Create a script for PlayOnLinux - Chapter 2 : Basic functions

Initializing and closing a PlayOnLinux window

Since the version 3 of PlayOnLinux, you need to initialize a window at the beginning of your script and close it at the end.

To initialize a window, use the following line :

POL_SetupWindow_Init

To close it :

POL_SetupWindow_Close

In the end, your script should look like this :

if [ "$PLAYONLINUX" = "" ]
then
   exit 0
fi
 
source "$PLAYONLINUX/lib/sources"
POL_SetupWindow_Init
 
## Votre script ici
 
POL_SetupWindow_Close
exit
 

Displaying a message

Add the following code to your script :

POL_SetupWindow_message "Hello World !" "My first message"

This is what you will get

You can now display a message. Happy ?

Displaying a message in the console

If you launch Playonlinux from a terminal, you can have a message displayed in it which is very convinient for debugging. Enter the following code :

echo "Hello World"

Commenting your code

This symbole "#" basically tells bash to ignore the following text. Here is an example :

echo "Hello World"
# a nice comment
echo "Goodbye World"

We advise you to comment your code as much as possible to make it easier to read and facilitate the validation process by the scriptors

A text zone

You want to ask something to the user ? The function POL_SetupWindow_textbox was created for that purpose. Add the following code to your script :

POL_SetupWindow_textbox "What is your name?" "Text zone"

And here's what the window looks like

Nothing's happening ? That's normal, we'll see in the next chapter how to retrieve the date that the user entered

A question ?

You want the user the answer by yes or no ? Then use this function POL_SetupWindow_question

Here's how it works :

POL_SetupWindow_question "Do you like PlayOnLinux ?" "A question"

The result will look like :

In the next chapter we will see how to retrieve the answer to the question

A little menu

Just like for the two previous functions, you can create a menu for PlayOnLinux.

POL_SetupWindow_menu "What would you like to eat tonight ?" "Tonight's menu" "Carrots Potatoes French-Fries" " "

What if I want to put "Carots", "French-Fries", "Potatoes", will I get 6 different entries ?

Yes, we've chosen the blank as the separator. That way, each blank corresponds to a new entry in your menu. If you really want to have blanks in your menu, you can do as follows.

POL_SetupWindow_menu "What do you want to eat tonight ?" "Tonight's menu" "Some carrots~Some potatoes~French fries" "~"

Introducing your application

This command is very important. It allows you to introduce the application to the user before he installs it

POL_SetupWindow_presentation "Name of the program" "Editor of the program" "Editor's site" "your pseudo" "Program's prefix (cf chapter 5)"

Example :

POL_SetupWindow_presentation "The Quest of the platypus" "PlayOnLinux" "http://www.playonlinux.com" "Tinou" "quest_of_the_platypus"

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