Application Bundle
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This article applies to macOS only.
See also: Multiplatform Programming Guide
Application Bundle is a directory, often with ".app" extension, with special purpose on Mac OS X system. It contains resource files and information about the application. It is necessary for correct execution of applications which are using Carbon Interface.
Creating Application Bundle
From Lazarus
Open project and go to Project -> Project Options -> Application tab and push the Create Application Bundle button. The resulted Application Bundle will have inside symbolic link to the real executable.
Via command-line tool shipped with Lazarus
Open lazarus/components/macfiles/examples/createmacapplication.lpi in the IDE. Compile. Open a Terminal of your choice. Type:
cd project1/
lazarus/components/macfiles/examples/createmacapplication project1
ln -s ../../../project1 project1.app/Contents/MacOS/project1
Use shell script
You can adapt the following shell script to create a customized application bundle for your application. It allows the creation of either debug or release bundle, being that in the release bundle a link to the executable is placed, to allow for debugging using the Lazarus IDE, while in release mode the executable is copied.
#!/bin/sh
# Force Bourne shell in case tcsh is default.
#
#
# Reads the bundle type
#
echo "========================================================"
echo " Bundle creation script"
echo "========================================================"
echo ""
echo " Please select which kind of bundle you would like to build:"
echo ""
echo " 1 > Debug bundle"
echo " 2 > Release bundle"
echo " 0 > Exit"
read command
case $command in
1) ;;
2) ;;
0) exit 0;;
*) echo "Invalid command"
exit 0;;
esac
#
# Creates the bundle
#
appname=Magnifier
appfolder=$appname.app
macosfolder=$appfolder/Contents/MacOS
plistfile=$appfolder/Contents/Info.plist
appfile=magnifier
PkgInfoContents="APPLMAG#"
#
if ! [ -e $appfile ]
then
echo "$appfile does not exist"
elif [ -e $appfolder ]
then
echo "$appfolder already exists"
else
echo "Creating $appfolder..."
mkdir $appfolder
mkdir $appfolder/Contents
mkdir $appfolder/Contents/MacOS
mkdir $appfolder/Contents/Resources
#
# For a debug bundle,
# Instead of copying executable into .app folder after each compile,
# simply create a symbolic link to executable.
#
if [ $command = 1 ]; then
ln -s ../../../$appname $macosfolder/$appname
else
cp $appname $macosfolder/$appname
fi
# Copy the resource files to the correct place
cp *.bmp $appfolder/Contents/Resources
cp icon3.ico $appfolder/Contents/Resources
cp icon3.png $appfolder/Contents/Resources
cp macicon.icns $appfolder/Contents/Resources
cp docs/*.* $appfolder/Contents/Resources
#
# Create PkgInfo file.
echo $PkgInfoContents >$appfolder/Contents/PkgInfo
#
# Create information property list file (Info.plist).
echo '<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>' >$plistfile
echo '<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple Computer//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">' >>$plistfile
echo '<plist version="1.0">' >>$plistfile
echo '<dict>' >>$plistfile
echo ' <key>CFBundleDevelopmentRegion</key>' >>$plistfile
echo ' <string>English</string>' >>$plistfile
echo ' <key>CFBundleExecutable</key>' >>$plistfile
echo ' <string>'$appname'</string>' >>$plistfile
echo ' <key>CFBundleIconFile</key>' >>$plistfile
echo ' <string>macicon.icns</string>' >>$plistfile
echo ' <key>CFBundleIdentifier</key>' >>$plistfile
echo ' <string>org.magnifier.magnifier</string>' >>$plistfile
echo ' <key>CFBundleInfoDictionaryVersion</key>' >>$plistfile
echo ' <string>6.0</string>' >>$plistfile
echo ' <key>CFBundlePackageType</key>' >>$plistfile
echo ' <string>APPL</string>' >>$plistfile
echo ' <key>CFBundleSignature</key>' >>$plistfile
echo ' <string>MAG#</string>' >>$plistfile
echo ' <key>CFBundleVersion</key>' >>$plistfile
echo ' <string>1.0</string>' >>$plistfile
echo '</dict>' >>$plistfile
echo '</plist>' >>$plistfile
fi
Executing application via Application Bundle
You can start the application from IDE (checked option Use Application Bundle for running and debugging (darwin only)) or via its Finder icon or in the native Mac OS X Terminal via "open project1.app".