CreateascriptforPlayOnLinuxChapter1:Getting toknowbash

Introduction
YouwouldliketocreateyourownscriptsforPlayOnLinuxbutyoudon'tknowsquataboutprogramming?Thistutorial willexplainthebasicsandyou'llsoonbeaproinplayonlinuxianbash

Bash?
BashisacommandinterpretorinGNU/Linux.It'stheoneappearingwhenyoulaunchaterminal.Italsoallowsyouto makescripts.Ascriptisalistofcommandsthatyourconsolewillopenoneaftertheother PlayOnLinuxhasadvancedfunctionsinbashtomakethescriptingprocesseasier.Let'sgetacquaintedwiththem

Yourfirstscript
IrecommendthatyouuseZoloom'sprogramtoscript:PlayOnLinuxScriptCreator.Otherwise,asimpletexteditor isfine. WesaidpreviouslythatPlayOnLinuxwasmadeinbash.Openyourtesteditorandtypeinthefollowingline:
#!/bin/bash

Then,youneedtoaddthecodethatwillloadPlayOnLinux'sfunctions
if [ "$PLAYONLINUX" = "" ] then exit 0 fi source "$PLAYONLINUX/lib/sources"

Thiscodemightnotseemveryclearonfirstlook.You'llunderstanditbetterinthenextchapter Thiscodemaybeshortenedthatway:
[ "$PLAYONLINUX" = "" ] && exit source "$PLAYONLINUX/lib/sources"

Duringthistutorial,Iwillnotputthiscodeeachtimeduringtheexamplesseeingasitisnecessary.Rememberto includeitotherwiseyourscriptwon'twork.

Executingyourscript
Note:Istronglyadvisethatyouworkwithaconsole.Itisveryusefulincasethereisaproblem.Allyouhavetodois launch"playonlinux"or"playonlinuxscriptcreator"inaconsole.Theerrorsyoumaygetwillbewrittenintheconsole. Onatexteditor,saveyoufileandusethe"Execute"functionofPlayOnLinux's"Tool"menu WithPlayOnLinuxScriptCreator,usethe"Run"button Nothing'shappening?That'snormal,youhaven'taskedPlayOnlinuxanythingyet.

CreateascriptforPlayOnLinuxChapter2:Basic functions
InitializingandclosingaPlayOnLinuxwindow
Sincetheversion3ofPlayOnLinux,youneedtoinitializeawindowatthebeginningofyourscriptandcloseitatthe end. Toinitializeawindow,usethefollowingline:
POL_SetupWindow_Init

Tocloseit:
POL_SetupWindow_Close

Intheend,yourscriptshouldlooklikethis:
if [ "$PLAYONLINUX" = "" ] then exit 0 fi source "$PLAYONLINUX/lib/sources" POL_SetupWindow_Init

## Votre script ici

POL_SetupWindow_Close exit

Displayingamessage
Addthefollowingcodetoyourscript:
POL_SetupWindow_message "Hello World !" "My first message"

Thisiswhatyouwillget

Youcannowdisplayamessage.Happy?

Displayingamessageintheconsole
IfyoulaunchPlayonlinuxfromaterminal,youcanhaveamessagedisplayedinitwhichisveryconvinientfor debugging.Enterthefollowingcode:
echo "Hello World"

Commentingyourcode
Thissymbole"#"basicallytellsbashtoignorethefollowingtext.Hereisanexample:
echo "Hello World" # a nice comment echo "Goodbye World"

Weadviseyoutocommentyourcodeasmuchaspossibletomakeiteasiertoreadandfacilitatethevalidationprocess bythescriptors

Atextzone
Youwanttoasksomethingtotheuser?ThefunctionPOL_SetupWindow_textboxwascreatedforthatpurpose.Add thefollowingcodetoyourscript:
POL_SetupWindow_textbox "What is your name?" "Text zone"

Andhere'swhatthewindowlookslike

Nothing'shappening?That'snormal,we'llseeinthenextchapterhowtoretrievethedatethattheuserentered

Aquestion?
Youwanttheusertheanswerbyyesorno?ThenusethisfunctionPOL_SetupWindow_question Here'showitworks:
POL_SetupWindow_question "Do you like PlayOnLinux ?" "A question"

Theresultwilllooklike:

 Inthenextchapterwewillseehowtoretrievetheanswertothequestion

Alittlemenu
Justlikeforthetwopreviousfunctions,youcancreateamenuforPlayOnLinux.
POL_SetupWindow_menu "What would you like to eat tonight ?" "Tonight's menu" "Carrots Potatoes French-Fries" " "

WhatifIwanttoput"Carots","FrenchFries","Potatoes",willIget6differententries? Yes,we'vechosentheblankastheseparator.Thatway,eachblankcorrespondstoanewentryinyourmenu.Ifyou reallywanttohaveblanksinyourmenu,youcandoasfollows.

