1 <!doctype linuxdoc system>
4 <!-- Title information -->
6 <title>grc65 -- GEOS Resource Compiler
7 <author><url name="Maciej 'YTM/Elysium' Witkowiak" url="mailto:ytm@elysium.pl">
8 <and><url name="Greg King" url="mailto:gngking@erols.com">
9 <date>VII 2000; VI,VII 2002; 2005-8-3
11 This document describes a compiler that can create GEOS headers and menues for
12 cc65-compiled programs.
15 <!-- Table of contents -->
18 <!-- Begin the document -->
21 <p><bf/grc65/ is a part of cc65's GEOS support. The tool is necessary to
22 generate required and optional resources. A required resource for every GEOS
23 application is the header, that is: an icon, some strings, and some addresses.
24 Optional resources might be menu definitions, other headers (e.g., for data
25 files of an app.), dialog definitions, etc. Without an application's header,
26 GEOS is unable to load and start it.
28 Currently, <bf/grc65/ supports only menues and the required header definition,
29 along with support for building applications with VLIR-structured overlays.
31 <bf/grc65/ generates output in two formats: C header and <bf/ca65/ source (.s).
32 That is because the application header data must be in assembly format, while
33 the menu definitions can be translated easily into C. The purpose of the C
34 file is to include it as a header in only one project file. The assembly source
35 should be processed by <bf/ca65/ and linked to the application (read about
36 <ref name="the building process" id="building-seq">).
41 <p>grc65 accepts the following options:
44 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
45 Usage: grc65 [options] file
47 -V Print the version number
49 -o name Name the C output file
50 -s name Name the asm output file
51 -t sys Set the target system
54 --help Help (this text)
55 --target sys Set the target system
56 --version Print the version number
57 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
59 Default output names are made from input names with extensions replaced by
64 <sect>Resource file format
65 <p>A resource file has the name extension <tt/.grc/. That is not required, but
66 it will make for an easier recognition of the file's purpose. Also, <bf/cl65/
67 recognizes those files. <bf/grc65/'s parser is very weak at the moment; so,
68 read the comments carefully, and write resources exactly as they are written
69 here. Look out for CAPS and small letters. Everything after a '<tt/;/'
70 until the end of the line is considered as a comment and ignored. See the
71 included <ref name="commented example .grc file" id="example-grc"> for a
72 better view of the situation.
75 <sect1>Menu definition
77 MENU menuName leftx,topy <ORIENTATION> {
78 "item name 1" <MENU_TYPE> pointer
80 "item name x" <MENU_TYPE> pointer
82 The definition starts with the keyword <tt/MENU/, then comes the menu's name,
83 which will be represented in C as <tt/const void/. Then are the co-ordinates
84 of the top left corner of the menu box. The position of the bottom right
85 corner is estimated, based on the length of item names and the menu's
86 orientation. It means that the menu box always will be as large as it should
87 be. Then, there's the orientation keyword; it can be either <tt/HORIZONTAL/ or
88 <tt/VERTICAL/. Between <tt/{/ and <tt/}/, there's the menu's
89 content. It consists of item definitions. First is an item name -- it has to
90 be in quotes. Next is a menu-type bit. It can be <tt/MENU_ACTION/ or
91 <tt/SUB_MENU/; either of them can be combined with the <tt/DYN_SUB_MENU/ bit
92 (see <url name="the GEOSLib documentation" url="geos.html"> for descriptions of
93 them). You can use C logical operators in expressions, but you have to do it
94 without spaces. So a dynamically created submenu will be something like:
96 "dynamic" SUB_MENU|DYN_SUB_MENU create_dynamic</verb></tscreen>
97 The last part of the item definition is a pointer which can be any name that is
98 present in the C source code that includes the generated header. It can point
99 to a function or to another menu definition.
101 If you are doing sub(sub)menu definitions, remember to place the lowest level
102 definition first, and the top-level menu as the last one. That way the C
103 compiler won't complain about unknown names.
106 <sect1>Header definition
108 HEADER <GEOS_TYPE> "dosname" "classname" "version" {
110 info "This is my killer-app!"
