[perl-win32-gui-hackers] COMMIT: [perl-win32-gui-users] Shipping resources with your exe

[Stephen P. <Ste...@uc...>]

Goody Gumdrops.
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Just committed a change to CVS so that icons, bitmaps and cursors =
created in the standard way are first checked for in the EXE file that =
loaded Win32::GUI. Now there are some little points of note:
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1. Doesnt work with PAR (unless you're a sneaky bugger). The reason it =
doesnt work with PAR is because PAR is just a self-extracting archive =
that auto-runs a perl interpreter on extraction. If you want to =
compile-in resources with PAR you'll need to add the resources to =
whatever interpreter executable it puts inside it's archive (looks like =
it's par.exe) rather than the exe file actually generated by PAR.
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2. If I play around with perl2exe-generated executables in ResHacker, =
they either crash or fail to even start. This might be some sort of =
"don't you hack me!" protection inside the evaluation version of =
perl2exe, but it seems odd.
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3. Not tried it with perlapp, I hope it works with this.
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4. When adding resources with ResHacker, give the resource the same name =
as you passed for the filename of new Win32::GUI::Bitmap/Icon/Cursor. =
For instance, if you're doing new Win32::GUI::Bitmap("two.bmp") then =
your resource should have the name "TWO.BMP".
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I had to test this by ResHackering my perl executable. Hopefully someone =
out there has shelled out for perl2exe full version or perlapp, and if =
that's the case then please test this on those two tools to see if it =
works.
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Feedback please.
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Steve
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-----Original Message-----
From: per...@li... =
[mailto:per...@li...]On Behalf Of =
Jez White
Sent: 19 February 2004 09:46
To: Steve Pick; Win32-GUI
Subject: Re: [perl-win32-gui-users] Shipping resources with your exe


I agree with your analysis - I especially like the idea of bitmaps, =
Icons and cursors to check for resources first, and then to look at the =
file system (would solve the problem of running in "dev" mode with the =
perl command line, or running the exe direct).=20
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How easy would it to be load other binary objects in from the exe? For =
example, having other image formats or storable created objects.
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As for adding resources - I can see the benefits of having a native =
solution, but it would create massive scope to mess around with the perl =
exe:) Perhaps the first step is to point to ResHacker, with a step by =
step guide on how to use it?
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jez.
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----- Original Message -----=20
From: Steve Pick <mailto:st...@ba...> =20
To: Jez White <mailto:je...@je...>  ; Win32-GUI =
<mailto:per...@li...> =20
Sent: Wednesday, February 18, 2004 10:40 PM
Subject: Re: [perl-win32-gui-users] Shipping resources with your exe

I'd find this functionality kinda handy. Loading resources from the exe =
is very simple, and it would not be too difficult to extend the =
Win32::GUI::Bitmap, Icon, etc. objects to accept an additional argument =
that indicates that the resource should be loaded from the exe rather =
than from a real file on disk (in fact, it would actually be a trivial =
matter to do this).
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What is less trivial is getting the resources in there in the first =
place. While ResHacker lets you do it, it'd be nice to see a Win32::GUI =
native way of doing it. Microsoft provides functions for adding, =
deleting and replacing resources in executable files and I propose we =
either:
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1. Add this update/add/delete functionality into Win32::GUI so that =
applications can fiddle with their own resources. This may be an =
exceptionally bad idea (what exe file will it think it's using when =
running straight from Perl? We dont want it messing with perl.exe's =
resources)
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2. Create a small tool that is distributed with Win32::GUI to pack =
resources into the exe. I doubt we can re-dist ResHacker with win32::gui =
and it'd be nice if there was this functionality provided. The =
Win32::GUI::Bitmap, Icon and Cursor objects could then be modified to =
first check for a resource identified by the given filename in the =
current running exe, and if it's not found attempt to use the given =
filename to load an external file. This seems the best mode of operation =
to me.
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Steve

----- Original Message -----=20
From: Jez White <mailto:je...@je...> =20
To: Win32-GUI <mailto:per...@li...> =20
Sent: Wednesday, February 18, 2004 6:34 PM
Subject: [perl-win32-gui-users] Shipping resources with your exe

Hi,
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One the problems I have when I ship my exe is ensuring that all the =
resources (bitmaps, cursors and config files) are valid when my app =
starts up. Typically, just including them in a sub directory can cause =
problems since the user could delete or alter them. The ideal solution =
would be to package the resources into the exe and extract them at =
runtime. See:=20
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http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=3D/library/en-us/winui/=
WinUI/WindowsUserInterface/Resources.asp
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Adding the resources to the exe is quite straightforward (with =
reshacker) but I'm not sure how easy it would be to implement these =
function calls (or even it is possible), would anyone find this kind of =
functionality useful?=20
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Cheers,
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jez.