Build Windows Installer in CI (#13)

This PR is adding to the CI pipeline the step required to build the Windows installer.
In this way a new GH release can be created much more easily, but just attaching binaries coming from the CI.

Author: f18m

.github/workflows/main.yml

@@ -6,6 +6,10 @@ on:
     branches: [ master ]
   pull_request:
     branches: [ master ]
+  # add a cron job to run every month -- this project is not very active, at least ensure there's a valid CI build every month
+  # this is also useful to check if something breaks e.g. due to infrastructure changes (e.g. Ubuntu/Windows OS)
+  schedule:
+    - cron: '0 0 1 * *'
 
 jobs:
   LinuxBuild:
@@ -27,6 +31,7 @@ jobs:
         with:
           name: NetlistViewer, Linux x86_64
           path: NetlistViewer/build/linux/NetlistViewer
+          if-no-files-found: error
 
   WindowsBuild:
     runs-on: windows-latest
@@ -39,7 +44,7 @@ jobs:
       # NOTE: no packages/dependencies are installed at this time -- msbuild will use vcpkg to download&build dependencies
       #       specified in the vcpkg.json during the build step below. This happens because the VisualStudio solution has
       #       the 'VcpkgEnableManifest' property set to True
-      - name: Setup anew (or from cache) vcpkg (and does not build any package)
+      - name: Setup a new (or from cache) vcpkg (and does not build any package)
         uses: lukka/run-vcpkg@v11.5
         with:
           # as suggested, we pin the version of "vcpkg" to a specific hash (23rd March 2025) to ensure reproducible builds
@@ -55,9 +60,36 @@ jobs:
       - name: Build netlist-viewer
         run: msbuild NetlistViewer\build\win\netlist_viewer_vs2022.vcxproj -t:rebuild -property:Configuration=Release -property:Platform=x64
 
-      # save the whole folder containing the binary and DLLs
+      # save the whole folder containing the binary and DLLs as workflow artifact
       - name: Save built binaries
         uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
         with:
           name: NetlistViewer, Windows x86_64
           path: NetlistViewer/build/win/x64/Release/
+          if-no-files-found: error
+
+      # snippet of actions taken from https://github.com/NSIS-Dev/ci-examples/blob/main/.github/workflows/windows-latest.yml
+      - name: Install NSIS
+        run: |
+          iwr -useb get.scoop.sh -outfile 'install.ps1'
+          .\install.ps1 -RunAsAdmin
+          scoop update
+          scoop bucket add extras
+          scoop install nsis
+      - name: Print NSIS version
+        run: makensis -VERSION
+      - name: Print NSIS compile flags
+        run: makensis -HDRINFO
+
+      # now build the actual Windows installer:
+      - name: Run NSIS
+        run: makensis /V2 setup.nsi
+        working-directory: NetlistViewer/distrib
+
+      # save the whole folder containing the binary and DLLs as workflow artifact
+      - name: Save built installer
+        uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
+        with:
+          name: NetlistViewer, Windows Installer
+          path: NetlistViewer/distrib/NetlistViewer-*-win-installer.exe
+          if-no-files-found: error

