NVDA Add-on Scons Template

This package contains a basic template structure for NVDA add-on development, building, distribution and localization. For details about NVDA add-on development please see the NVDA Developer Guide. The NVDA addon development/discussion list is here

Copyright (C) 2012-2013 nvda addon team contributors.

This package is distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License, version 2 or later. Please see the file COPYING.txt for further details.

Features

This template provides the following features you can use to help NVDA add-on development:

• Automatic add-on package creation, with naming and version loaded from a centralized build variables file (buildVars.py).
• Manifest file creation using a template (manifest.ini.tpl). Build variables are replaced on this template.
• Compilation of gettext mo files before distribution, when needed.

• To generate a gettext pot file, please run scons pot. A addon-name.pot file will be created with all gettext messages for your add-on. You need to check the buildVars.i18nSources variable to comply with your requirements.

• Automatic generation of manifest localization files directly from gettext po files. Please make sure buildVars.py is included in i18nFiles.
• Automatic generation of HTML documents from markdown (.md) files, to manage documentation in different languages.

Requirements

You need the following software to use this code for your NVDA add-ons development:

• a Python distribution (2.7 or greater is recommended). Check the Python Website for Windows Installers.
• Scons - Website - version 2.1.0 or greater. Install it using easy_install or grab an windows installer from the website.
• GNU Gettext tools, if you want to have localization support for your add-on - Recommended. Any Linux distro or cygwin have those installed. You can find windows builds here.
• Markdown-2.0.1 or greater, if you want to convert documentation files to HTML documents. You can Download Markdown-2.0.1 installer for Windows.

Usage

To create a new NVDA add-on, taking advantage of this template:

• Create an empty folder to hold the files for your add-on.
• Copy the addon folder, the buildVars.py file, the manifest.ini.tpl file, the manifest-translated.ini.tpl, SCONSTRUCT, .gitignore and .gitattributes files to the created folder.
• In the buildVars.py file, change variable addon_info with your add-on's information (name, summary, description, version, author and url).
• Put your code in the usual folders for NVDA extension, under the addon folder. For instance: globalPlugins, synthDrivers, etc. You can delete folders you don't need for your particular add-on package.
• Gettext translations must be placed into addon\locale<lang>/LC_MESSAGES\nvda.po.

To manage documentation files for your addon:

• Copy the readme.md file for your addon, and the docHandler.py file, contained into addonTemplate, to the first created folder, where you copied buildVars.py. You can also copy style.css to improve the presentation of HTML documents.
• Documentation files (named readme.md) must be placed into addon\doc<lang>/.
• Don't use yourAddonName_docHandler.py as a name for any file contained in globalPlugins; it will be removed to create a menu item for opening your addon documentation, under NVDA's help menu.

Note: It's recommended to use hyphens instead of asterisks as tags for lists items, since they provide a better result when converting to HTML. You can also use asterisks followed by tab.

To package the add-on for distribution:

• Open a command line, change to the folder that has the SCONSTRUCT file and run the scons command. The created add-on, if there were no errors, is placed in the current directory.
• You can further customize variables in the buildVars.py file.

Note that this template only provides a basic add-on structure and build infrastructure. You may need to adapt it for your specific needs.

If you have any issues please use the NVDA addon list mensioned above.