View source for Crash Course to Hollywood Programming

''Author:  jPV/RNO (Proofreading by Marq)''

== Preface ==

[http://www.hollywood-mal.com/ Hollywood] - ''the cross-platform multimedia application layer'' - is an easy programming/scripting language
that is designed for the creation of graphical or multimedia-oriented applications, but it
can also be used to create other kinds of programs, especially with its comprehensive selection of plugins.
Hollywood is loosely based on the popular [[Getting_Started_with_Lua|Lua]] language.

Hollywood programs are created by writing '''script''' files, which are then run from the Hollywood main
program, or they can be compiled into '''applets''' or standalone '''executables''' to be used without the Hollywood
environment.

Applets are small platform-independent binary files which can be run using the free Hollywood player
on any supported platform. Standalone executables contain the player, a script and
optional data files linked into a single executable file. Linking the whole player binary into an executable makes
the minimum size of Hollywood executables around 2 megabytes on MorphOS, but then the resulting programs are completely
independent and can be run out of the box without any prior installation.

What makes Hollywood special is its ability to '''cross-compile''' programs between all supported platforms.
Windows, Linux, OS X, or Amiga programs can be compiled just by using MorphOS, and so on. Cross-compiled
programs don't usually need any modifications and the same source script will work on all platforms.

Hollywood is an easy, safe, and very well [http://www.hollywood-mal.com/help.html documented] language, and thus also suitable for beginners.
All Hollywood programs run inside a '''sandbox''', and you can't break or crash the underlying operating system with
your programming mistakes. If there's a bug causing an error in the script execution, Hollywood just closes
the program and frees the resources with no further harm.


== Getting Started ==
=== Requirements ===
==== Hollywood ====

Hollywood is a commercial product which can be bought [http://www.hollywood-mal.com/purchase.html here].
'''The main package is enough''' for Hollywood programming and compiling for all other platforms except Android
(Windows-only APK Compiler is required for the Android support).

[[File:HollywoodCourse-CubicIDE.gif|frame|240px|Cubic IDE with the Hollywood add-on]]
[http://www.hollywood-mal.com/designer.html Hollywood Designer] is an Amiga-only add-on to create multimedia presentations in a WYSIWYG GUI. It works
on Amiga compatible platforms including MorphOS, but the resulting presentations can be compiled for any
other supported platform. Anyway, it isn't required for programming with Hollywood, but your own code can be
inserted into presentation scripts too.


==== Text Editor ====

Hollywood features an IDE (integrated development environment) for Windows, but on other platforms
a text editor or a 3rd party IDE is needed.

The easiest way to get started is with [[Applications/FlowStudio|Flow Development Studio]], which is bundled with MorphOS. It includes a lexer for Hollywood, and offers syntax highlighting and other features.

[https://www.softwareandcircuits.com/division/amiga/products/cubic/index.html Cubic IDE] is still probably the most comprehensive development environment for Hollywood programming on MorphOS, although it is getting a bit outdated on some parts. For example, it doesn't have UTF-8 support and GUI isn't as flexible as a MUI GUI would be. With the Cubic IDE [http://www.hollywood-mal.com/download.html add-on] you'll get syntax highlighting, automatic casing, online help, quick access to documentation,
automatic indentation, bracket matching, auto completion of keywords, compile and run options, and a lot more.

MiniHollyEdit NG could also be a good freeware option, but it's broken in its current state and needs an update first.

An IDE with Hollywood support is the most comfortable solution of course, but any other text editor will also do.


=== Running a Script ===

Hollywood scripts can be run from the Hollywood main executable (the interpreter), and while the main executable
accepts tens of command line [http://www.hollywood-mal.com/docs/html/hollywood/ManualUsage.html arguments], you don't usually need many of them.

When you're developing and testing your application, it's enough to just run the script without compiling it. It's
a good practise to save your scripts with the '''.hws''' extension.


[[File:HollywoodCourse-Run.png|thumb|240px|Running a script]] 
To run a script from the shell:
 Hollywood MyProgram.hws


And without the information window:
 Hollywood MyProgram.hws -quiet


[[File:HollywoodCourse-ResourceMonitor.png|thumb|116px|Resource monitor]]
Hollywood has a built-in resource monitor, which can be activated with the '''-resourcemonitor''' argument.
You should check the resources your application uses and that you aren't increasing the memory usage
carelessly:
 Hollywood MyProgram.hws -resourcemonitor


If you're using '''Cubic IDE''', you don't need the shell at all. You can just press the '''F4''' key to run the script or
select other running options from Cubic IDE's menus.


=== Compiling a Script ===

When an application is ready for publishing, it should be compiled into a standalone executable, which is done with
the '''-compile''' argument:
 Hollywood MyProgram.hws -compile MyProgram

[[File:HollywoodCourse-Compile.png|thumb|240px|Compiling a script]]
With the above command you get an executable called "MyProgram" that will run on the same archtecture it
was compiled on.


To compile an application for different platforms (OS4 in this example):
 Hollywood MyProgram.hws -compile MyProgram -exetype amigaos4


Or for multiple platforms at once:
 Hollywood MyProgram.hws -compile MyProgram -exetype morphos|amigaos4|win32|applet


If you want to compress your own data (script and linked data files), add the '''-compress''' argument:
 Hollywood MyProgram.hws -compile MyProgram -exetype morphos|amigaos4|win32|applet -compress

Compressing can make executables smaller, but it also "hides" any plaintext data from the executables if
you prefer that.


Compiling in '''Cubic IDE''' is simply done by pressing the '''F2''' key or by selecting the platform for cross-compiling
from the menus.


== Examples ==

* [[Crash_Course_to_Hollywood_Programming/Example_1_-_The_First_Test|Example 1: The First Test]]
* [[Crash_Course_to_Hollywood_Programming/Example_2_-_Hollywood_Programming|Example 2: Hollywood Programming]]
* [[Crash_Course_to_Hollywood_Programming/Example_3_-_System-Friendly_GUI|Example 3: System-Friendly GUI]]



== Summary ==

This tutorial has hopefully given you some understanding of Hollywood programming, and it should be easier to learn more about the language
by yourself. Hollywood also has a quite active [http://forums.hollywood-mal.com/ web forum] where you can find help on any issues by using the search field or by starting
new discussion threads. There are many example scripts included with Hollywood and its [http://www.hollywood-mal.com/download.html plugin packages] too. Coding (and especially multiplatform coding) doesn't get easier than this ;)

Have fun with Hollywood and let's see some new products in the future!


== Links ==

* [http://www.hollywood-mal.com/index.html Hollywood]
* [http://forums.hollywood-mal.com/ Hollywood forums]
* [https://www.softwareandcircuits.com/division/amiga/products/cubic/index.html Cubic IDE]
* [http://jpv.wmhost.com/morphos/hollywood/ Files from this tutorial]