Technical Q&A PLAT09

Creating Native MPW Tools

Q: Are there any examples or tech notes available that deal with creating native Tools for MPW using Power Mac libraries? I want to see how this is done in C, and I want to use this information to create native Tools for MPW using our Language Systems FORTRAN compiler.

A: Examples and documentation for building 68K and native MPW Tools are available. The code examples are in the CExamples folder on the current ETO in the Prerelease MPW folder. You need to know the name of a Tool to locate it's .c and Make files. For example, the Count Tool is in this folder along with the other files needed to build it.

"Writing and Building MPW Tools," which is Chapter 9 of Building Programs in MPW, contains the documentation you need. This chapter is for 68K only, but this is where the examples are. After reading that chapter, see "Building for PowerPC" to read about the changes made to MPW for the Power PC, including the new CreateMake dialog box. You might want to port the Count Tool to the Power PC as an exercise while you learn.