Development Cycle Considerations

An application development cycle has these steps:

1. Edit Source
2. Compile Source into Objects
3. Link Objects into an Executable (some languages/environments combine steps 2 and 3)
4. Run the executable for testing
5. If successful and development is complete, proceed to step 6; otherwise repeat steps 1-4
6. Release the application to the user base

Testing Cycle (Steps 1-5)

Testing typically means starting NX, then loading and executing the application. If the application needs correction and retesting, a new executable must be built and loaded by NX — normally requiring an NX restart, which can be time consuming over many iterations.

To streamline this, NX Open provides Unload Options. Setting the unload option to "Immediately" makes NX unload the application when it terminates, allowing you to edit/compile/link a new version and re-execute without restarting NX — NX will load and run the new version automatically.

Release to Users (Step 6)

Before releasing an application to the user base:

• Signing: If distributing to someone without an NX Open author license, the application must be signed to prove it was developed with a valid author license (see Signing Process).
• Feature-based licensing: Without an author license, the application performs Feature Based license checking during execution. The author must know which features the app requires vs. which are available to the user base. Required features for each Common API method/property are listed in the language-specific reference manuals (see Feature Based License Checking).
• Performance: If tested with a debug build, compiling/linking without debug options can improve performance.
• Unload option for release: Change the unload option to "At Termination" (see Unload Options) so NX loads the application only once regardless of how many times it's executed — reducing startup time by avoiding reloads on each run.

Related Topics

• Journals
• Compiling and linking Overview
• NX Open and redo
• Editing expressions