View source for How to do an application using XULRunner

'''Note:  This page is still under construction'''

== Setting up an application file structure == 
First set up the application file structure to the following:

  /''applicationName''
    /chrome
      /''applicationName''
        ''your app files''
      chrome.manifest
    /defaults
      /preferences
         prefs.js
    application.ini

This file structure is used on a Linux platform.  If your using a different platform, please visit [http://developer.mozilla.org/en/docs/XULRunner:Deploying_XULRunner_1.8 Deploying XULRunner 1.8] to find the file struture for your specific platform.

'''Notes:'''

Users can change the name of the italicized filename and folders

== Setting up the application.ini file ==

XULRunner first looks at the application.ini file located at the root directory.  This file contains metadata which tells XULRunner how to run the application properly.  This fype typically contains [Heading] and Key=Values.  Also, Lines which begin with characters "#" or ";" are treated as comments.

The application.ini file contains two sections.  They are the following with surrounding square brackets:

'''[App]''' Section - This section of the file contains data about the application
<table style="width: 100%;" class="standard-table" cellborder=1 border=1 cellpadding=2 cellspacing=0>
<tr>
<td width="10%"> '''Key'''</td>
<td> '''Value'''</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Name</td>
<td>Name of the application.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Version</td>
<td>Version of the application.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>BuildID</td>
<td>This is the build ID which is unique.  Typically this field is a date</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>ID</td>
<td>Unique ID of the application.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Vendor</td>
<td>This is the vendor of the application which is an optional field.</td>
</tr>
</table>


'''[Gecko]''' Section - This section contains information about what version XULRunner is needed for the application.
<table style="width: 100%;" class="standard-table" cellborder=1 border=1 cellpadding=2 cellspacing=0>
<tr>
<td width="10%">'''Key'''</td>
<td>'''Value'''</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>MinVersion</td>
<td>The minimum XULRunner version this application supports.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>MaxVersion</td>
<td>The maximum XULRunner version this application can run on.</td>
</tr>
</table>


The following is a sample '''application.ini''' file.

<pre>
 [App]
 Vendor=Mylau
 Name=Hello World Application
 Version=1.0
 BuildID=20060101
 Copyright=Copyright (c) 2006 
 ID=xulTestApp@mylau.org
 
 [Gecko]
 MinVersion=1.8
 MaxVersion=1.8
</pre>

== Setting up the chrome.manifest file ==

The chrome manifest is used by XULRunner to locate the application resources.  The application can be distributed using a compressed JAR file.  For this example, the chrome.manifest file contains the following:

  content myapp file:content/

== Setting up the prefs.js file ==

The prefs.js file tells XULRunner which XUL file contains the main window.  The following was used for this simple application.

 pref("toolkit.defaultChromeURI", "chrome://myapp/content/main.xul");


The '''pref''' function needs to be passed in two arguements.  In this scenario, this document provided an explaination on what those two arguements are:
:*'''toolkit.defaultChromeURI''' is a preferences which allows a simple XULRunner-based application to open a new window
:*'''chrome://myapp/content/main.xul''' is the location of the main XUL file.

== Creating some XUL ==

For the similicity of this application, we're going to create a simple XUL window that says hello world.
  
  <pre>
  <?xml version="1.0"?>
  <?xml-stylesheet href="chrome://global/skin/" type="text/css"?>

  <window id="main" title="My App" width="300" height="300"
    xmlns="http://www.mozilla.org/keymaster/gatekeeper/there.is.only.xul">
    <caption label="Hello World"/>
  </window>
  </pre>

== Running the application ==


== References ==
*[http://blogs.acceleration.net/ryan/archive/2005/05/06/1073.aspx]
*[http://developer.mozilla.org/en/docs/Getting_started_with_XULRunner]
*[http://developer.mozilla.org/en/docs/XULRunner:Deploying_XULRunner_1.8]
*[http://developer.mozilla.org/en/docs/XUL_Application_Packaging XUL Application Packaging]