117 The header definition describes the GEOS header sector which is unique to
118 each file. The definition starts with the keyword <tt/HEADER/, then goes the
119 GEOS file-type. You can use only <tt/APPLICATION/ here at the moment. Then,
120 there are (each one in quotes) the DOS file-name (up to 16 characters), the GEOS
121 Class name (up to 12 characters), and the version info (up to 4 characters).
122 The version should be written as &dquot;<tt/V/x.y&dquot;, where <em/x/ is the
123 major, and <em/y/ is the minor, version number. Those fields, along with both
124 braces, are required. The lines between braces are optional, and will be replaced
125 by default and current values. The keyword <tt/author/ and its value in quotes name
126 the programmer, and can be up to 63 bytes long. <tt/info/ (in the same format) can
127 have up to 95 characters. If the <tt/date/ field is omitted, then the time of
128 that compilation will be placed into the header. Note that, if you do specify
129 the date, you have to write all 5 numbers. The <tt/dostype/ can be <tt/SEQ/,
130 <tt/PRG/, or <tt/USR/. <tt/USR/ is used by default; GEOS usually doesn't care.
131 The <tt/mode/ can be <tt/any/, <tt/40only/, <tt/80only/, or <tt/c64only/; and,
132 it describes system requirements. <tt/any/ will work on both 64-GEOS and
133 128-GEOS, in 40- and 80-column modes. <tt/40only/ will work on 128-GEOS in
134 40-column mode only. <tt/80only/ will work on only 128-GEOS in 80-column mode,
135 and <tt/c64only/ will work on only 64-GEOS. The default value for
136 <tt/structure/ is <tt/SEQ/ (sequential). You can put <tt/VLIR/ there, too; but
137 then, you also have to put in a third type of resource -- a memory definition.
138 The value of <tt/icon/ is a quoted file-name. The first 63 bytes of this file
139 are expected to represent a standard monochrome VIC sprite. The file gets accessed
140 when the generated assembly source is be processed by <bf/ca65/. Examples for
141 programs generating such files are <em/Sprite Painter/ and <em/SpritePad/. The
142 default <tt/icon/ is an empty frame internally represented in the generated assembly
146 <sect1>Memory definition
151 overlaynums 0 1 2 4 5
153 The memory definition is unique to each file and describes several attributes related
154 to the memory layout. It consists of the keyword <tt/MEMORY/ followed by braces which
155 contain optional lines. The value of <tt/stacksize/ can be either decimal (e.g.
156 <tt/4096/) or hexadecimal with a <tt/0x/ prefix (e.g. <tt/0x1000/). The default value
157 of 0x400 comes from the linker configuration file. The value of <tt/backbuffer/ can be
158 either <tt/yes/ or <tt/no/. The further means that the application uses the system-supplied
159 background screen buffer while the latter means that the program uses the memory of the
160 background screen buffer for own purposes. The default value of <tt/yes/ comes from the
161 linker configuration file. If the <tt/structure/ in the header definition is set to the
162 value <tt/VLIR/ then it is possible and necessary to provide here the attributes of the
163 VLIR overlays. <tt/overlaysize/ defines the maximal size for all VLIR records but number
164 0. It can be either decimal (e.g. <tt/4096/) or hexadecimal with a <tt/0x/ prefix (e.g.
165 <tt/0x1000/). <tt/overlaynums/ defines the VLIR record numbers used by the application.
166 Skipped numbers denote empty records. In the example, record number 3 is missing. Read
167 <ref name="this description" id="building-vlir"> for details.
171 <sect>Building a GEOS sequential application<label id="building-seq">
172 <p>Before proceeding, please read the <url name="compiler" url="cc65.html">,
173 <url name="assembler" url="ca65.html">, and <url name="linker" url="ld65.html">
174 documentation, and find the appropriate sections about building programs, in
177 GEOS support in cc65 is based on the <em/Convert v2.5/ format, well-known in
178 the GEOS world. It means that each file built with the cc65 package has to be
179 deconverted in GEOS, before it can be run. You can read a step-by-step
180 description of that in the <url name="GEOS section of the cc65 Compiler Intro"
181 url="intro-6.html#ss6.5">.
