Wikipedia:AutoWikiBrowser/Technical

AutoWikiBrowser is licensed under the GPL (see the license file).

AutoWikiBrowser is written in .NET Framework. Version 4.8.1 is required to compile AWB.

To get the sources run the command  svn checkout https://svn.code.sf.net/p/autowikibrowser/code/AWB/ .  You'll need network access to SourceForge and its SVN server. If that doesn't work you probably need an SVN client:

1. Download and install TortoiseSVN. It is the recommended SVN client program.
2. Create a folder AWB (or whatever name you prefer) on your computer.
3. Right click on the folder, and select "SVN Checkout...".
4. In the dialog window that appears (titled "Checkout") enter  http://svn.code.sf.net/p/autowikibrowser/code/AWB/  for the field URL of Repository. (This is read only access, the read-write URLs are different)
5. Click OK

This is a 3 MB download with ~1,200 files and folders from the SourceForge SVN server at http://svn.code.sf.net/p/autowikibrowser/code/AWB/.

Please note that you can contribute features to AWB and fix bugs in AWB. Read access is anonymous, but if you register as a developer of AWB, sourceforge sends a URL with write access.

You will now need to compile the code yourself. You will need a copy of a third-party C# IDE such as SharpDevelop (free), JetBrains Rider (free for non-commercial use), Microsoft Visual Studio Community 2022 or lower version (free) or a more complete version of the Visual Studio suite, such as Professional (cost).

AWB's developers have the following working setups:

• Visual Studio on Windows 11

• JetBrains Rider on Linux

2025 - no longer working following AWB's current .NET version requirements

1. Download and install the latest version of SharpDevelop
2. Click on File -> Open -> Project/Solution. Open the "AutoWikiBrowser no plugins" solution file.
3. Press F8 to build AWB. The AWB executable will be placed in ...\AWB\AWB\bin\debug. Copy AutoWikiBrowser.exe, Newtonsoft.Json.dll, WikiFunctions.dll and Interop.mshtml.dll from the folder to where you run AWB from.

The AutoWikiBrowser source is designed to be built with Visual Studio's 2019 version. The free ("Community") edition is no longer available for download; if you do not already have it installed, and are unable to use the Professional or Enterprise versions, the newer 2022 version will work, with one caveat.

AutoWikiBrowser is built on version 4.8.1 of the .NET Framework, and newly configured systems may not have the appropriate developer support installed. Before launching Visual Studio, visit the SDK download site. Expand .NET Framework / Supported versions, select the .NET Framework 4.8.1 Developer Pack, and run the installer. Continue below.

With any version of Visual Studio:

1. Ensure you have included the ".NET Desktop Development" option.
2. Browse to the toplevel source folder, and run the Visual Studio AutoWikiBrowser solution file.
3. When the IDE has loaded, select release rather than debug (next to the green forward arrow). In the solution explorer on the right hand side, right click on the solution, and select build solution. Visual Studio will now turn the source files into the required files to run AWB.
4. Back in the AWB folder, browse to AWB\bin\Release, and copy AutoWikiBrowser.exe and WikiFunctions.dll from the Release folder to where you run AWB from.

2025 - no longer working following AWB's current .NET version requirements

• Use the "AutoWikiBrowser no plugins" solution file.
• perl is required for the pre-build event to replace SVN revision number and date.

If you get an error while compiling saying something similar to, "Error loading code-completion information for Microsoft.mshtml from Microsoft.mshtml: Could not find assembly file.", this means you do not have .NET Framework 3.5 or earlier installed. AWB can still be compiled, but will require a slight code change. It is recommended you install .NET Framework 3.5, but if you cannot, see the talk page for further help.

You can view all SVN changes one of two ways:

1. Browse Commit
2. Right click on the folder that contains the source code, then go Tortoise SVN -> Show log.

When new sources become available execute "SVN Update" from the context menu of your AWB folder. Then recompile the source.

You are not automatically notified of new versions; if you use AWB on a regular basis, and want to use the source version, check this daily, and build a new release version if there are changes. That way you are up to date with all bug fixes and new features.