POL_SetupWindow_menu "What do you want to eat tonight ?" "Tonight's menu" "Some carrots~Some potatoes~French fries" "~"

Introducingyourapplication
Thiscommandisveryimportant.Itallowsyoutointroducetheapplicationtotheuserbeforeheinstallsit
POL_SetupWindow_presentation "Name of the program" "Editor of the program" "Editor's site" "your pseudo" "Program's prefix (cf chapter 5)"

Example:
POL_SetupWindow_presentation "The Quest of the platypus" "PlayOnLinux" "http://www.playonlinux.com" "Tinou" "quest_of_the_platypus"

CreateascriptforPlayOnLinuxChapter3:the variables
Variable?Isthatanewinsult?
No,it'snotaninsult.Thevariableisaveryimportantelementinprogramming.Itisdefinedbyanameandavalue. Thisvaluecanvaryalongthescript. Ifyoudon'tunderstand,keeponreadingandyou'llfindoutwhatit'sallabout.

Declaringavariable
Therearetooptionstodeclareavariableinbash: 1stcase:
MY_VARIABLE="My value"

2ndcase:
export MY_VARIABLE="My value"

Inthefirstinstance,onlytheactualscriptwillbeabletoreadthevalue.Inthesecondone,allprogrammsandscriptst openedfromyourswillbeabletoreadthisvariable What'sitsuse? You'llgetananswerinthenextparagraph

Readingavariable
Youhavetoputthissign"$"infrontofthevariable. Here'sanexampleofcode:
PSEUDO="Tinou" POL_SetupWindow_message "$PSEUDO is the strongest" "Name of the strongest"

Rsult:

Youcanusevariablesinanyfunction,echo,message,question,menu,...

PlayOnLinuxandvariables
Doyourememberthiscode?
POL_SetupWindow_menu "What do you want to eat tonight ?" "Tonight's menu" "Carrots Potatoes French-fries" " "

Theresultisactuallysentinthevariable$APP_ANSWER.Thisisthewaytoretrieveyourvariable:
POL_SetupWindow_menu "What do you want to eat tonight ?" "Tonight's menu" "Carrots Potatoes French-fries" " " MY_MEAL=$APP_ANSWER POL_SetupWindow_message "Tonight we'll be eating $MY_MEAL" "Tonight's menu"

Thevariable$APP_ANSWERiscreatedwitheachPlayOnLinuxfunctionsthatinvolvesachoicefromtheuser. ForPOL_SetupWindow_question,$APP_ANSWERiseitherTRUEorFALSEdependingontheanswer.

CreateascriptforPlayOnLinuxChapter4: Conditions
Conditions?CanIeatit?
You'dhavetobeveryhungrybutwhynot.Moreseriously,aconditionwillallowyoutoorderyouscripttododifferent thingsaccordingtoatest.Forexample,thevalueofavariable

Anexamplealwaysmakesunderstandingeasier
We'llbeusingthecommandif
POL_SetupWindow_menu "What's for dinner ?" "Tonight's menu" "Carrots Potatoes French-fries" " " MY_MEAL=$APP_ANSWER if [ "$MY_MEAL" = "Carrots" ] then POL_SetupWindow_message "Let's eat" "Tonight's menu" fi

Themessage"let'seat"willonlyappearsiftheuserchoosescarrots
POL_SetupWindow_menu "What's for dinner ?" "Tonight's menu" "Carrots Potatoes French-fries" " " MY_MEAL=$APP_ANSWER if [ "$MON_REPAS" = "Carottes" ] POL_SetupWindow_message "I'm on a hunger strike" "Tonight's menu" else POL_SetupWindow_message "Can I have a second helping ?" "Tonight's menu" fi

Themessage"I'monahungerstrike"willonlybedisplayediftheuserchoosescarrots.Otherwisethemessage"CanI haveasecondhelping?"willbedisplayed

CreateascriptforPlayOnLinuxChapter5:Wine
Who'sthat?
ThisisPlayOnLinux'smotor.ThissoftwaredeveloppedbyWineHQpermitstorunonLinuxsoftwaresthatwere createdforWindows. Inthischapter,IwillshowyousomeimportantPlayOnLinuxfunctionsinregardtoWinebutnotallofthem.Forthe moretechnicalfunctions,youshouldreadMulX'sdocumentation.