183 Each project consists of four parts, two are provided by cc65. Those parts
185 <item>application header
186 <item>start-up object
187 <item>application objects
190 <bf/2./ and <bf/4./ come with cc65; however you have to write the application
193 The application header is defined in the <tt/HEADER/ section of the <tt/.grc/
194 file and is processed into an assembly <tt/.s/ file. You must assemble it, with
195 <bf/ca65/, into the object <tt/.o/ format.
197 Assume that there are three input files: &dquot;<tt/test.c/&dquot; (a C
198 source), &dquot;<tt/test.h/&dquot; (a header file), and
199 &dquot;<tt/testres.grc/&dquot; (with menu and header definitions). Note the
200 fact that I <em/don't recommend/ naming that file &dquot;<tt/test.grc/&dquot;
201 because you will have to be very careful with names (<bf/grc65/ will make
202 &dquot;<tt/test.s/&dquot; and &dquot;<tt/test.h/&dquot; out of
203 &dquot;<tt/test.grc/&dquot; by default; and you don't want that because
204 &dquot;<tt/test.s/&dquot; is compiled from &dquot;<tt/test.c/&dquot;, and
205 &dquot;<tt/test.h/&dquot; is something completely different)!
207 <bf/One important thing/ -- the top of &dquot;<tt/test.c/&dquot; looks like:
212 There are no other includes.
215 <sect1>Building the GEOS application using cl65
216 <p>This is a simple one step process:
218 cl65 -t geos-cbm -O -o test.cvt testres.grc test.c
220 Always place the <tt/.grc/ file as first input file on the command-line in order
221 to make sure that the generated <tt/.h/ file is available when it is needed for
222 inclusion by a <tt/.c/ file.
225 <sect1>Building the GEOS application without cl65
226 <sect2>First step -- compiling the resources
228 grc65 -t geos-cbm testres.grc
230 will produce two output files: &dquot;<tt/testres.h/&dquot; and
231 &dquot;<tt/testres.s/&dquot;.
233 Note that &dquot;<tt/testres.h/&dquot; is included at the top of
234 &dquot;<tt/test.c/&dquot;. So, resource compiling <em/must be/ the first step.
236 <sect2>Second step -- assembling the application header
238 ca65 -t geos-cbm testres.s
240 And, voilá -- &dquot;<tt/testres.o/&dquot; is ready.
242 <sect2>Third step -- compiling the code
244 cc65 -t geos-cbm -O test.c
245 ca65 -t geos-cbm test.s
247 That way, you have a &dquot;<tt/test.o/&dquot; object file which
248 contains all of the executable code.
250 <sect2>Fourth and last step -- linking it together
252 ld65 -t geos-cbm -o test.cvt testres.o test.o geos.lib
254 The last file is the GEOS system library.
256 The resulting file &dquot;<tt/test.cvt/&dquot; is an executable that's
257 contained in the well-known GEOS <em/Convert/ format. Note that its name
258 (<tt/test.cvt/) isn't important; the real name, after deconverting, is the DOS name
259 that was given in the header definition.
261 At each step, a <tt/-t geos-cbm/ was present on the command-line. That switch is
262 required for the correct process of GEOS sequential application building.
266 <sect>Building a GEOS VLIR overlay application<label id="building-vlir">
267 <p>Large GEOS applications typically don't fit in one piece in their designated
268 memory area. They are therefore split into overlays which are loaded into memory
269 on demand. The individual overlays are stored as records of a VLIR (Variable
270 Length Index Record) file. When GEOS starts a VLIR overlay appliation it loads
271 record number 0 which is supposed to contain the main program. The record numbers
272 starting with 1 are to be used for the actual overlays.
274 In "<tt>cc65/samples/geos</tt>" there's a VLIR overlay demo application consisting
275 of the files "<tt/overlay-demo.c/" and "<tt/overlay-demores.grc/".
