Documentation
  • Introduction
  • Why Ampersand?
    • The Business Rules Manifesto and Ampersand
  • Tutorial
    • Example system: Enrollment
    • Conceptual Model: Enrollment
    • Your tool: RAP4
    • Making your first Ampersand script
  • Reactive programming
  • The language Ampersand
    • How to read syntax statements
    • Truth
    • Atoms
    • The CONCEPT statement
    • The RELATION statement
    • The MEANING statement
    • The PURPOSE statement
    • The CLASSIFY statement
    • The RULE statement
    • Terms
      • Semantics
      • Semantics in logic
        • Primitive terms
        • Boolean operators
        • Relational operators
        • Residual operators
      • Semantics in natural language
        • Primitive terms in natural language
        • Boolean operators in natural language
        • Relational operators in natural language
        • Residual operators in natural language
      • Semantics in sets
        • Primitive terms in set theory
        • Boolean operators in set theory
        • Relational operators in set theory
      • Semantics of terms, defined algebraically
        • Boolean operators in algebra
        • Relational operators in algebra
      • Semantics visualized
        • Semantics of boolean operators visualized
        • Semantics of relational operators visualized
        • Semantics of residuals visualized
    • Context
    • Module
    • Best Practices
    • Syntactical Conventions
      • The CONCEPT statement
      • The RELATION statement
      • The RULE statement
      • The CONTEXT statement
      • The INCLUDE statement
      • Explanation
      • Patterns
      • Population
        • Population in spreadsheets
      • The PURPOSE statement
      • The IDENT statement
      • The TABLE statement
      • Language support
    • The INCLUDE statement
    • Patterns
    • Services
      • Example: Client
      • Example: Login
      • Syntax and meaning
      • Explanation
      • Layout of user interfaces
        • Your own widgets (HTML and CSS)
      • CRUD
    • Population
      • Population in spreadsheets
    • The ENFORCE statement
    • The IDENT statement
    • The TABLE statement
    • Language support
    • Current date
    • The Preprocessor
    • Design considerations
  • Running the Ampersand compiler
    • Configuration
    • Commands (vs. 4.0.0 and later)
    • Options (up to vs. 3.17.4)
  • Architecture of an Ampersand Application
    • Backend framework
    • Hooks
    • Extensions
      • The ExecEngine
  • Deploying your Ampersand script
    • Compiler
    • Deploy your own web application on your laptop
    • Prototype multi-stage build
    • Prototype database
  • Reusing Available Modules
    • Modules
    • Security
    • SIAM (Sessions, Identity and Access Management) Module
  • Exercises
    • Delivery
    • VOG (in Dutch)
  • Installing Ampersand
    • Deploying your Prototype
    • Installing the tools manually
  • Modeling
    • Domain Driven Design
    • Data modeling
    • Legal modeling
    • Architecture modeling
    • Metamodeling
    • Limitations of Ampersand
  • Configuring your application
  • The Excel Importer
  • Plans
    • Current State
    • NoSQL storage
    • API documentation
    • OWL and RDFS input
    • Refactor the front-end
  • Research
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On this page
  • How to edit Ampersand scripts
  • How to use Ampersand on your own laptop
  • How to compile Ampersand programs manually
  • How to install your own copy of RAP4 on a server of your own choosing
  • How to change Ampersand itself
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Installing Ampersand

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Last updated 4 years ago

Ampersand is great for rapid prototyping. We advise you to do that on the web. But sometimes you want to run your prototypes on your own computer(s). For different purposes there are different ways of doing that. This chapter shows you how.

How to edit Ampersand scripts

You can use any text editor to create Ampersand scripts. However, for those that use the editor, there is language support. All you have to do is search for the vscode extension "Ampersand (ADL) language support" and install it, and then choose the coloring theme called "Ampersand".

How to use Ampersand on your own laptop

Using Ampersand offline does not require you to install Ampersand. Ampersand runs in Docker so you can use it independently and on almost any platform. . It can be summarized as follows:

  1. Make sure Docker runs on your laptop or install it if it doesn't.

  2. Copy the files Dockerfile and docker-compose.yml and adapt them for your own Ampersand prototype. if you don't know where to find them.

  3. Run your .adl-file on the Docker platform.

How to compile Ampersand programs manually

DIY-engineers will find instructions in section . You need a webserver that can run javascript, PHP7, the PHP composer, and a (My)SQL or MariaDB database server. For generating functional specifications, you might use LaTeX, Markdown, Word .docx and other formats. This chapter gives an overview of the Ampersand production line for whoever needs to circumvent the automated process.

How to install your own copy of RAP4 on a server of your own choosing

RAP4 is an Ampersand repository, in which multiple users can store and use their Ampersand scripts. Consult . This is work in progress.

How to change Ampersand itself

If you want to change the Ampersand compiler for your own purposes, you need access to the source files, and a Haskell development environment. This section still has to be written. It will describe the software process for developing Ampersand itself.

The remainder of this chapter explains in detail all the things you need to get you up and running with Ampersand. The instructions presume that you are familiar with your own computers.

Visual Studio Code (vscode)
Here is an explanation of how to do this (don't mind the title of that page)
Read this
Installing the tools manually
the tools we use at Ampersand