Objo Compiler Question

Syntec

I have a question about managing debug builds/release builds.

First I don't see any sort of App.isDebug or anything to automatically separate debug builds and release builds in code. I have created an integer constant under App called Build and set it to 0 for Debug and 1 for Release. My question is how will the compiler interpret and optimize the following code for a build. (Sorry if this information is somewhere in the documentation I have looked but didn't see anything.) I am also a novice programmer so if this isn't a good way of doing this I am open to suggestions!

If Build = 0 Then #DEBUG Build
Root = New FolderSystemItem("some private local folder used for debugging")
End If
If Build = 1 Then #RELEASE Build
Root = New FolderSystemItem(SpecialFolder.CurrentDirectory.Path) #From limited testing I assume CurrentDirectory returns the folder the executable is in.
End If

My question is will the compiler look at constant Build and see that if it is set to 1 the first If statement will never be true and remove the code from the compiled executable, keeping the private working folder "safe" from prying eyes.

Garry

Thanks for raising this. You identified a genuine gap, so I’ve had some fun adding conditional compilation to Objo.

https://feedback.objo.dev/feature/1022

You can now write:

@If DebugBuild Then
    Root = New FolderSystemItem("some private local folder used for debugging")
@Else
    Root = SpecialFolder.CurrentDirectory
@EndIf

DebugBuild is True when using Run, Debug or Profile from Objo Studio, including remote sessions. It is False when building or publishing an application, and when using the equivalent objo command-line operations.

This is different from an ordinary If statement. The compiler removes the inactive branch before parsing, type checking and generating bytecode. Consequently, the private path in the example above will not appear as a string constant—or anywhere else in the compiled release bytecode.

The syntax also supports @ElseIf, nested blocks and restricted Boolean expressions using DebugBuild, True, False, Not, And, Xor, Or, =, <> and parentheses.

I decided not to add App.IsDebug, because it could ambiguously mean either “was this compiled as a debug build?” or “is a debugger attached right now?” The two cases are deliberately separate:

@If DebugBuild Then controls which source is included at compile time.
System.IsDebuggerAttached is a runtime check indicating whether a debugger is currently attached.

The editor recognises the new directives, including formatting, indentation and code folding. They also have their own customisable syntax style under Settings > Appearance > Compiler Directives, with brown as the default colour.

One small correction regarding SpecialFolder.CurrentDirectory: it returns the process’s current working directory, which is not guaranteed to be the executable’s directory. Use SpecialFolder.Resources for bundled project resources, or System.ExecutablePath when you specifically need the executable’s path.

The complete syntax and permitted expressions will be documented here when the next release drops (not live yet):
https://docs.objo.dev/#/conditional-compilation

Thanks again for the suggestion!

Syntec

Garry

Wow! That is amazing work Garry, I can't take credit for the suggestion you saw my plea for help and implemented an entire compiler directive system, definitely not the expected outcome but very appreciated! Thank you for clarifying the special folder items for me as well that would have been an annoying error to track down as I never would of suspected the CurrentDirectory would return something other than the location of the executable but it make sense the working directory can change!

Thank you very much for the quick turn around and implementation, you have to be the fastest developer alive. I have to thank the other guys for creating the scenario that forced your hand to start Objo. I have been looking for a viable alternative for years but didn't have the time to invest in learning something entirely unfamiliar. Objo is familiar enough to just pick up from its honestly incredible work!

Garry

Aw shucks - you'll make me blush 🙂

Thanks