Compile Statement Summary

Compile is a nonterminal, command statement that occurs only in command scripts. It compiles a specified source code project or ASP file. Within the translation process, the first significant step beyond simply loading a source code is converting that source code into an intermediate representation that can be analysed, refactored, and authored. The intermediate representation itself contains two subcomponents -- a symbol table that describes the components being manipulated and intermediate gmIL code that describes the actual operations being performed.

  Both VB6 projects and ASP sites can be compiled. The Project attribute compiles VB6 projects and the PageSlice attribute compiles ASP pages.  

The attributes of the Compile statement are as follows:  

The substatements of the Compile statement are as follows:

 

The script errors associated with the Compile statement are as follows:

 

Before any code can be processed the environment within which that compilation is to occur must be established. For a given command script, the loading of this information occurs only once. The compiler checks if this load has occurred before it executes a Compile or Reference statement. In addition, the script can force the load to occur using LoadEnvironment statement. See the description of that statement for a details.

  The compilation of VB6 project files consists of 4 distinct steps: first, the project file itself is loaded; second, all class, module, and form/usercontrol files are loaded; third, the individual source files are parsed and the symbols defined are organized into a symbol table; and fourth, the statements within the individual source files are converted into an intermediate representation.  

Loading the project files begins by first storing the name of the project file in the symbol table and making certain that it is unique. Second, the project file itself is loaded into an edit buffer. Third, the GlobalSettings file is checked to see if any edit fixes are to be applied to the project file. Fourth, the file is searched for the its Name and Exename32 entries whose values are then stored in the symbol table.  

Loading the individual source files involves searching the project file for Form, UserDocument, UserControl, Module, and Class entries whose values are the source code filenames to be loaded. Each file is then loaded into an edit buffer and its name is stored in the symbol table. For each file the GlobalSettings file is checked to see if any edit fixes are to be applied to it. In addition, the EditAspSource event is triggered, which could make additional changes to the file. Once all files have been loaded and individually edited, the subcommands associated with the statement are executed, up to any Refactor statements.  

The initial parsing of the source files to organize the symbols defined into the symbol table is referred to as Pass1 of the compiler. If source code errors are encountered during this pass, then further processing within the compiler is blocked. If there were no problems, the final step is to tabulate all of the global symbols found so that they can be quickly identified by the next pass of the compiler.  

The converting of the actual statements in the source files into intermediate gmIL code is referred to as Pass2 of the compiler. The first step is to process any Refactor substatements that remain. The quality of translations can often be greatly improved if symbols are strongly typed before the compiler processes the statements that reference them. Next if any Resource files are specified via the ResX attribute, they are loaded. Finally, the actual compilation into intermediate code is performed. There may well be syntax errors and warnings generated by this compilation; however, unlike pass1 errors these do not block further processing. Error causing source code statements are simply entered into the target translations as though they had been commented out in the source.

Exename Compile Substatement Summary

Exename is a terminal substatement of the Compile statement. It changes the value of the Exename32 attribute in the project file before the first compiler pass has begun. If used, this substatement must precede any Refactor subcommands within the same specification. Note that an existing Exename32 is replaced by the new name; therefore, if there is no existing name, this substatement does nothing.

  The attributes of the Exename substatement are as follows: