Decompiling and Compiling Procedure

The process of decompiling extracts all the interpretations text from an interpretation (output) file and inserts it into a single ANSI text (input) file. The ANSI file is written to conform exactly to Solar Fire’s requirements for a text input file, so that it may subsequently be recompiled into an output file without any changes being required. The decompiled (text) file may be edited with any text editor or word processor. This text file is the raw source of interpretations text for any category of Solar Fire interpretations text - it is thus called a "definition" file. A Solar Fire definition (input) file has a ".def" extension to the filename. It is called an "input" (kind of) file because it will be the file that is input to the "Interpretations Compiler" when the compile process runs.

A Solar Fire interpretations (output) file has an ".int" extension to the filename. It is called an "output" (kind of) file because it will be the file that is "outputted" from the "Interpretations Compiler" when the compile process runs  - i.e. when a definition (input) file is compiled. Another way of saying this is that "*.def" files are fed into the "Interpretations Compiler" and "*.int" files are what comes back out of it. The resulting "*.int" files are the files Solar Fire uses as interpretation files when it is fetching and displaying interpretations for charts, synastry reports etc.

Solar Fire comes supplied with several interpretation ("*.int") files, a different one for most (but not all) of the different kinds of interpretation categories supported by Solar Fire. This is another reason you may wish to use the "Interpretations Compiler" for this decompile/recompile process - so that you can write interpretation text for interpretation categories that Solar Fire doesn't supply an interpretations file for e.g the "Return" category, which by default instead uses instead the interpretation file specifically written for natal charts (standard.int).

Note: The "*" in "*.int" or "*.def" is a wildcard character, which means it represents any number of characters before the filename extension (the extension is everything from the dot "." onwards in the filename). Basically it represents the actual name portion of a filename. Thus "*.def" represents all filenames ending in a ".def" extension (for example "standard.def", "midpoints.def" etc.), and "*.int" represents all filenames ending in a ".int" extension (for example "standard.int", "midpoints.int" etc).

The decompiling procedure...

1.Open the "Interpretations Window" (see Opening the Interpretations Window)

2.Click on the File menu, then the Edit Interpretations item. This will open the "Interpretations Editor".

3.Click on the File menu and select Decompile

4.Save the file

The compiling procedure...

1.Open the "Interpretations Window" (see Opening the Interpretations Window)

2.Click on the File menu, then the Edit Interpretations item. This will open the "Interpretations Editor".

3.From the "Interpretations Editor", choose the Compile option from the File menu. This will open the "Interpretations Compiler".

4.Select the definition file (*.def) for the set of interpretations which you wish to edit.

5.Optionally edit any of the displayed files which contain the interpretations text for this project (usually this is only one - the definition file you have just opened. If there is more than one it means the definition file contains input files.)

6.Compile the project.

7.If the Compiler finds any errors click on Edit Text Files

8.Repeat steps 4 to 7 until all the errors are eliminated.

You can exit from the "Interpretations Compiler" without creating an interpretation file, at any time, by clicking on the Quit button.