Linking the Object File
 
     The last step in producing a Norton Guides database is linking
     the compiled source files. Linking the source files produces a
     single file compatible with the Norton Guides Instant Access
     Program. The linking process is also the point at which the
     menu structure of the database is defined.
 
     The single argument to the Norton Guides Menu Linker, ngml, is
     the name of a menu link control file. The menu link
     control file:
 
           Defines and names all the menus and menu items in the
           database, and
 
           Specifies the source file that each menu item will be
           linked to.
 
     The output of the Norton Guides Linker is a single Norton
     Guides Database file compatible with the Instant Access
     Program. The database file will be have the same base name as
     the menu link control file, and the `.ng' extension.
 
     Here, for example, is the the menu link control file that was
     used to create this example database:
 
 
          !name:    Creating a Database
 
          !menu:    Creating
                    Source Files        tutsourc.ngo
                    Compiling           tutcmpil.ngo
                    Linking             tutlink.ngo
 
          !menu:    Database Creation
                    Keywords            tutkeys.ngo
                    Error Messages      tuterr.ngo
 
     Every menu link control file must start with a `!name:'
     command, which names the database. (Like all bang (!)
     commands, the !name command must start in column 1.)  The name
     specified in the !name command is the name that will appear in
     the scroll box when you select a database using the options
     menu.
 
     In the final database, menus will appear in the menu bar in
     the same order in which they are defined here. A menu is
     defined and named by the `!menu' command, followed by a list
     of the item names in that menu. Next to each item name is the
     file whose data will be linked to that menu item. For example,
     the data for the menu item `Keywords', under the `Reference'
     menu, will be linked in from the file `keywords.ngo'.
 
     If this file were named "creating.lnk", then the following
     command would produce the database entitled "Creating a
     Database":
 
          ngl creating.lnk
 
     This was, by the way, the very menu control file used to
     create this example database, "Creating a Database".

Seealso:



This page last updated on Fri Nov 30 10:51:58 MSK 2001
Copyright © 1992-2001, Vitaly Filatov, Moscow, Russia
Webmaster