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Using the devPad environment

The installation instructions for the devPad environment describe how to use the package you installed to open a simple devPad workarea. This section explains more of the options available to you.

Invoking the environment as a command

The environment is a Java program (class) which is called devPad.devPadMain (devPadMain for short). This can be invoked using the Java interpreter, for example, by the command:

  java devPad.devPadMain

or by using a system-specific command (such as 'devPad' or 'dp'). In either case, the environment invocation is followed by one workarea name (the workarea to be opened).

So, for example, to open 'Welcome.pad', you can use any of:

  java devPad.devPadMain Welcome.pad
  devPad Welcome.pad
  dp Welcome.pad

(the first one should always work, the last two require that the system-specific command be available).

If the given parameter does not represent an existing workarea, a new empty one will be created. (It is recommended that workareas have a '.pad' extension, but it is not enforced in any way.)

During the existence of the workarea, classes and other temporary files are stored in the current directory.

When a workarea is in use, many commands produce output to the standard output stream (for example, compilation results, etc.). It is so recommended to open the Java console when starting the devPad environment. So, for example and if you use OS/2, you can enter:

  start javapm -cons devPad.devPadMain Welcome.pad

Invoking devPad tools as a separate commands

Some parts of the devPad package can be called from a command line or from other Java programs. These commands are:

java devPad.dumpClass [-p] classname [classname...]
this command mimics the javap command, but also reports signaled exceptions (and the result uses a NetRexx syntax).
java devPad.ClassBrowser packagename
this command opens a package browser.
java devPad.ZipFile zipfile
this command lists the content of a zip file.

[The documentation for all public methods defined in the devPad package is not completed yet. When done, it will be made publicly available.]

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