#39 Suneido resource system

[Victor Schappert]

Currently there are a large number of Windows resources embedded in the Suneido executable (icons, cursors, bitmaps, and so forth). Some of these are cSuneido-specific (i.e. the DB rebuild dialog) but most of them are intended to be used from Suneido code. This leads to the following problems:

• Have to rebuild the .exe every time we want a new resource added.
• Have to rebuild the jsdi.dll every time we want a new resource added.
• Ship new binaries and new Suneido code every time we want a new resouce added.
• Have to keep cSuneido and JSDI in sync.
• All of the above again every time we want to remove a resource (e.g. the likely obsolete book coil bitmap).
• The "logical" resources are being "physically" tied to Win32 unnecessarily.
• jsdi.dll is not a natural home for random resources.

Compounding this, there is the Suneido "Book" database format which is also being used to store resources. Problems:

• Book databases are built around the Book browser GUI
• Non-book pictures etc. are being tied to books, which is odd (for example, ImageButtonControl loads its pictures from a table in book format).

It would be preferable to define a simple "resource" table format capable of storing any type of resource, including icons, cursors, bitmaps, pngs, whatever, you name it. We would then:

• Migrate all the .exe/.dll resources into a resource table
• Replace calls to LoadCursor(ResourceModule(), ...) with something along the lines of Resources.LoadWindowsCursor(tablename, cursorname).

[Victor Schappert]

• Description has changed:

Diff:

--- old
+++ new
@@ -1,20 +1,21 @@
 Currently there are a large number of Windows resources embedded in the Suneido executable (icons, cursors, bitmaps, and so forth). Some of these are cSuneido-specific (i.e. the DB rebuild dialog) but most of them are intended to be used from Suneido code. This leads to the following problems:

-    * Have to rebuild the .exe every time we want a new resource added.
-    * Have to rebuild the jsdi.dll every time we want a new resource added.
-    * Ship new binaries <em>and</em> new Suneido code every time we want a new resouce added.
-    * Have to keep cSuneido and JSDI in sync.
-    * All of the above again every time we want to <em>remove</em> a resource (e.g. the likely obsolete book coil bitmap).
-    * The "logical" resources are being "physically" tied to Win32 unnecessarily.
+* Have to rebuild the .exe every time we want a new resource added.
+* Have to rebuild the jsdi.dll every time we want a new resource added.
+* Ship new binaries <em>and</em> new Suneido code every time we want a new resouce added.
+* Have to keep cSuneido and JSDI in sync.
+* All of the above again every time we want to <em>remove</em> a resource (e.g. the likely obsolete book coil bitmap).
+* The "logical" resources are being "physically" tied to Win32 unnecessarily.
+* jsdi.dll is not a natural home for random resources.

 Compounding this, there is the Suneido "Book" database format which is also being used to store resources. Problems:

-    * Book databases are built around the Book browser GUI
-    * Non-book pictures etc. are being tied to books, which is odd (for example, `ImageButtonControl` loads its pictures from a table in book format).
+* Book databases are built around the Book browser GUI
+* Non-book pictures etc. are being tied to books, which is odd (for example, `ImageButtonControl` loads its pictures from a table in book format).

 It would be preferable to define a simple "resource" table format capable of storing any type of resource, including icons, cursors, bitmaps, pngs, whatever, you name it. We would then:

-    * Migrate all the .exe/.dll resources into a resource table
-    * Replace calls to `LoadCursor(ResourceModule(), ...)` with something along the lines of `Resources.LoadWindowsCursor(tablename, cursorname)`.
+* Migrate all the .exe/.dll resources into a resource table
+* Replace calls to `LoadCursor(ResourceModule(), ...)` with something along the lines of `Resources.LoadWindowsCursor(tablename, cursorname)`.