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Standalone Windows Executable

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Nikhil VJ edited this page Oct 13, 2019 · 5 revisions

Some notes

  1. (Updated, Oct 2018) Download the repo and unzip, and double-click GTFSManager.exe in the main program folder. It'll have an icon.

  2. That's it, that should start the program! A dos box should open up giving console messages, and in a few seconds a new tab should open in your system's default web browser with the program loaded.

  3. There will probably be a Windows Firewall popup. Click OK or cancel.. this program doesn't do any to-and-fro communication over internet, that's just a default question that comes up when a server is activated. (In our case we're creating a portable web server for the front-end and back-end partd of the program to communicate). It does need internet for loading the background tiles on web maps, but other than that the program can run without internet connection.

  4. In case the browser that opened is Internet Explorer, please copy-paste the URL to Chrome or similar modern browser. There may be some compatibility issues with IE.

  5. Closing : Simply closing the dos-box and the browser tab should be enough. You can also press Ctrl+C in the dos box, but it acts on it only when there is a change in page at the browser end (will process the command only when an API call is activated). Please help with this if you know.

  6. We need feedback of how the program runs on different Windows systems. If you experience problems, please file an issue with details of your OS (windows version, 64bit or 32bit etc) and if possible give the output that came on the dos-box. (unlikely as it'll probably close itself when an error happens.. try opening command-prompt in the folder and run GTFSManager.exe )

  7. Compatibility: This windows binary has been tested to work on a 32-bit Win7 Virtual OS (from here), and 64-bit Win10 laptops as of Oct 2018. See this issue for details and latest updates.

Note on .exe (windows binary) creation

Why backend changes may need re-making of binary while frontend changes don't:
The .exe holds the python backend, while the frontend runs off the htmls and javascript code itself. So, when we make changes to javascript / html, they are reflected immediately (Ctrl+F5 to override your browser cache and load latest!).

For backend changes, users who are running the application by running the python code, will also get the latest stuff. But for .exe, there is a process to be done on a proper windows computer in order to generate a fresh .exe . Unfortunately the main dev/maintainer of this project doesn't use windows and has to go out of his usual way to compile and create a fresh .exe binary. And it's not an easy process that can be done by borrowing anybody's laptop : Many things need to be installed on the windows machine first and not everyone may agree to experimenting with their windows machine. Therefore, making windows binaries is a high-committment process.

We're open for volunteers who would like to help out regarding this! Contact nikhil.js [at] gmail.com .

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