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11-21-90 The Whitewater Group ***************************************************** Notes for the Whitewater Resource Toolkit version 3.0 ***************************************************** This file contains changes to the documentation and additional information since the manual went to press. CAUTION Do not modify (save) the resources of a running application. Saving a resource usually changes the locations of the resources within the file (assuming the size of the resource has changed). Windows may not be able to run if it tries to load any resource it can't find. GENERAL INFORMATION On-line Help ----------- On-line help is available for the Resource Toolkit. To access help from the Resource Manager, click its Help button; from within an editor, use the editor's Help menu. Both methods open the Help window. To see instructions for using help, open the Help window, then choose Using Help from the Help window's Help menu. Dynamic Link Libraries ---------------------- As stated in the manual, all the resource editors can modify resources from resource (RES) files and executable (EXE) files. In addition to these files, each editor can modify resources from a dynamic link library (DLL). This is not stated in the manual. A dynamic link library (DLL) is an executable module containing resources plus functions that can be called by Windows applications. A DLL is similar to a run-time library, except that it's linked to a program at run time rather than when conventional application files are linked. The library is activated when another module calls one of its functions, thus allowing it to be used by multiple applications or programs. This means common routines can be consolidated into a single module rather than duplicated in each program that uses them. Routines in a DLL can be modified without relinking the DLL to the programs that use it. This contrasts with normal object libraries, which have to be relinked whenever their routines are modified. To save a new or modified resource into an existing DLL, choose Save Into from the File menu. Opening and Saving Files ------------------------ The dialog boxes used throughout the Resource Toolkit for opening or saving files have been modified since the manual went to print. The radio buttons that were formerly grouped together as File Extension radio buttons are now organized as File Type radio buttons. The File Type radio buttons slightly modify the dialog's functionality in order to simplify file selection. The principal change is that the File Type radio buttons limit the files that are displayed in the dialog's Files box, whereas the File Extension radio buttons didn't limit the file display. For example, to open an existing RES file, choose the RES button in the File Type field, and only RES files will be displayed in the Files box. To change the file display to EXE files, simply choose the EXE button from the File Type field. To save a new or modified resource into, say, an existing DLL file, choose the DLL button from the File Type field, then select an existing file. Thus, once the open or save dialog is on your screen, the first step is always to choose a radio button from the File Type field, unless, of course, the button you want is the dialog's default choice. The following summarizes the saving options available from the File menu in the Resource Toolkit's editors: Save saves the current resource under its original name. Thus, choosing Save from the File menu doesn't open a dialog unless the current resource is a new resource that wasn't opened from an existing file. For new resources, Save functions the same as Save As. Save As saves the current resource under a different name. Generally, use Save As to create a new file. The types of files you can create are BMP (Bitmap Editor), CUR (Cursor Editor), DLG (Dialog Editor), ICO (Icon Editor), RC (Accelerator, Menu, and String editors), and RES files (all editors). When saving a resource into a RES file, Save As lets you save the resource into a new or existing RES file. If you save the resource into an existing RES file, Save As functions the same as Save Into. Save Into saves the current resource into an existing RES, EXE, or DLL file. In addition, in the Bitmap Editor, Save Into can save the bitmap into an existing BMP file; in the Cursor Editor it can save a cursor into an existing CUR file; and in the Icon Editor it can save an icon into an existing ICO file. In BMP, CUR, or ICO files, Save Into writes over the existing resource stored in the file, replacing it with the current resource. RES, EXE, and DLL files, however, store multiple resources. Thus, you must assign a name to each resource you save into one of these file types. If you assign the resource a unique name, the new resource is added to the file. If you assign a name already used by another resource in the file, Save Into gives you the option of either replacing the existing resource, or preserving the existing resource by assigning a different name to the current resource. Save Into cannot be used to save a resource into