cc65/doc/grc65.sgml

<!doctype linuxdoc system>

<article>
<title>grc65 -- GEOS Resource Compiler
<author>
<url url="mailto:ytm@elysium.pl" name="Maciej 'YTM/Elysium' Witkowiak">,<newline>
<url url="mailto:greg.king5@verizon.net" name="Greg King">

<abstract>
This document describes a compiler that can create GEOS headers and menus for
cc65-compiled programs.
</abstract>

<!-- Table of contents -->
<toc>

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<sect>Overview
<p><bf/grc65/ is a part of cc65's GEOS support.  The tool is necessary to
generate required and optional resources.  A required resource for every GEOS
application is the header, that is:  an icon, some strings, and some addresses.
Optional resources might be menu definitions, other headers (e.g., for data
files of an app.), dialog definitions, etc.  Without an application's header,
GEOS is unable to load and start it.

Currently, <bf/grc65/ supports only menus and the required header definition,
along with support for building applications with VLIR-structured overlays.

<bf/grc65/ generates output in two formats: C header and <bf/ca65/ source (.s).
That is because the application header data must be in assembly format, while
the menu definitions can be translated easily into C.  The purpose of the C
file is to include it as a header in only one project file.  The assembly source
should be processed by <bf/ca65/ and linked to the application (read about
<ref name="the building process" id="building-seq">).



<sect>Usage
<p>grc65 accepts the following options:

<tscreen><verb>
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Usage: grc65 [options] file
Short options:
  -V                    Print the version number
  -h                    Help (this text)
  -o name               Name the C output file
  -s name               Name the asm output file
  -t sys                Set the target system

Long options:
  --help                Help (this text)
  --target sys          Set the target system
  --version             Print the version number
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
</verb></tscreen>
Default output names are made from input names with extensions replaced by
<tt/.h/ and <tt/.s/.



<sect>Resource file format
<p>A resource file has the name extension <tt/.grc/.  That is not required, but
it will make for an easier recognition of the file's purpose.  Also, <bf/cl65/
recognizes those files.  <bf/grc65/'s parser is very weak at the moment; so,
read the comments carefully, and write resources exactly as they are written
here.  Look out for CAPS and small letters.  Everything after a '<tt/;/'
until the end of the line is considered as a comment and ignored.  See the
included <ref name="commented example .grc file" id="example-grc"> for a
better view of the situation.


<sect1>Menu definition
<p><tscreen><verb>
MENU menuName leftx,topy <ORIENTATION> {
    "item name 1" <MENU_TYPE> pointer
    ...
    "item name x" <MENU_TYPE> pointer
}</verb></tscreen>
The definition starts with the keyword <tt/MENU/, then comes the menu's name,
which will be represented in C as <tt/const void/.  Then are the co-ordinates
of the top left corner of the menu box.  The position of the bottom right
corner is estimated, based on the length of item names and the menu's
orientation.  It means that the menu box always will be as large as it should
be.  Then, there's the orientation keyword; it can be either <tt/HORIZONTAL/ or
<tt/VERTICAL/.  Between <tt/&lcub;/ and <tt/&rcub;/, there's the menu's
content.  It consists of item definitions.  First is an item name -- it has to
be in quotes.  Next is a menu-type bit.  It can be <tt/MENU_ACTION/ or
<tt/SUB_MENU/; either of them can be combined with the <tt/DYN_SUB_MENU/ bit
(see <url name="the GEOSLib documentation" url="geos.html"> for descriptions of
them).  You can use C logical operators in expressions, but you have to do it
without spaces.  So a dynamically created submenu will be something like:
<tscreen><verb>
"dynamic" SUB_MENU|DYN_SUB_MENU create_dynamic</verb></tscreen>
The last part of the item definition is a pointer which can be any name that is
present in the C source code that includes the generated header.  It can point
to a function or to another menu definition.

If you are doing sub(sub)menu definitions, remember to place the lowest level
definition first, and the top-level menu as the last one.  That way the C
compiler won't complain about unknown names.