NetlistViewer/build/linux/README.md

@@ -19,3 +19,4 @@ Then just run
     $ NetlistViewer
 ```
 
+NOTE: these steps are also part of the CI pipeline of the Github project.

NetlistViewer/build/win/README.md

@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ NOTE: as of Nov 2023, the installation through vcpkg of the "expat" library (one
 fail due to https://github.com/libexpat/libexpat/issues/418 if you have a localized version of VisualStudio.
 Check that URL for the workaround (i.e. installing the English pack in VisualStudio)
 
+NOTE: these steps are also part of the CI pipeline of the Github project.
 
 ## Update the build system
 

NetlistViewer/distrib/README.md

@@ -5,3 +5,5 @@
 1. Compile the distrib\setup.nsi with NSIS
    Note that you can also use the build_installers.bat batch file to do this step automatically.
 1. Attach the installer to the new Github release
+
+NOTE: these steps run also in the CI pipeline so you can find the NSIS Windows installer attached to any run of the CI.

NetlistViewer/distrib/setup.nsi

@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@
 
   ; NOTE: the version should be the same as the one in svn_revision.sh (see the UPP_VERSION #define)
   !define PRODUCT_NAME            "NetlistViewer"
-  !define PRODUCT_VERSION         "0.3"
+  !define PRODUCT_VERSION         "0.4"
   !define PRODUCT_PUBLISHER       "Francesco Montorsi"
   !define INSTALLER_MODE          "release"     ; choose between "debug" and "release"
 
@@ -71,7 +71,7 @@
   VIAddVersionKey "Comments"         ""
   VIAddVersionKey "CompanyName"      "${PRODUCT_NAME} Team"
   VIAddVersionKey "LegalTrademarks"  "Application released under the GNU GPL"
-  VIAddVersionKey "LegalCopyright"   "© ${PRODUCT_NAME} Team"
+  VIAddVersionKey "LegalCopyright"   "� ${PRODUCT_NAME} Team"
   VIAddVersionKey "FileDescription"  "Text to schematic conversion of SPICE netlists"
   VIAddVersionKey "FileVersion"      "${PRODUCT_VERSION}"
   VIProductVersion                   "${PRODUCT_VERSION}.0.0" 

NetlistViewer/src/app.cpp

@@ -38,7 +38,9 @@
 // constants
 // ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
-#define SW_VERSION_STR         "0.3"
+#define SW_VERSION_STR         "0.4"
+#define SW_COPYRIGHT_STR       "(C) 2010-2025"
+#define HELP_PAGE              "https://github.com/f18m/netlist-viewer/issues"
 
 // IDs for the controls and the menu commands
 enum
@@ -406,8 +408,6 @@ void SpiceViewerFrame::OnQuit(wxCommandEvent& WXUNUSED(event))
 
 void SpiceViewerFrame::OnHelp(wxCommandEvent& WXUNUSED(event))
 {
-#define HELP_PAGE       "https://sourceforge.net/p/netlistviewer/tickets/"
-
     if (!wxLaunchDefaultBrowser(HELP_PAGE))
         wxLogError("Could not open the URL '%s'... please open it manually.", HELP_PAGE);
 }
@@ -418,7 +418,7 @@ void SpiceViewerFrame::OnAbout(wxCommandEvent& WXUNUSED(event))
     aboutInfo.SetName("Netlist Viewer");
     aboutInfo.SetVersion(SW_VERSION_STR);
     aboutInfo.SetDescription("SPICE netlist viewer. This program converts a SPICE text netlist to a graphical schematic.");
-    aboutInfo.SetCopyright("(C) 2010-2023");
+    aboutInfo.SetCopyright(SW_COPYRIGHT_STR);
     aboutInfo.SetWebSite("https://github.com/f18m/netlist-viewer");
     aboutInfo.AddDeveloper("Francesco Montorsi <francesco.montorsi@gmail.com>");
 

README.md

@@ -1,13 +1,37 @@
-# netlist-viewer
+# Netlist Viewer
 
 Netlist Viewer is a tool capable of loading SPICE netlists and convert them in a schematic (i.e. graphical) format.
 The graphical representations helps to understand the electrical/electronic circuit represented by the SPICE netlist, and save some tedious work.
 
+# What is a netlist?
+
+A [circuit diagram](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circuit_diagram) can be represented in a very compact form using a [netlist](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netlist). Wikipedia's definition of the netlist is "a list of the electronic components in a circuit and a list of the nodes they are connected to".
+An example of how a netlist actually looks like is:
+
+```
+.SUBCKT test_misc1 IN OUT
+
+V1 0 IN DC=4V
+R1 IN 2 
+Q1 3 2 0 NPNstd
+M1 OUT 3 0 NMOSstd
+D1 OUT 0 DIODEstd
+
+.ENDS
+```
+
 # Screenshots
 
 ![1](https://github.com/f18m/netlist-viewer/assets/9748595/ff8c1017-f92b-4f33-b399-36a6affe25de)
 ![2](https://github.com/f18m/netlist-viewer/assets/9748595/9a7054e3-cc1b-469b-82e9-95874dc7773a)
 
+# Binaries
+
+You can download binaries from [Github releases](https://github.com/f18m/netlist-viewer/releases).
+These binaries are not garantueed to work on your system. 
+A better way to distribute applications for Linux would be using [Flatpak](https://github.com/f18m/netlist-viewer/issues/6).
+If you are interested in such work, please open an issue/PR.
+
 # Past versions of Netlist-viewer
 
 Past versions, namely version 0.1 and version 0.2, were hosted in Sourceforge, see https://sourceforge.net/projects/netlistviewer/.