a new file. NOTE. Adding a new resource to EXE and DLL files doesn't enable the resource. You must define functionality for the resource in the source code. Checking Free Memory -------------------- Page 14 of the manual tells you how to check the amount of memory available to the Resource Toolkit and to Windows. It states that you can check free memory in either of two ways: open the Toolkit's About Box or press Ctrl+O. It should also mention that the About Box can be opened only from the Resource Manager, and that Ctrl+O works only from within one of the editors. Ctrl+O doesn't work from the Resource Manager. OS/2 Format Bitmaps ------------------- Occasionally, a Windows program might contain a bitmap that was created in OS/2 format. In those instances, you should be able to edit the bitmap using the Resource Toolkit. However, OS/2 format bitmaps are not supported by the Resource Toolkit 3.0. Thus, you cannot create OS/2 format bitmaps, and though you should be able to edit existing OS/2 format bitmaps, the Resource Toolkit's capacity for editing them has not been fully tested and is not officially supported. ADDITIONS OR CHANGES TO THE EDITORS Dialog Editor ------------- a) Pages 76-77 tell you how to create an owner-draw button. The information is correct; however, a new tool has been added to the Resource Toolkit to simplify the process. To create an owner-draw button, select the Owner Draw tool. Owner Draw is one of the tool styles available under the Button tool. b) Pages 76 and 78 both say that to define a logical group you use the Set Group item on the Dialog menu. This is a typing error. The correct item to use is Start Group on the Controls menu. c) Dialogs with menus don't display menus in the editor. The client area of the dialog will appear to be larger in the y direction than it really is due to the space reserved for the non-displaying menu. d) Group boxes don't need the group bit set. They exhibit the grouping behavior without setting the group bit. For this reason, Start Group in the Controls menu is always shown as checked and disabled for group boxes. The Group check box in the group box's Style dialog has no affect. e) The size of a control is determined by the values set in the (cx,cy) fields in its Attributes box. These values are set automatically if you size the control with the mouse; you can set them yourself by opening the control's Attributes box (double-click the control, or select it and choose Attributes from the Control menu) and entering values in the (cx,cy) fields. If a control's (cx,cy) values are set to (0,0), the control seemingly disappears from the dialog (except for an icon control, which still displays because Windows ignores the size information for icons). However, though the icon isn't visible on your screen, it is still in the dialog resource and will be defined in any file you save the resource into. To fix a control whose (cx,cy) fields are (0,0): > Choose Select All from the Edit menu. This selects all the dialog's controls -- including the "invisible" control. > De-select all visible controls by pressing the Shift key and clicking each control with the mouse pointer. Now the only control still selected is the "invisible" control. > Choose Attributes from the Controls menu, then enter positive integer values in the (cx,cy) fields. This gives the "invisible" control dimensions that allow the Dialog Editor to display it. Bitmap Editor ------------- Page 99 of the manual states that the values you can specify for both height and width of a bitmap range from 1 to 200 pixels. This is no longer true. The values you can specify for both height and width are limited only by available memory. Page 94 of the manual states that two-color bitmaps in the Bitmap Editor are always black and white. This isn't true. You can edit the text and background colors for two-color bitmaps. To edit the text or background color for a two-color bitmap: > Choose either Text Color or Background Color from the Options menu. This opens a dialog that lets you change the color's RGB color number. > If you know the RGB color number you want, type it into the editing fields. Otherwise, use the scroll bars to scroll a color blend. The color box to the right of the scrolls shows the current blend of red, green, and blue. > Click Accept or Cancel: - Accept replaces the original color in the palette with the color you specified. - Cancel cancels the editing operation and restores the original color to the palette. NOTE. For a two-color bitmap, you can't save the modified palette as you can with a 16-color bitmap. However, saving the bitmap into a file also saves its color values. When you later open the bitmap file, the palette contains the edited rather than the default text and background colors. Bitmap, Cursor, and Icon Editors -------------------------------- When pasting into the Bitmap, Cursor, or Icon editors, if the area you define for pasting isn't the same size as the contents of the Clipboard, a dialog now opens so you can choose one of two options: - Shrink/stretch the contents of the Clipboard so it fits within the area