MacFormat 1995 January/macformat-020.iso/Shareware City/Developers/apps.to.go/AppsToGo.docs/! Making It Happen

Text File | 1993-08-02 | 7.0 KB | 173 lines | [TEXT/MPS ]

THE SITUATION:

It's late.  You're feeling a bit strange, as if something's going to bubble up at any time.
You're not sure what's going on, so you head to bed.  At some really inconvenient hour
of the morning, when no sane people are awake, you awake.  Yes, something did percolate
its way up, but it wasn't the burrito you ate last night.  It was a great product idea.

You think about going back to sleep, but will you remember the idea in the morning?  This
fear keeps you awake, just lying there.  Very annoying, isn't it?


If you're unsure if your product idea is any good, just check it against the below simple
product/value test.  It's the quickest, easiest test there is.  Give yourself 1 point for
each true statement:

    • You have a really cool name for the product.
    • You have a really cool icon.


So, how did your product score?


0:    Rotten product idea.  Go back to bed and forget the whole thing.
    "It was just a dream, a really bad dream..."

1:    Not bad.  Product concept needs work, although you might actually recover your
    development costs.

2:    WOW!!  Off the charts.  Code it up, and ship it out in the evening.


So, assuming that you have given the name and icon their due consideration, let's start coding.
No need for any actual design cycle or any such thing, since we have a great name and icon.

You don't believe that a good icon and name are all you need?  You've been told otherwise?
It's true, and here's why:

Everybody wants to impress their friends and coworkers.  They want to sound cool when talking
about computers.  They want to sound like they know what they are talking about.  How can they
sound cool talking about your product if it has a really stupid name?  If the name's stupid,
then they won't talk about it.  If it sounds cool just saying it, you've got it made.

Also, if the icon is really cool, then a user will actually put your product on their desktop.
Other people will visit their office and see the icon, and they will immediately suffer from
icon jealousy.  Here's the double-win.  The visitor asks what product that is, and the owner
then gets to say the really cool product name, thus sounding cool.  PRESTO!!  A SALE!!


So, here's how to set up AppWannabe to have your own icon and product name, in 10 easy steps.

WARNING:  DO NOT SHIP YOUR PRODUCT WITHOUT CHANGING THE NAME OR THE ICON, AS APPWANNABE HAS
          NEITHER A COOL NAME OR A COOL ICON.  IT WILL BE A COMPLETE DISASTER!!



1)    Copy the folder AppWannabe

2)    Rename the copy HeapSpew

3)    Open the HeapSpew folder and rename the project file names:
        • AppWannabe.make   to HeapSpew.make
        • AppWannabe.r      to HeapSpew.r
        • AppWannabe.π      to HeapSpew.π
        • AppWannabe.π.rsrc to HeapSpew.π.rsrc

4)    Do a search of the source files for AppWannabe.  Change where appropriate, namely:
        • HeapSpew.make
        • HeapSpew.r

5)    Change the creator type in the source to whatever you picked.  The old type is 'DUMB'.
    (I picked 'SPEW' for this sample.)  The files to change are:
        • App.defs.h
        • HeapSpew.make
    While you're in the file App.defs.h, go ahead and change the type of the main document
    type from 'DUMD' (DUMb Document) to whatever you want.  (I'm using 'SPED' for this
    sample, for heapSPEw Document.)


6)    For THINK users, go to "Set Project Type…" and set the creator type to 'SPEW'.

7)    Open HeapSpew.π.rsrc with ResEdit and change the 'BNDL' to reflect the new creator type.

8)    While you're editing the 'BNDL', change the document type from 'DUMD' to whatever is
    appropriate for your application.

9)    Draw your own cool icons.  You will want to replace the following icon resources:
        • 'icl4'
        • 'icl8'
        • 'ICN#'
        • 'ics#'
        • 'ics4'
        • 'ics8'
        • 'SICN'

10)    Try a build.  You should now have a starter application with correct icons, creator type, etc.



We need to put the really cool name in a few more places, however.  The application still
says AppWannabe here and there.  The best way to find all of these instances is to Derez
the HeapSpew.π.rsrc file.  Here's where the derez indicates the string AppWannabe to be:

 TYPE      id
-------------------
'DITL'  129,130,131
'MENU'  128
'SPEW'  0
'STR '  -16396
'vers'  1
'WIND'  128
'WFMT'  128

Everything looks okay, except for the 'WFMT' resource.  That's new.  That's the resource
used by the AppsToGo application editor.  It packs all of its changes into this single resource.

You can use ResEdit to change all of the other references to AppWannabe.  Changing 'SPEW' is
a bit tricky.  First edit the 'vers' item, and then open it as hex.  Select from the pascal string
length (offset $0C) to the end and copy it into the clipboard.  Open the 'SPEW' resource, select
all, and paste.  Done.


You probably want to change the version number.  That is found in the following resources:

    'vers'
    'MENU'
    'SPEW'
    'WFMT'


All the initial changes possible from ResEdit have been made.  The remaining changes have
to be made to the 'WFMT' resource.  To change this, we need AppsToGo, the editor.

Drag-drop the resource file onto AppsToGo.  The 'WIND' format will be read in and unpacked.
The 'WFMT' will contain five document definitions.  These are:
    'DUMD'        This is the default document for HeapSpew (AppWannabe).
    'VWHR'        This is the "View Hierarchy" document definition.
    'ABOT'        This is the about-box definition.
    'LMEM'        This is the low-on-mem warning dialog box.
    'ERR#'        This is the "error #-xxx occured" dialog box.

The first thing we need to do is to change the document type of our default document.
Double-click on 'DUMD', and change the document type to 'SPEW'.  This is now in sync
with the 'BNDL' resource description of what our documen types are.  That's all that
was wrong with that document.

The next problem is that the dialog box still says "AppWannabe 4.0b1 Starter App."
Double-click on 'ABOT'.  The window that opens up would allow us to change window
attributes.  The attributes are fine.  We need to change the content.  Therefore
click on the "Edit Content" button.

A template window opens up.  This window allows us to add, delete, resize, etc., various
control objects.  We want the controls we have.  We just want to change the content of the
TextEdit control to say something other than AppWannabe.

Type command-T to "Test & Edit Controls".  The dialog will be displayed, as it would
function in the application.  This also means that the text can't be clicked on or edited.
To make the text editable, type command-Y.  This sets all controls active in the window.
You can now click on the text and edit it.


Change the name to HeapSpew, and change the version number.  We're done with the about box.

The 'ERR#' document definition also has a reference to AppWannabe.  Open up the dialog, just
like the 'ABOT' dialog, including making the text editable.  Change it to HeapSpew, and then
save the document.  All resource changes have been made to the project.


Re-build the application so the new resources changes are reflected in the executable.

That wasn't too bad.  We're just about ready to ship.  A little functionality to accompany
our great name and icon, and we're ready to visit the bank.