BGEN -- An Experiment: Automatic Generation of Extension Modules
================================================================

This directory contains BGEN -- a package that helps in generating
complete source code for Python extension module.  It currently also
contains a set of examples that were generated with BGEN.  These
examples are mostly interfaces to a number of important managers in
the Macintosh toolbox.


Overview of Subdirectories
--------------------------

Main subdirectories:

bgen	the code generator package

Example subdirectories:

ae	AppleEvents
ctl	Controls
dlg	Dialogs
evt	Events
menu	Menus
qd	QuickDraw
res	Resources
snd	Sound
win	Windows


Contents of Subdirectories
--------------------------

The contents of each example subdirectory is similar (<Foobar> is
for instance AppleEvents, while <foo> is ae):

<foo>scan.py	Scan the <Foobar>.h header, generating <foo>gen.py
<foo>gen.py	Output of <foo>scan.py, input for <foo>support.py
<foo>edit.py	Manually written complement of <foo>gen.py, sometimes
<foo>support.py	Generate <Foo>module.c from <foo>gen.py and <foo>edit.py
<Foo>module.c	The interface module, ready to be compiled
<Foobar>.py	Symbolic constants extracted from <Foobar.h>


Tests and Examples
------------------

Other files in these subdirectories are usually examples using the
extension.  If there's a file t<foo>.py, it usually is a really
boring test program.

Some test programs contain pathnames that should be edited before
trying them.

Some of the less boring tests and examples:

At the top level:

test.py		Application mainloop, uses most Mac extensions

In ae:

aetools.py	Conversions between AE and Python data type
echo.py		Dummy AE server, echoes all data back
tell.py		Primitive AE client
aete.py		Decode 'aete' and 'aeut' resources (incomplete)

In res:

listres.py	List *all* resources in current and in all res files
copyres.py	Copy a resource file
mkerrstrres.py	Read "errors.txt" and create a set of "Estr" resources

In snd:

playaiff.py	Play an AIFF file
morse.py	Turn text into Morse code
audiodev.py	The standard audiodev.py extended with Mac support
Audio_mac.py	The Mac support for audiodev.py