How to submit an Add-in for publication on EViews.com

For tips, questions and general information about writing Add-ins, how to package them, and how to submit them to EViews for publication.

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EViews Gareth
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How to submit an Add-in for publication on EViews.com

Postby EViews Gareth » Wed Apr 07, 2010 4:08 pm

We encourage you to submit any Add-ins you write, that you think would have general appeal, to submit them to us for publication on our main Add-in download page.

However there are a few rules you should follow. First of all, your add-in should include the following:
  • An installer program, with a specified proc name, menu text, description and documentation.
  • A documentation file.
  • A TOC.ini file.

Installer Program
The installer program is a simple EViews program that will be run once the Add-in has been downloaded. This program should handle the installation/registration of the Add-in into EViews. At the very least it should contain a single line using the addin command that specifies the proc name, menu text, description and documentation of the Add-in. As an example, here is the installer for the RecShade Add-in:

Code: Select all

addin(type="graph", menu = "Add USA Recession Shading", proc="recshade", docs=".\recession shade.txt", desc="Applies US recession shading to a graph object.") "./recshade.prg"


Hint: Note that the use of the ".\" (or "./" - both work) syntax for relative paths. This means you don't have to hard-code the location of the documentation or add-in file, rather you can specify them relative to the installer program.

Documentation File
This need not be a 100 page PDF, a simple text file will do, but you should at least give a brief description of what the Add-in does, and how to use it.

TOC.ini
This is a simple text file called TOC.ini that contains information that EViews will use when downloading the Add-in to a user's computer. The format of TOC.ini is:

Code: Select all

[package]
folder = folder_name
installer = installer.prg


The first line of the file should contain the word "[package]". Following this you should have a line containing "folder = " followed by the name of your Add-in. This is the folder name that EViews will use when creating a folder for your Add-in in the Add-ins directory. Finally you should have a line containing "installer=" followed by the name of your installer program.

Submission
EViews Add-in packages, or AIPZ files, are zip files that have been renamed to have a .aipz extension. Thus to create your add-in package, simply take your add-in files, including the documentation, TOC.ini and installer files, and zip them all up into a single file. Then rename that zip file so that it has an .aipz extension. Then you can email your Add-in package to addin@eviews.com.

If you cannot package your files together as an .aipz file, then send the individual files, and we will package it for you.

If your Add-in performs some statistical/econometric technique, any papers/references for the given technique would be appreciated. Even better would be any examples you have of your Add-in matching existing routines/results.
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JimForest
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Re: How to submit an Add-in for publication on EViews.com

Postby JimForest » Wed Apr 14, 2010 1:36 pm

just wanted to suggest that we perhaps put a comment section at the top of add-in files, such as they do for MATLAB. I should describe the command, any input and output arguments, etc..

EViews Gareth
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Re: How to submit an Add-in for publication on EViews.com

Postby EViews Gareth » Wed Apr 14, 2010 1:43 pm

That makes a lot of sense, although, of course, we're enforcing that there is a separate documentation file that should specify those things.
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