This page lists the various steps required to create an addon.
Read the Addons/Developers Guide for an overview of the development system.
You need the SVN client installed, see Subversion, and in particular, the Subversion/User Guide.
You need update access to the Jsoftware repositories. For this contact Bill Lam or Chris Burke.
- Checkout the Addons repository. To commit a new addon, you need only check out the trunk. It is best to do so in a directory outside of your normal J directory. For example, in a command window:
svn co http://www.jsoftware.com/svn/addons/trunk d:\addons
- If your application was built with Project Manager, you should create a Folder name Addons that points to this directory, so that in J:
jpath '~Addons' d:\addons
This lets you browse the Addons repository from within J. Change your own project file to use the ~Addons prefix for filenames.
Create a manifest.ijs script for the addon. See the description in the Addons/Developers Guide
Define VERSION in manifest.ijs as empty until you are ready to release your addon for use.
Create an appropriate subdirectory of addons, for example d:\addons\web\cgi. See the Addon Folders section of the Addons/Developers Guide, and also the Addons/Config/Categories page.
- Copy your files into this new subdirectory.
- Teach svn to convert unix/dos line ending for text files.
- Add the new subdirectory into svn, and then commit the changes. For example, in a command window:
d: cd \addons\web\cgi svn propset svn:eol-style native *.ijs *.jproj *.ijp *.ijt *.txt *.htm *.html cd .. svn add cgi svn ci -m "first commit of web\cgi addon"
review the JAL/Build Log and ensure that the build was run. On any error, check the manifest.ijs script and commit any changes.
visit the appropriate JAL page listing the addons, e.g. JAL/j602, then click on the link for your new addon to create a wiki page for the addon documentation.
For help, email specific issues to <jal AT SPAMFREE jsoftware DOT com>, or general comments to the general forum.