<sect1>Header definition
<p><tscreen><verb>
HEADER <GEOS_TYPE> "dosname" "classname" "version" {
    author    "Joe Schmoe"
    info      "This is my killer-app!"
    date      yy mm dd hh ss
    dostype   SEQ
    mode      any
    structure SEQ
    icon      "sprite.raw"
}</verb></tscreen>
The header definition describes the GEOS header sector which is unique to
each file.  The definition starts with the keyword <tt/HEADER/, then goes the
GEOS file-type.  You can use only <tt/APPLICATION/ here at the moment.  Then,
there are (each one in quotes) the DOS file-name (up to 16 characters), the GEOS
Class name (up to 12 characters), and the version info (up to 4 characters).
The version should be written as &dquot;<tt/V/x.y&dquot;, where <em/x/ is the
major, and <em/y/ is the minor, version number.  Those fields, along with both
braces, are required.  The lines between braces are optional, and will be replaced
by default and current values.  The keyword <tt/author/ and its value in quotes name
the programmer, and can be up to 63 bytes long.  <tt/info/ (in the same format) can
have up to 95 characters.  If the <tt/date/ field is omitted, then the time of
that compilation will be placed into the header.  Note that, if you do specify
the date, you have to write all 5 numbers.  The <tt/dostype/ can be <tt/SEQ/,
<tt/PRG/, or <tt/USR/.  <tt/USR/ is used by default; GEOS usually doesn't care.
The <tt/mode/ can be <tt/any/, <tt/40only/, <tt/80only/, or <tt/c64only/; and,
it describes system requirements.  <tt/any/ will work on both 64-GEOS and
128-GEOS, in 40- and 80-column modes.  <tt/40only/ will work on 128-GEOS in
40-column mode only.  <tt/80only/ will work on only 128-GEOS in 80-column mode,
and <tt/c64only/ will work on only 64-GEOS.  The default value for
<tt/structure/ is <tt/SEQ/ (sequential).  You can put <tt/VLIR/ there, too; but
then, you also have to put in a third type of resource -- a memory definition.
The value of <tt/icon/ is a quoted file-name.  The first 63 bytes of this file
are expected to represent a standard monochrome VIC sprite.  The file gets accessed
when the generated assembly source is being processed by <bf/ca65/.  Examples for
programs generating such files are <em/Sprite Painter/, <em/SpritePad/ and the
<url name="sp65 sprite and bitmap utility" url="sp65.html">.  The default <tt/icon/
is an empty frame internally represented in the generated assembly file.


<sect1>Memory definition
<p><tscreen><verb>
MEMORY {
    stacksize   0x0800
    overlaysize 0x2000
    overlaynums 0 1 2 4 5
}</verb></tscreen>
The memory definition is unique to each file and describes several attributes related
to the memory layout.  It consists of the keyword <tt/MEMORY/ followed by braces which
contain optional lines.  The value of <tt/stacksize/ can be either decimal (e.g.
<tt/4096/) or hexadecimal with a <tt/0x/ prefix (e.g. <tt/0x1000/).  The default value
of 0x400 comes from the linker configuration file. The value of <tt/backbuffer/ can be
either <tt/yes/ or <tt/no/. The further means that the application uses the system-supplied
background screen buffer while the latter means that the program uses the memory of the
background screen buffer for own purposes.  The default value of <tt/yes/ comes from the
linker configuration file.  If the <tt/structure/ in the header definition is set to the
value <tt/VLIR/ then it is possible and necessary to provide here the attributes of the
VLIR overlays. <tt/overlaysize/ defines the maximal size for all VLIR records but number
0.  It can be either decimal (e.g. <tt/4096/) or hexadecimal with a <tt/0x/ prefix (e.g.
<tt/0x1000/).  <tt/overlaynums/ defines the VLIR record numbers used by the application.
Skipped numbers denote empty records.  In the example, record number 3 is missing.  Read
<ref name="this description" id="building-vlir"> for details.



<sect>Building a GEOS sequential application<label id="building-seq">
<p>Before proceeding, please read the <url name="compiler" url="cc65.html">,
<url name="assembler" url="ca65.html">, and <url name="linker" url="ld65.html">
documentation, and find the appropriate sections about building programs, in
general.

GEOS support in cc65 is based on the <em/Convert v2.5/ format, well-known in
the GEOS world.  It means that each file built with the cc65 package has to be
deconverted in GEOS, before it can be run.  You can read a step-by-step
description of that in the <url name="GEOS section of the cc65 Compiler Intro"
url="intro.html#ss6.5">.

