Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!usc!apple!farrier
From: farrier@Apple.COM (Cary Farrier)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.programmer
Subject: Re: ResEdit for the Amiga?
Message-ID: <53626@apple.Apple.COM>
Date: 4 Jun 91 16:46:40 GMT
References: <stevek.4958@amiglynx.UUCP> <231b3678.676013157@fergvax>
Organization: My Amiga 500 and I
Lines: 30

In article <231b3678.676013157@fergvax> 231b3678@fergvax.unl.edu (Phil Dietz) writes:
>If you didn't know, the MAC resources that ResEdit uses, are simply a 
>header at the start of a program.  All ResEdit does is load the
>header of a file, lets the user change the values, then re-saves.
>                                                        ^^^^^^^^

No, they aren't.  The macintosh files are composed of two distinct
parts, the data fork and the resource fork.  All of the resources 
(such as window parameters, icons, etc.) are saved in the resource fork
as discrete records that are accessed through operating system code
in a fashion similar to a database.  The program code is also saved
as a resource.  The resource fork and data fork are actually two 
physically different files in terms of sdisk information, but are
accessed via the same file.

ResEdit accesses these resources through the OS, it doesn't just
"change a header" at it's own discretion.
> 
>One side-effect of having these resources at the head of a file is that
>the program you are editing is being tampered with.  If a person changes
>a value to a bad value, the whole program is ruined (as a Mac's System
>seems to do often). 

You seem to be under the impression that the 
file's object code is being tampered with.  That is not the case, I suggest you 
read a copy of Inside Mac volumes 1-3 and get familiar with the concept of resources.  I don't intend that to sound like a flame, just a suggestion.   Resources are a 
pretty good idea, and they make
programming a heck of alot easier when designing a GUI.

 -- Cary