SetupEnvironment

Scripts/SetupEnvironment.py: this single script module is the central environment setter. In there you can set and change or delete various development related environment variables. Each development ‘Section’ is divided by a python dictionary.

The sections you will touch most are SERVICES, LIBRARIES and TOOLS. Each entry there registers one project: it tells the scripts that the project exists and where its folder is. The other sections (RELATIVE, DEV_PATHS, CERTIFICATES, COMPOSITES, PATH_PREPEND) hold shared paths and search lists. They rarely need changes.

SERVICES = {
    # variable name            folder inside Services/
    "OT_MODEL_SERVICE_ROOT": "Model",
}

LIBRARIES = {
    # variable name   folder inside Libraries/
    "OT_GUI_ROOT": "OTGui",
}

TOOLS = {
    # variable name        folder inside Tools/
    "OT_OTOOLKIT_ROOT": "OToolkit",
}

Each entry has two parts: the variable name on the left and the folder on the right.

The variable name

The left side is the name of the environment variable the scripts create for the project. For a project it is always OT_<NAME>_ROOT, for example OT_GUI_ROOT. It has to be unique across all three sections.

<NAME> does not have to match the folder name: OT_MODEL_SERVICE_ROOT points to the folder Model. Choose a name that says what the project is, in capital letters with _ between the words. The scripts make the project key from it.

The folder

In SERVICES, LIBRARIES and TOOLS the right side is only the folder name. The scripts add the rest of the path themselves: "OT_GUI_ROOT": "OTGui" gives the variable OT_GUI_ROOT the value <repository>\Libraries\OTGui. Which section the entry is in decides the parent folder.

In the other sections the right side is a full path or a path below the repository. Paths can contain other variables, see the note below.

Important

For full paths with reference to other set variables, please use python raw strings (r"..."). To reference a different variable: %VARIABLE%

r"%OPENTWIN_DEV_ROOT%\Deployment",

Without the r, Python reads \n, \t, \b and others as special characters, so a folder like \bin or \tests silently breaks the path.

The project key

To name a project, the scripts do not use the variable name but a shorter name: the project key. It is made from the variable name by removing OT_ at the front and _ROOT at the end:

OT_MODEL_SERVICE_ROOT       the variable name from SetupEnvironment.py
OT_ MODEL_SERVICE _ROOT     remove OT_ and _ROOT
    MODEL_SERVICE           the project key

The key is not written down anywhere else to register it. It exists as soon as the entry is in SetupEnvironment.py.

The project batches pass the key to the Python scripts. This is the line in Services/Model/build.bat:

"%OT_PYTHON%" "%OPENTWIN_DEV_ROOT%\Scripts\Python\build.py" MODEL_SERVICE %1 %2

build.py looks up MODEL_SERVICE, finds the variable OT_MODEL_SERVICE_ROOT and builds the folder it points to.

Which of the two names to use:

The variable, when a path is needed: %OT_MODEL_SERVICE_ROOT% in DeploymentManifest.py, OT_MODEL_SERVICE_ROOT_PATH in CMake.
The project key, when you name a project for a script: in the project batches, in BUILD_ORDER and in BUILD_OVERRIDES.

A few real examples:

Variable name	Project key	Folder
`OT_CORE_ROOT`	`CORE`	`Libraries/OTCore`
`OT_MODEL_SERVICE_ROOT`	`MODEL_SERVICE`	`Services/Model`
`OT_OTOOLKIT_ROOT`	`OTOOLKIT`	`Tools/OToolkit`

On the command line the key is not case sensitive. In the files, write it in capital letters like the existing ones. An unknown key stops the script with a list of all known keys, so a typo shows up right away.