Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!cbatt!ihnp4!qantel!lll-lcc!lll-crg!seismo!uwvax!gumby!bezanson
From: bezanson@gumby.WISC.EDU (Brian Bezanson)
Newsgroups: net.micro.mac,net.micro.amiga
Subject: Re: Easy of programming, Mac, Amiga
Message-ID: <406@gumby.WISC.EDU>
Date: Sat, 27-Sep-86 03:27:26 EDT
Article-I.D.: gumby.406
Posted: Sat Sep 27 03:27:26 1986
Date-Received: Tue, 30-Sep-86 06:44:29 EDT
References: <1274@jade.BERKELEY.EDU> <741@cbmvax.cbmvax.cbm.UUCP> <1666@princeton.UUCP>
Organization: Manta Software Corporation
Lines: 29
Xref: watmath net.micro.mac:7977 net.micro.amiga:4961
Summary: Why changing resources are nice!

In article <1666@princeton.UUCP>, chiu@princeton.UUCP (Kenneth Chiu) writes:
> >You missed the point here, you can graphically edit ALL the Macs resources
> >(windows, dialogs, menus, icons, strings, etc...) without having to change
> >any of the original programs code or need for any recompiling.  If I want to
> >change/modify a Mac Menu, all I have to do is use a resource editor.  You
> >have to recompile with the new code AND ORIGINAL SOURCE
> 
> Why is this necessarily a good thing?  I'm sure it makes the system routines more
> complex, and it seems that the only changes you can make to a program's menus, etc.,
> without recompiling are only cosmetic.  For example, can you add a new menu item
> to a terminal emulator that turns handshaking on/off without recompiling?

No, you can't add menu items (because the program can't respond to them
because it doesn't know what they mean, in this case recompiling would be
needed).  What editing the resources are good for are: 1) Adding command-keys
(Control characters) to menu items to save time, 2) Changing the wording
of menus or strings to other languages or to suit your own personal needs, and
3) modifying window size, cinfiguration, etc...  the resources can be edited
in any way the user sees fit.  Also, there are LAYOout resources that
programmers can use to let you customize how the program handles certain
actions (the finder allows you to grid icons for neater movement, turn off
the warning system for discarding files, and more.)  In summation, the beauty
of Mac resources are that the user can modify the look and feel to suit his/her
needs and if the programmer allows, LAYOut resources can be used to customize
the program.

-- 
Brian Bezanson {seismo,ihnp4,allegra,topaz,harvard}!uwvax!gumby!bezanson
Manta Software Corp.				  bezanson@gumby.wisc.edu