Way back in LDC #39, we discussed the file “ApplicationInitialize.ls” and how any script functions in it are run at application startup. With GoFiler 4.21b’s release on January 16, 2018, we’ve added support for a similar file, “ApplicationShutdown.ls”. As the name suggests, this file is called when GoFiler shuts down. This is a pretty powerful feature because it lets you do things to “clean up” your environment if you’ve modified it with other scripts or if you want to return the system to a desired state after using the application.

In past blog entries I’ve written, the topic is often about simple scripts. It’s covered a couple hundred lines of code, and the script usually handles a single function. This means that every script that’s been covered so far has been relatively simplistic in structure, with no more than 10 or so separate functions. With so little code, a script can still be easily maintainable even if no thought is given to how it’s put together. The design of the application is less important in these cases. However, what if you want to do a larger project? What if your script is going to include multiple UI screens and integrate with multiple systems? This is where you would want to pay some attention to design and apply some software design practices to the script to ensure that you get the best possible result. The blog post this week will not contain an example of the script but will rather discuss how we can apply some software engineering principles to Legato design to avoid common pitfalls.