eboek.info-scraper/docs/WINDOWS_BUILD.md

🪟 Windows Executable Build Guide

✅ Yes, Windows will have .exe extension!

PyInstaller automatically adds .exe extension when building on Windows.

🏗️ Building on Windows

Method 1: Simple Batch Script

# Double-click or run in Command Prompt
scripts\build_exe.bat

Method 2: Cross-Platform Python Script

python scripts\build_executable.py

📦 Expected Output

Windows build creates:

dist/
└── EBoek_Scraper.exe    ← Windows executable (~30MB)

What happens:

1. ✅ PyInstaller detects Windows platform
2. ✅ Automatically adds .exe extension
3. ✅ Creates dist/EBoek_Scraper.exe
4. ✅ Bundles all dependencies (PyQt5, Selenium, Python runtime)

🚀 Distribution

Share this file: dist/EBoek_Scraper.exe

End users can:

• ✅ Double-click to run (no Python needed)
• ✅ Run from Command Prompt: EBoek_Scraper.exe
• ⚠️ May see Windows security warning on first run

🔐 Windows Security Warning

First run may show:

Windows protected your PC
Microsoft Defender SmartScreen prevented...

Solution:

1. Click "More Info"
2. Click "Run Anyway"
3. This only happens once per PC

🧪 Testing

Verify build worked:

cd dist
dir EBoek_Scraper.exe
EBoek_Scraper.exe --help

💡 Platform-Specific Notes

Build Platform	Creates	Best For
Windows	.exe file	✅ Windows distribution
macOS	.app + Unix binary	✅ macOS distribution
Linux	Unix binary	✅ Linux distribution

Best practice: Build on the target operating system for optimal compatibility.

🛠️ Troubleshooting

Build fails on Windows:

1. Install Python 3.8+ from python.org
2. Ensure pip works: pip --version
3. Install dependencies: pip install -r requirements.txt
4. Try again: scripts\build_exe.bat

Missing .exe after build:

• Check dist/ folder contents
• Look for error messages in build output
• Try alternative: python -m PyInstaller --onefile --windowed gui_main.py

---

🎉 Windows users will definitely get a proper .exe file!