Writing Customized Build Methods

You need to write new Build Methods when the “out of the box” Build Methods do not support your compiler or linker.  These Build Methods are written in Perl. The standard Perl install has been extended by reusable Perl modules designed to handle common functions used for calling compilers and tools.

The first step in customizing your own Build Methods is to review your compiler or tool documentation.  By reviewing your documentation, you can determine the different possible input and output file extensions that can be used by your compiler.  Your compiler documentation is also where you will find the command line calls that your compiler requires in order to perform specific file translations. This information will help you understand your tool or compiler can be called from within a Build Method.

Build Methods are associated with the Build Rule of the Build Service.  Before writing your Build Method you should have defined a Build Service with your Build Rules.  You need to have a clear understanding of what action the Build Method will process upon the "firing" of a Build Rule.