Files to distribute with your application
At a minimum, you must distribute
• an executable;
On UNIX, the executable is abt, abtnx or esnx or nodialog
On Windows the executable is abt.exe, esvio.exe or nodialog.exe
• a reduced runtime image (.icx) or, if you are packaging with image components, a startup Image Component (.ic file);
• an INI file.
You must always specify (or default to) an INI file when running VA Smalltalk. The INI file can:
1. have the same name and be in the same directory as your executable;
Note:
The execuatable can be copied to the same directory as the INI file and renamed to match the reduced runtime image (or startup image component);
2. have the same name and be in the same directory as your reduced runtime image (.icx) or, if you are packaging with image components, your startup Image component (.ic file);
3. be specified as a command line parameter. For example, you can launch your program on Windows by typing the following:
abt -imyapp.icx -ini:c:\myDirectory\any.ini
the UNIX equivalent is
abt -imyapp.icx -ini:\myDirectory\any.ini
Refer to the Instantiations web site for a list of the files you need or can distribute with your packaged application. (See
Redistributable Runtime Files.) More complicated reduced runtime images may need more resources. VAST Runtime (available on Instantiations
download page) can be used to start a directory of resources.
Remember that an application that does not access VAST code will not be required to include VAST files (prefaced with abt) for distribution.
Choosing your executable
All the executables will launch your application. Why not just stick with abt? The abt executable shows splash screen while launching and allows your application to use a GUI. If your application has a user interface, but you do not wish to show a splash screen, choose nodialog. If your application is headless, choose esvio (abtnx or esnx on Unix) .
Last modified date: 04/18/2022