Command-line Version
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The command-line version of Thinstall allows for easy integration with your automated build process.

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Where to get it
There is a command-line version of Thinstall Studio available for download at:
http://thinstall.com/downloads

( The command-line version of Thinstall is only available to licensed customers, if you are an evaluation user the download will not be available when you log into your account).


Command-line Options

Run from the command-line with no parameters to get a list of options:

Senario 1 - Using thcompile to create an EXE from an already created Thinstall Project file (.TSP).

This senario allows you to use the GUI version of Thinstall occasionally to add/remove files and change settings while the command-line version can be integrated into your regular build script process.

Syntax: thcompile project.tsp [-bi][-results]

project.tsp substitue the name of your project file.
-bi Build interactively. Display any errors in a window
-results Display a window after build finishes showing the results, normally the command-line client immediately exits after build is complete
-quiet Don't print out status messages during the build


example: this compiles your project file c:\myproject.tsp. The input files and output file is determined by settings in the project.
thcompile c:\myproject.tsp

Senario 2 - Using thcompile to create an EXE without a project file.

This scenario might apply if the project you want to build is very simple, does not need to add extra options such as the installer, or change file properties.

Syntax: thcompile output.exe file1 [file2] [file3] [-bi] [-r]

-r Recurse subdirectories
-load file.exe Specifies which exe will be loaded on start if there is more than one EXE found in the file listing
-results Display a window after build finishes showing the results
-bi Build interactively. Display any errors in a window

filenames may contain wildcards, or specify the names of directories. All files found will be given a virtual path of %InstallPath%

example: this packages the current directory tree with notepad.exe being used as the main EXE. The resulting EXE is placed one directory back as new_notepad.exe

thcompile ..\new_notepad.exe c:\windows\notepad.exe *.txt -r


Integration with Makefiles / Batch files

If thcompile has an error during the build process it will return an error code of non-zero to the calling application. In a makefile, this will cause the build to stop.

Which Version?

To find out which version of thcompile you are using for bug reporting purposes, simply type thcompile with no parameters:

C:\Program Files\Thinstall\thcompile.exe (Built on Feb 15 2003 at 22:18:09)