Boo Primer: [Part 19] Using the Boo Compiler

Added by Cameron Kenneth Knight

The Boo Compiler is typically called in this fashion:

booc <options> <files>

Compiler Options

Option	Description
-v	Verbose
-vv	More Verbose
-vvv	Most Verbose
-r:<reference_name>	Add a reference to your project
-t:<type_name_to_generate>	Type of file to generate, can be either exe or winexe to make executables (.exe files), or library to make a .dll file
-p:<pipeline>	Adds a step <pipeline> to the compile.
-c:<culture>	Sets which CultureInfo to use.
-o:<output_file>	Sets the name of the output file
-srcdir:<source_files>	Specify where to find the source files.
-debug	Adds debug flags to your code. Good for non-production. (On by default)
-debug-	Does not add debug flags to your code. Good for production environment.
-debug-steps	See AST after each compilation step.
-resource:<resource_file>,<name>	Add a resource file. <name> is optional.
-embedres:<resource_file>,<name>	Add an embedded resource file. <name> is optional.

Using NAnt

When working on a large project with multiple files or libraries, it is a lot easier to use NAnt. It is a free .NET build tool.

To do the same command as above, you would create the following build file:

default.build

<?xml version="1.0" ?>

<project name="Goomba" default="build">
    <target name="build" depends="database" />
    <target name="database">
        <mkdir dir="bin" />
        <booc output="bin/Database.dll" target="library">
            <references basedir="bin">
                <include name="System.Data.dll" />
            </references>
            <sources>
                <include name="Database.boo" />
            </sources>
        </booc>
    </target>
</project>

$ nant
NAnt 0.85 (Build 0.85.1869.0; rc2; 2/12/2005)
Copyright (C) 2001-2005 Gerry Shaw
http://nant.sourceforge.net

Buildfile: file:///path/to/default.build
Target framework: Microsoft .NET Framework 1.1
Target(s) specified: build

build:

database:

     [booc] Compiling 1 file(s) to /path/to/bin/Database.dll.

BUILD SUCCEEDED

Total time: 0.2 seconds.

And although that was a long and drawnout version of something so simple, it does make things a lot easier when dealing with multiple files. It also helps that if you make a change to your source files, you don't have to type a long booc phrase over again. The important part of the build file is the <booc> section. It relays commands to the compiler.

There are four attributes available to use in it:

Attribute	Description
target	Output type, one of library, exe, winexe. Optional. Default: exe.
output	The name of the output assembly. Required.
pipeline	AssemblyQualifiedName for the CompilerPipeline type to use. Optional.
tracelevel	Enables compiler tracing, useful for debugging the compiler, one of: Off, Error, Warning, Info, Verbose. Optional. Default: Off.

You are most likely only to use target and output.

For nested elements, you have 3 possibilities:

Nested Element	Description
<sources>	Source files. Required.
<references>	Assembly references.
<resources>	Embedded resources.

Inside these you are to put elements, as in the example.

This is merely a brief overview of NAnt, please go to their website http://nant.sourceforge.net for more information.

Go on to Part 20 - Structure of a Boo Project

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