Re[2]: [Dev-C++] Resource files

[Zodiaq <zo...@ac...>]

Hello Louis and all Dev-C++ users,

Wednesday, March 19, 2003, 2:35:46 PM, Louis wrote as follows:

LG> On this same question,

LG> Are .res files optional or must they always be present in 
LG> WIN32 API apps ?

Resource files are optional...

LG> What is the advantage of having
LG> a menus etc. in the .res file and not in the .exe file?

The resource files I know ( .rc ) are compiled and linked into
executable final file ( .exe)... The external "resource files" should
be rather named as extra configuration files, not resource files...

What are advantages of using .rc files for apps?? Here are few:
-there are some editors to help you easly build them, and later
maintain - make changes, add new ones... hmmm... for now only realy
good one is the one that comes with Visual C++... after making some
changes to .rc it adds few M$ related lines to code which you can
later delete using text editor... for building new resources I prefer
wedit (new version is integrated into lcc32 ide) but I had some
difficulties to get it work with existing .rc...
-you can EASLY make your app localized - very good example is eMule -
her (http://www.emule-project.net/?s=downloads) you can find its FULL
source, look at emule.rc :-)
-when using resource files you can make fast changes to any messages
that are passed to user - for example if I want to changes text passed
through MessageBox I don't have to look thoughout my whole code, I
need to find it my .rc
-.rc files are (AFAIK) only places where app version, compilation
date, company name etc. can be stored... you can later view it using
"details" (right-click on file) under any Windows...

DISadvantages:
-dialog resources when using text editor are (very) hard to edit - you
have to know EXACTLY where to place them on the screen (pixels) and
what special properties they have... this is much harder then
comparing WYSIWYG HTML editor to TEXT HTML Editors...

-- 
regards, Zodiaq