx.rules. Basicly
wx.rules (the name is not important, see genwxbind.bat) sets all the
output dirs and everything so that genwxbind can be run from anywhere
and output to anywhere.

I will try to test some things out later this week, but *FIRST* I
really want to get the luasetup.h stuff figured out once and for all.
I have some previous messages to read through so maybe it's already
settled? :)

-John