Exporting An Object

The Assistant lets you set data types for parameters and other values needed for creation of the wrappers. In addition, the interface for the Assistant indicates visually the progress made so far. The icons representing properties, methods, and parameters in the assistant indicate the following:

• Which parts of the source object will be used:
  • Methods that will be exported
  • Methods that will be not be exported
• Which parts of the source object are completed:
  • Methods that are fully specified
  • Methods requiring further information

These two aspects of the state of the source object are independent from one another. For example, a method might be fully specified, but Export could be False because you want to test the exported object without generating the method. You might want to set Export to True for several methods, fill out the information for only some of them, and then create the exported object. The wrappers would be generated only for those items that have Export set to true and are fully specified.

Note: Changing the export or completion status of a parameter could affect the status of the method containing the parameter.

To make the process as simple as possible, default values and behaviors have been specified when possible. For example, all methods start out with Export set to False, but as soon as you specify information, such as a return type on the method, the value of the Export property is set to True. (For more information, see About the Export Property.)

The project tree icons indicate the status of an item. The icons shown below represent all of the permutations of the states described above.

Meaning	Icons
Export is False, Incomplete (initial default)	Method: Property or parameter:
Export is True, Incomplete	Method: Property or parameter:
Export is False, Fully Specified	Method: Property or parameter:
Export is True, Fully Specified	Method: Property or parameter: