How to Create the APT Standalone Program

The APT Standalone Program is created by using the PyInstaller Python Library.

The following steps outline the creation process.

1. To run the APT or create the program, we generally create a conda environment. To take this route, you'll need to download and install Miniconda and create the appropriate environment. The current version of the APT runs in Python version 3.8 conda environment. The yml for the current environment is within the current repository.

2. At this point, if you have your conda environment running and you have cloned the APT onto your local Windows machine, you can execute the APT within your conda environment. For instance, if you navigate to the arc/ directory in the Antecedent-Precipitation-Tool repository and issue the command python ant_GUI.py in your conda prompt with your APT environment activated, you can use the APT graphical user interface.

3. To create the APT program, you'll need to make sure of the main_ex.spec file within the main repository. You will need to adjust the paths specified in this spec file to your local paths.

4. Once the main_ex.spec file is set up for your local Windows machine, running the command pyinstaller main_ex.spec within your conda environment will create the APT program for you.

5. There will be two new directories present in your APT repository: build and dist. The dist directory will contain a sub-directory which contains the entirety of the APT standalone program. If you need to recreate the APT program both the build and dist directories must be deleted in order to re-create the program.