TheStoryofthePrefix
PlayOnLinuxmanageswinesprefixes.Nothingbetterthananillustrationtoexplainthis. Withwine,theinstallationofagamelookslikethis:

WithPlayOnLinux,itcanbesummedupthisway:

Thepointbeing:Itallowstohaveaspecificconfigurationpergameandtheuninstallationofagameissimplified(you justhavetoremoveafolder)

ManagingprefixeswithPlayOnLinux
Twocommands:

select_prefix
Aprefixshouldonlycontainalphanumericalcharacters

Selectsaprefix.Allcommandsstartingwith"wine"or"regedit"willactinthisprefix
select_prefix "$HOME/.PlayOnLinux/wineprefix/Steam/"

WillselectSteam'sprefix

POL_SetupWindow_prefixcreate
POL_SetupWindow_prefixcreate

Willeithercreateorupdateaprefix.Itisnecessarybeforeeachinstallation

AskfortheCDROM
Onecommand:POL_SetupWindow_cdromtheresultisstoredinthe$CDROMvariable
POL_SetupWindow_cdrom

CheckingthatthereisaCDROM
Verifiesifthefileexists,otherwiselaunchesPOL_SetupWindow_cdrom
POL_SetupWindow_check_cdrom "/path/to/the/file/in/CD"

Usingwinetoexecutea.exe
Executesa.exefileintheselectedprefix Examples:
wine $CDROM/setup.exe wine d:\setup.exe wine /home/splash/my_filer.exe

CreatingalauncherinPlayOnLinux
Usethefollowingsyntax:
POL_SetupWindow_make_shortcut "Name_of_the_prefix" "Directory" "Executable" "" "Name of the launcher"

Example:
POL_SetupWindow_make_shortcut "JediKnightII" "Program Files/LucarsArt" "JediKnightII.exe" "" "Star Wars : Jedi Knight II"

CreateascriptforPlayOnLinuxChapter6:Thefile system
Introduction
Thereareacoupleofgoodwaystomanipulateyourfilesinbash.We'llgiveyouthemostimportantcommands

PlayOnLinuxhasatemporarydirectory
It's$HOME/.PlayOnLinux/tmp/ Youcanstockandmodifyanyfileyouwantinit. Itisrecommandedthatyouremovethefilesfromthisfolderonceyou'redonewiththem

Switchingdirectory
Youmustusethecommandcd. Note:Thenewdirectoryisstoredinthe$PWDvariable Example:
cd $HOME/.PlayOnLinux/tmp/

Afewcorrespondences
./referstothecurrentfile ../referstotheparentdirectory

Removingafileordirectory
Warning,thiscommandisverydangerous.Itcoulddestroyallyourfilesifyoudon'thandleitproperly.Forexample,if youdecidetoremove/home/tinou/.PlayOnLinux/tmp/andthatyouinadvertentlyinsertablankbetween/tinou/and .PlayOnLinux,youcansayfarewelltoyoudocuments.PlayOnLinuxwillnotbeheldresponsibleforanymishandling onyourpart. Thisbeingsaid,herearethecodes
rm ./file.extension

Willremovefile.extensioninthecurrentdirectory($PWD)
rm ./dossier -r

Removesadirectoryandeverythinginit.

Copyingafilefromadirectoryfromanother
cp source_file target_directory

Copyingadirectory
cp source_directory target_directory/ -r

Movingorrenamingafileordirectory
mv source_directory target_directory mv source_file target_file

CreateascriptforPlayOnLinuxChapter7:Afew moreexampleswithPlayOnLinuxversion3
Afewcommands
Freerpresentation:
POL_SetupWindow_free_presentation "Titre" "Message"

Downloadingafile
POL_SetupWindow_download "message" "Title" "URL"

Atextezonewiththe"browse"button
POL_SetupWindow_browse "message" "Title" "Default Value"

Waitingforaprocesstoend
Thisisnew.ThereisawaytohavePlayOnLinuxwaitduringtheexecutionofaprocess. Basically,you'retellingPlayOnLinux:"displaya"wait"windowwithawaitingbaruntilItellyouotherwise." Hereisthesyntax:
POL_SetupWindow_wait_next_signal "message" "title" command1... command2... POL_SetupWindow_detect_exit POL_SetupWindow_...

Anexample:
POL_SetupWindow_wait_next_signal "Installation of Steam" "Steam" wine "steam.exe" POL_SetupWindow_detect_exit POL_SetupWindow_message "Steam installed"