Each project consists of four parts, two are provided by cc65.  Those parts
are:<enum>
<item>application header
<item>start-up object
<item>application objects
<item>system library
</enum>
<bf/2./ and <bf/4./ come with cc65; however you have to write the application
yourself ;-)

The application header is defined in the <tt/HEADER/ section of the <tt/.grc/
file and is processed into an assembly <tt/.s/ file.  You must assemble it, with
<bf/ca65/, into the object <tt/.o/ format.

Assume that there are three input files:  &dquot;<tt/test.c/&dquot; (a C
source), &dquot;<tt/test.h/&dquot; (a header file), and
&dquot;<tt/testres.grc/&dquot; (with menu and header definitions).  Note the
fact that I <em/don't recommend/ naming that file &dquot;<tt/test.grc/&dquot;
because you will have to be very careful with names (<bf/grc65/ will make
&dquot;<tt/test.s/&dquot; and &dquot;<tt/test.h/&dquot; out of
&dquot;<tt/test.grc/&dquot; by default; and you don't want that because
&dquot;<tt/test.s/&dquot; is compiled from &dquot;<tt/test.c/&dquot;, and
&dquot;<tt/test.h/&dquot; is something completely different)!

<bf/One important thing/ -- the top of &dquot;<tt/test.c/&dquot; looks like:
<tscreen><verb>
#include <geos.h>
#include "testres.h"
</verb></tscreen>
There are no other includes.


<sect1>Building the GEOS application using cl65
<p>This is a simple one step process:
<tscreen><verb>
cl65 -t geos-cbm -O -o test.cvt testres.grc test.c
</verb></tscreen>
Always place the <tt/.grc/ file as first input file on the command-line in order
to make sure that the generated <tt/.h/ file is available when it is needed for
inclusion by a <tt/.c/ file.


<sect1>Building the GEOS application without cl65
<sect2>First step -- compiling the resources
<p>
<tscreen><verb>
grc65 -t geos-cbm testres.grc
</verb></tscreen>
will produce two output files:  &dquot;<tt/testres.h/&dquot; and
&dquot;<tt/testres.s/&dquot;.

Note that &dquot;<tt/testres.h/&dquot; is included at the top of
&dquot;<tt/test.c/&dquot;.  So, resource compiling <em/must be/ the first step.

<sect2>Second step -- assembling the application header
<p>
<tscreen><verb>
ca65 -t geos-cbm testres.s
</verb></tscreen>
And, voil&aacute; -- &dquot;<tt/testres.o/&dquot; is ready.

<sect2>Third step -- compiling the code
<p>
<tscreen><verb>
cc65 -t geos-cbm -O test.c
ca65 -t geos-cbm test.s
</verb></tscreen>
That way, you have a &dquot;<tt/test.o/&dquot; object file which
contains all of the executable code.

<sect2>Fourth and last step -- linking the application
<p>
<tscreen><verb>
ld65 -t geos-cbm -o test.cvt testres.o test.o geos-cbm.lib
</verb></tscreen>
The last file is the GEOS system library.

The resulting file &dquot;<tt/test.cvt/&dquot; is an executable that's
contained in the well-known GEOS <em/Convert/ format.  Note that its name
(<tt/test.cvt/) isn't important; the real name, after deconverting, is the DOS name
that was given in the header definition.

At each step, a <tt/-t geos-cbm/ was present on the command-line.  That switch is
required for the correct process of GEOS sequential application building.



<sect>Building a GEOS VLIR overlay application<label id="building-vlir">
<p>Large GEOS applications typically don't fit in one piece in their designated
memory area.  They are therefore split into overlays which are loaded into memory
on demand.  The individual overlays are stored as records of a VLIR (Variable
Length Index Record) file.  When GEOS starts a VLIR overlay application it loads
record number 0 which is supposed to contain the main program.  The record numbers
starting with 1 are to be used for the actual overlays.

In "<tt>cc65/samples/geos</tt>" there's a VLIR overlay demo application consisting
of the files "<tt/overlay-demo.c/" and "<tt/overlay-demores.grc/".


<sect1>Building the GEOS overlay application using cl65
<p>This is a simple one step process:
<tscreen><verb>
cl65 -t geos-cbm -O -o overlay-demo.cvt -m overlay-demo.map overlay-demores.grc overlay-demo.c
</verb></tscreen>
Always place the <tt/.grc/ file as first input file on the command-line in order
to make sure that the generated <tt/.h/ file is available when it is needed for
inclusion by a <tt/.c/ file.

