1 Creating a new cube from scratch

     2 --------------------------------

     3 

     4 Let's start by creating the cube environment in which we will develop ::

     5 

     6   cd ~/cubes

     7   # use cubicweb-ctl to generate a template for the cube

     8   # will ask some questions, most with nice default

     9   cubicweb-ctl newcube mycube

    10   # makes the cube source code managed by mercurial

    11   cd mycube

    12   hg init

    13   hg add .

    14   hg ci

    15 

    16 If all went well, you should see the cube you just created in the list

    17 returned by ``cubicweb-ctl list`` in the  *Available cubes* section.

    18 If not, please refer to :ref:`ConfigurationEnv`.

    19 

    20 To reuse an existing cube, add it to the list named

    21 ``__depends_cubes__`` which is defined in :file:`__pkginfo__.py`.

    22 This variable is used for the instance packaging (dependencies handled

    23 by system utility tools such as APT) and to find used cubes when the

    24 database for the instance is created (import_erschema('MyCube') will

    25 not properly work otherwise).

    26 

    27 On a Unix system, the available cubes are usually stored in the

    28 directory :file:`/usr/share/cubicweb/cubes`. If you are using the

    29 cubicweb mercurial repository (:ref:`SourceInstallation`), the cubes

    30 are searched in the directory

    31 :file:`/path/to/cubicweb_toplevel/cubes`. In this configuration

    32 cubicweb itself ought to be located at

    33 :file:`/path/to/cubicweb_toplevel/cubicweb`.

    34 

    35 .. note::

    36 

    37     Please note that if you do not wish to use default directory for your cubes

    38     library, you should set the :envvar:`CW_CUBES_PATH` environment variable to

    39     add extra directories where cubes will be search, and you'll then have to use

    40     the option `--directory` to specify where you would like to place the source

    41     code of your cube:

    42 

    43     ``cubicweb-ctl newcube --directory=/path/to/cubes/library mycube``

    44 

    45 

    46 .. XXX resurrect once live-server is back

    47 .. Usage of :command:`cubicweb-ctl liveserver`

    48 .. -------------------------------------------

    49 

    50 .. To quickly test a new cube, you can also use the `liveserver` command for cubicweb-ctl

    51 .. which allows to create an instance in memory (using an SQLite database by

    52 .. default) and make it accessible through a web server ::

    53 

    54 ..   cubicweb-ctl live-server mycube

    55 

    56 .. or by using an existing database (SQLite or Postgres)::

    57 

    58 ..   cubicweb-ctl live-server -s myfile_sources mycube