Editing Developing and Distributing wxPerl Applications on Windows (section)

=== PAR::Package, App::PP::Autolink, and WX::Perl::Packager ===

==== Step 1 - Install PAR::Package, App::PP::Autolink, and Wx::Perl::Packager ====
<code><big>C:\> cpanm --verbose PAR::Package App::PP::Autolink Wx::Perl::Packager</big></code>

'''Note''': <code>pp_autolink</code>, provided by <code>App::PP::Autolink</code> has proven to be absolutely critical to finding the required DLLs that need to be added manually to the <code>wxpar</code> command below via the <code>--link</code> flag.

==== Step 2 - Generate the EXE ====
Assuming you have a Perl script generated either via wxGlade (see above) or one you have created/updated by hand, the command is as follows:

<code><big>C:\> wxpar YOURPROGRAM.pl -o YOURPROGRAM.exe</big></code>

===== Important Notes About wxGlade Generated Code =====
# earlier versions of wxGlade introduced an improper idiom at the bottom of the generated Perl script that caused a problem when running via a PAR::Packed packed executable. TLDR; remove the "unless(caller)" block and just run the Wx event loop unfettered. For more information, please read the [https://metacpan.org/dist/PAR/view/lib/PAR/FAQ.pod#If-I-try-to-compile-my-wxGlade-generated-script%2C-it-doesn%27t-run.-What%27s-wrong%3F PAR::FAQ.]
# earlier versions of wxGlade also used a non-Exporter import tage that wxpar could not properly follow; see the code "before" and "after" below:

 use Wx qw[:allclasses];
 use strict;
 
 ...
 
 package main;
 
 unless(caller){
     my $local = Wx::Locale->new("English", "en", "en"); # replace with ??
     $local->AddCatalog("app"); # replace with the appropriate catalog name
 
     my $app = MyApp->new();
     $app->MainLoop();
 }
Should be modified to look like the following:
 use Wx;
 use strict;
 
 ...
 
 package main;
 
 my $local = Wx::Locale->new("English", "en", "en"); # replace with ??
 $local->AddCatalog("app"); # replace with the appropriate catalog name
 
 my $app = MyApp->new();
 $app->MainLoop();
See [https://github.com/wxGlade/wxGlade/issues/568 this Github issue] for wxGlade, where both were fixed. At the time of this writing, the changes. have not been put out in an official release; but they are applied in the master branch.

==== Special Cases ====

===== <code>Makefile</code> for an Application uses HTTP::Tiny and calls out to SSL-enabled sites =====
Example - [https://github.com/StormSurgeLive/nhc-advisory-gui/blob/master/asgs-storm-bug.pl https://github.com/StormSurgeLive/nhc-advisory-gui/l]

(copied from the [https://github.com/StormSurgeLive/nhc-advisory-gui/blob/master/Makefile Makefile]) - Note, mentions using [https://metacpan.org/pod/App::PP::Autolink App::PP::Autolink] to sus out required DLLs (provides <code>pp_autolink</code>, which helped!)

  all:
          wxpar --verbose -o ./dist/nhc-explorer.exe -l c:/strawberry/c/bin/libcrypto-3-x64__.dll -l c:/strawberry/c/bin/zlib1__.dll -l c:/strawberry/c/bin/libssl-3-x64__.dll ./asgs-storm-bug.pl --gui
          wxpar --verbose -o ./dist/DEBUG-nhc-explorer.exe -l c:/strawberry/c/bin/libcrypto-3-x64__.dll -l c:/strawberry/c/bin/zlib1__.dll -l c:/strawberry/c/bin/libssl-3-x64__.dll ./asgs-storm-bug.pl
  
 # It was an adventure finding all the dependencies related to the wxpar command,
 # particularly those around what was needed, the basic process entailed:
 # 1. use wxpar, which generates an options files with all the Wx DLLs
 # 2. installed, App::PP::Autolink, which provides the utility "pp_autolink"; this
 #    utility scans the .pl file you're packing (in this case, "asgs-storm-bug.pl,")
 #    for DLLs - lo' and behold, it found the ones I needed; in particular the critical
 #    one that was not getting picked up by pp or wxpar, "libcrypto-3-x64___.dll!"
 # 3. ran the "wxpar" command above
 # 4. tested in a non-Strawberry Perl window (MSYS2 terminal) using the command,
 #
 #      PERL_DL_DEBUG=5 dist/nhc-explorer.exe
 #
 #    I learned about this command while searching, here:
 #
 #      https://stackoverflow.com/questions/423330/why-cant-dynaloader-pm-load-ssleay-dll-for-netssleay-and-cryptssleay
 #

==== Important Note About Finding all DLLs ====
It is worth repeating that <code>pp_autolink</code>, provided by <code>App::PP::Autolink</code> has proven to be absolutely ''critical'' to finding the required DLLs that need to be added manually to the <code>wxpar</code> command below via the <code>--link</code> flag.

If you are having problems finding all the DLLs (some which may not be obvious until the EXE generated is tried on a different machine,) you need to give <code>pp_autolink</code> a shot.