You will almost certainly want to generate a map file that shows (beside a lot of
other infos) how large your individual overlays are.  This info is necessary to tune
the distribution of code into the overlays and to optimize the memory area reserved
for the overlays.


<sect1>Building the GEOS overlay application without cl65
<sect2>First step -- compiling the overlay resources
<p>
<tscreen><verb>
grc65 -t geos-cbm overlay-demores.grc
</verb></tscreen>

<sect2>Second step -- assembling the overlay application header
<p>
<tscreen><verb>
ca65 -t geos-cbm overlay-demores.s
</verb></tscreen>

<sect2>Third step -- compiling the overlay code
<p>
<tscreen><verb>
cc65 -t geos-cbm -O overlay-demo.c
ca65 -t geos-cbm overlay-demo.s
</verb></tscreen>

<sect2>Fourth and last step -- linking the overlay application
<p>
<tscreen><verb>
ld65 -t geos-cbm -o overlay-demo.cvt -m overlay-demo.map overlay-demores.o overlay-demo.o geos-cbm.lib
</verb></tscreen>



<sect>Bugs and feedback
<p>This is the first release of <bf/grc65/, and it contains bugs, for sure!  I
am aware of them; I know that the parser is weak, and if you don't follow the
grammar rules strictly, then everything will crash.  However, if you find an
interesting bug, mail me. :-) Mail me also for help with writing your
<tt/.grc/ file correctly if you have problems with it.  I would appreciate
comments also, and help on this file because I am sure that it can be written
better.



<sect>Legal stuff
<p><bf/grc65/ is covered by the same license as the whole cc65 package, so you
should see its documentation for more info.  Anyway, if you like it, and want
to encourage me to work more on it, send me a postcard with a sight of your
neighbourhood, city, region, etc.  Or, just e-mail me with info that you
actually used it.  See <url name="the GEOSLib documentation" url="geos.html">
for addresses.



<!-- <appendix> -->
<sect>Appendix A -- example.grc<label id="example-grc">
<p><tscreen><verb>
; Note that MENU can define both menus and submenus.
; If you want to use any C operators (such as "|", "&", etc.), do it WITHOUT
; any spaces between the arguments (the parser is simple and weak).

MENU subMenu1 15,0 VERTICAL
; This is a vertical menu, placed at (15,0).
{
; There are three items, all of them will call functions.
; The first and third ones are normal functions, see GEOSLib documentation for
; information about what the second function should return (it's a dynamic one).
    "subitem1" MENU_ACTION smenu1
    "subitem2" MENU_ACTION|DYN_SUB_MENU smenu2
    "subitem3" MENU_ACTION smenu3
}

;; Format:  MENU "name" left,top ALIGN { "itemname" TYPE pointer ... }

MENU mainMenu 0,0 HORIZONTAL
; Here, we have our main menu, placed at (0,0), and it is a horizontal menu.
; Because it is a top-level menu, you would register it in your C source by
; using:  DoMenu(&ero;mainMenu);
{
; There are two items -- a submenu and an action.
; This calls a submenu named subMenu1 (see previous definition).
    "first sub-menu" SUB_MENU subMenu1
; This will work the same as an EnterDeskTop() call in C source code.
    "quit" MENU_ACTION EnterDeskTop
}

;; Format:  HEADER <GEOS_TYPE> "dosname" "classname" "version"

HEADER APPLICATION "MyFirstApp" "Class Name" "V1.0"
; This is a header for an APPLICATION which will be seen in the directory as a
; file named MyFirstApp with the Class-string "Class Name V1.0"
{
; Not all fields are required, default and current values will be used.
    author "Maciej Witkowiak"   ; always in quotes!
    info "Information text"     ; always in quotes!
;    date yy mm dd hh ss        ; always 5 fields!
;    dostype seq                ; can be:  PRG, SEQ, USR (only all UPPER- or lower-case)
;    structure seq              ; can be:  SEQ, VLIR (only UPPER- or lower-case)
    mode c64only                ; can be:  any, 40only, 80only, c64only
}</verb></tscreen>
</article>