The Dyalog .NET Compiler

APL Source files are compiled into executable code by the Dyalog .NET Compiler identified in Table 1.

This program is called automatically by ASP.NET when a client application requests a web page (.aspx) or web service (.asmx) and, in these circumstances, always generates the corresponding .NET class. However, the Dyalog .NET Compiler can also be used to:

• compile an APL source file into a workspace (.dws) – this can sunsequently be run using dyalog.exe or dyalogrt.exe.
• compile an APL source file into a .NET class (.dll) – this can subsequently be used by any other .NET-compatible host language, such as C# or Visual Basic.

• compile an APL source file into a native Microsoft Windows executable program (.exe), which can be run as a stand-alone executable. This program can be distributed (along with the Dyalog APL runtime DLL) as a packaged application, and does not require any of the additional support files and registry entries that are typically needed by the Dyalog run-time dyalogrt.exe. For more information, see the Dyalog for Microsoft Windows Installation and Configuration Guide.

  Information

  The Dyalog APL dynamic link library does not use MAXWS, but instead allocates workspace dynamically as required.

• compile an APL workspace (.dws) into a native Microsoft Windows executable program, with the same characteristics and advantages described above.

The script is designed to be run from a command prompt. For example, if using the 64-bit Unicode edition, navigate to the appropriate directory and type dyalogc64_unicode /? to query its usage; the following output is displayed:

c:\Program Files\Dyalog\Dyalog APL-64 18.0 Unicode>dyalogc64_unicode /?
Dyalog .NET Compiler 64 bit. Unicode Mode. Version 18.0.38524.0
Copyright Dyalog Ltd 2000-2020

dyalogc.exe command line options:

/?                Usage
/r:file           Add reference to assembly
/o[ut]:file       Output file name
/res:file         Add resource to output file
/icon:file        File containing main program icon
/q                Operate quietly
/v                Verbose
/s                Treat warnings as errors
/nonet            Creates a binary that does not use Microsoft .Net
/runtime          Build a non-debuggable binary
/lx:expression    Specify entry point (Latent Expression)
/t:library        Build .Net library (.dll)
/t:nativeexe      Build native executable (.exe). Default
/t:workspace      Build dyalog workspace (.dws)
/nomessages       Process does not use windows messages. Use when creating
                  a process to run under IIS
/console          Creates a console application
/c                Creates a console application
/multihost        Support multi-hosted interpreters
/unicode          Creates an application that runs in a Unicode intepreter
/wx:[0|1|3]       Sets ⎕WX for default code
/a:file           Specifies a JSON file containing attributes to be attached
       to the binary
/i:Process        Set the isolation mode of a .NET Assembly
/i:Assembly       Set the isolation mode of a .NET Assembly
/i:AppDomain      Set the isolation mode of a .NET Assembly
/i:Local          Set the isolation mode of a .NET Assembly

The /i option specifies the isolation mode – this overrides the setting in web.config.

The /a option specifies the name of a JSON file that contains assembly information. For example:

dyalogc64_unicode.exe /t:library j:/ws/attributetest.dws /a:c:/tmp/atts.json

where c:/tmp/atts.json contains:

{
"AssemblyVersion":"1.2.2.2",
"AssemblyFileVersion":"2.1.1.4",
"AssemblyProduct":"My Application",
"AssemblyCompany":"My Company",
"AssemblyCopyright":"Copyright 2020",
"AssemblyDescription":"Provides a text description for an assembly.",
"AssemblyTitle":"My Assembly Title",
"AssemblyTrademark":"Your Legal Trademarks",
}