WEBDEV Concepts

Part 3: Development environment 109 Caution : Depending on the declaration mode the of the project elements (classes, sets of procedures, etc.), the accessible elements may change. 7.3 WDO file When generating the external component, multiple files are automatically created in the EXE directory of the current project: • <ComponentName>.WDK: Contains all the elements that must be redistributed (pages, reports, etc.) with the component • <ComponentName>.WDI: Interface of component. This file contains: • a help for using the component when it is checked back in • the elements required for using the component in the project (compilation information, etc.) These files must be distributed along with the component. If the external component uses additional elements (data files, for example), the following files must be added in the project EXE directory: • a <Component name>.WDO file: This file contains the list of external files (data files, text files, etc.) used by the external component. These files must be provided and installed with the external component. • the files that must be distributed with the external component. These files can be in a specific subtree. In this case, the code of the external component must manage the access to these files based on this tree structure. 7.4 What is a WDO file? The <Component name>.WDO file is a TXT file that can be created and edited at any time. This file can be created and edited with Notepad, the Windows standard text editor. This file contains the list of external files (data files, text files, etc.) used by the external component. These are also the files that must be provided and installed with the external component. These files must be copied to the EXE directory of the projects that use the external component. This ".WDO" file can contain: • the full name of the file. For example: C:\ComponentsWD\ PickerComponent\InitialStatus.INI • the file name. This file will be searched in the current directory of the external component. For example: InitialStatus.INI • a file name that uses a relative path. The available syntaxes are as follows: - Directory\FileName.xxx to specify a subdirectory of the current directory. - .\ FileName.xxx to specify the current directory. - .\ FileName.xx to specify the parent directory. For example: \PickerComponent\InitialStatus.INI This file will be used when including the external component in the project. The paths specified in the WDO file must correspond to the paths where the files are installed on the development computer of the external component. When including the external component, the tree structure specified in the WDO file will be kept and reproduced in the EXE directory of the project. For more details, see Using an external component in an application. Example : The "Zip Code" component uses a "Cedex" data file (Cedex.fic and Cedex.ndx files). This data file is located in the EXE directory of the component creation project. To provide and install the component with the data file, the WDO file must be created in the EXE directory of the component creation project. This file must contain the following lines: .\CEDEX.Fic .\CEDEX.NDX Distributing a component with a WDO file To distribute a component that uses a WDO file, you need to provide: • the WDK file (if necessary) • the WDI file • the WDO file • all the necessary files referenced in the WDO file.