you've selected for pasting. - Clip contents of the Clipboard. Paste then copies whatever fits within the bounded area, measuring from the upper left corner of both the Clipboard and the selected area. Accelerator Editor ------------------ An Alt column has been added to the Accelerator Editor. The Alt column lets you include the Alt key as part of the accelerator definition. Generally, you can define any virtual key or any character key as an accelerator in your application. However, you should avoid conflicts with Windows's use of accelerators. For example, you shouldn't define F10 as an accelerator in your application because it conflicts with Windows's use of F10 to activate a menu bar. In addition, you should observe the standards accepted by most Windows applications. For example, if your application has an Edit menu, you should define Del as the accelerator for Cut, Shift+Del as the accelerator for Paste, and so on. For detailed guidelines to the conventions observed by Windows programs, consult the following IBM publication: "Systems Application Architecture: Common User Access Advanced Interface Design Guide" International Business Machines Corp., 1989 Header Editor ------------- Page 154 in the manual states that Put can place a new symbol into the currently selected row. That isn't true. Put can change the value of the currently selected symbol, without changing the symbol's position in the header file. If you type a unique symbol into the Symbol field and click on Put, Put functions the same as To End. CAUTION: If you click the Save button in the Header Editor, only #define statements are saved in the file. Any comments, structure definitions, conditional pre- processor commands, nested includes, etc., are stripped from the header file. If your header file contains anything other than #define statements, you can use the Header Editor to view defined symbols in the file. However, you may not want to use the Header Editor to save new or modified symbol definitions into that file. KNOWN ERRORS a) Text strings containing literal escape values shouldn't be written to RC or DLG files. This is because the escape values are written in hex format, which is incompatible with RC file format. The work around is to save resources containing literal escape value text strings directly into RES or EXE files. b) If you try to open or save a file when you don't have enough memory to do so, the Resource Toolkit displays an error box stating that dynamic memory is too low to implement your request. However, the Cursor and Icon editors sometimes display the wrong message. If either of these editors opens a dialog that says "WRT System Error #1 Name:height" or "WRT System Error #1 Name:killDisplayBrush", the problem is that there isn't enough dynamic memory available to implement your request. To increase available dynamic memory, you can close some of the Toolkit editors that are currently open. Chapter 2 of the user's manual tells you how to increase available dynamic memory. c) The Dialog Editor lets you select the font and point size for all text displayed within the dialog. However, if you request a font/point size combination that isn't available or isn't installed on your system, the Dialog Editor accepts the request, but then reverts without warning to the default System font in 10 points. For example, assume the dialog is currently using Helvetica font in 24 point size. If you edit the font selection to Courier without changing the point size (Courier doesn't have 24 point type), the Dialog Editor accepts your request; however, without issuing a warning, it reverts all text in the dialog to the default System font in 10 points. e) The File Open, File Save As, and File Save Into dialogs let you use DOS conventions for changing the current directory. For example, to see a file display from the directory above the current directory, you can type .. into the Filename field and press Enter or click OK. However, these dialogs raise an error box if you type a request like the following into the Filename field: ..\TEST Correct behavior for the dialog would be to go to the parent directory, then if a TEST subdirectory exists, go down to that subdirectory. If no TEST subdirectory exists, select a file named TEST and append the file extension indicated in the File Type field. The work around depends on what you're trying to do: - To get to the TEST subdirectory, first go to the parent directory using the .. convention, then from there, go to the TEST directory. - To request a file in the parent directory, eliminate ambiguity from your request by including a file extension with the file name. For example, type ..\TEST.RES to request file TEST.RES in the parent directory. f) In the Menu Editor, \t in the Item Text field inserts a tab in the menu text and \a assigns the help attribute to the item. These are the only instances where the character \ can be used in the Menu Item field. If you attempt to use the character \ as part of the item text, the \ isn't saved properly. ***** Thank you for purchasing the Whitewater Resource Toolkit 3.0. The Whitewater Group