278 <sect1>Building the GEOS application using cl65
279 <p>This is a simple one step process:
281 cl65 -t geos-cbm -O -o overlay-demo.cvt -m overlay-demo.map overlay-demores.grc overlay-demo.c
283 Always place the <tt/.grc/ file as first input file on the command-line in order
284 to make sure that the generated <tt/.h/ file is available when it is needed for
285 inclusion by a <tt/.c/ file.
287 You will almost certainly want to generate a map file that shows (beside a lot of
288 other infos) how large your individual overlays are. This info is necessary to tune
289 the distribution of code into the overlays and to optimize the memory area reserved
293 <sect1>Building the GEOS application without cl65
294 <sect2>First step -- compiling the resources
296 grc65 -t geos-cbm overlay-demores.grc
299 <sect2>Second step -- assembling the application header
301 ca65 -t geos-cbm overlay-demores.s
304 <sect2>Third step -- compiling the code
306 cc65 -t geos-cbm -O overlay-demo.c
307 ca65 -t geos-cbm overlay-demo.s
310 <sect2>Fourth and last step -- linking it together
312 ld65 -t geos-cbm -o overlay-demo.cvt -m overlay-demo.map overlay-demores.o overlay-demo.o geos.lib
317 <sect>Bugs and feedback
318 <p>This is the first release of <bf/grc65/, and it contains bugs, for sure! I
319 am aware of them; I know that the parser is weak, and if you don't follow the
320 grammar rules strictly, then everything will crash. However, if you find an
321 interesting bug, mail me. :-) Mail me also for help with writing your
322 <tt/.grc/ file correctly if you have problems with it. I would appreciate
323 comments also, and help on this file because I am sure that it can be written
329 <p><bf/grc65/ is covered by the same license as the whole cc65 package, so you
330 should see its documentation for more info. Anyway, if you like it, and want
331 to encourage me to work more on it, send me a postcard with a sight of your
332 neighbourhood, city, region, etc. Or, just e-mail me with info that you
333 actually used it. See <url name="the GEOSLib documentation" url="geos.html">
339 <sect>Appendix A -- example.grc<label id="example-grc">
341 ; Note that MENU can define both menues and submenues.
342 ; If you want to use any C operators (such as "|", "&", etc.), do it WITHOUT
343 ; any spaces between the arguments (the parser is simple and weak).
345 MENU subMenu1 15,0 VERTICAL
346 ; This is a vertical menu, placed at (15,0).
348 ; There are three items, all of them will call functions.
349 ; The first and third ones are normal functions, see GEOSLib documentation for
350 ; information about what the second function should return (it's a dynamic one).
351 "subitem1" MENU_ACTION smenu1
352 "subitem2" MENU_ACTION|DYN_SUB_MENU smenu2
353 "subitem3" MENU_ACTION smenu3
356 ;; Format: MENU "name" left,top ALIGN { "itemname" TYPE pointer ... }
358 MENU mainMenu 0,0 HORIZONTAL
359 ; Here, we have our main menu, placed at (0,0), and it is a horizontal menu.
360 ; Because it is a top-level menu, you would register it in your C source by
361 ; using: DoMenu(&ero;mainMenu);
363 ; There are two items -- a submenu and an action.
364 ; This calls a submenu named subMenu1 (see previous definition).
365 "first sub-menu" SUB_MENU subMenu1
366 ; This will work the same as an EnterDeskTop() call in C source code.
367 "quit" MENU_ACTION EnterDeskTop
370 ;; Format: HEADER <GEOS_TYPE> "dosname" "classname" "version"
372 HEADER APPLICATION "MyFirstApp" "Class Name" "V1.0"
373 ; This is a header for an APPLICATION which will be seen in the directory as a
374 ; file named MyFirstApp with the Class-string "Class Name V1.0"
376 ; Not all fields are required, default and current values will be used.
377 author "Maciej Witkowiak" ; always in quotes!
378 info "Information text" ; always in quotes!
379 ; date yy mm dd hh ss ; always 5 fields!
380 ; dostype seq ; can be: PRG, SEQ, USR (only all UPPER- or lower-case)
381 ; structure seq ; can be: SEQ, VLIR (only UPPER- or lower-case)
382 mode c64only ; can be: any, 40only, 80only, c64only