Forker is a little hack I put together which fools ResEdit into editing the data forks of files.
When you open files in ResEdit with Forker active you will see an additional resource, type '<DF>', ID 128 in each file that you open. This resource contains the contents of the file's data fork, and editing it and saving your changes will likewise modify the file's data fork.
Forker allows you to display the data forks of different types of files in different ways. You can create mappings between file types and resource types by adding entries to the 'T->R' resource in Forker. Each entry in this resource tells forker to treat the data fork of a certain file type as if it were some specific type of resource. When files of types which are enumerated in the 'T->R' resource are displayed, an addition 'RMAP' resource will appear in the ResEdit display. This is just a temporary resource which Forker creates to tell ResEdit how to treat that file's data fork, and it is not saved with your file.
Forker knows about PICT and TEXT files, and will automatically do the necessary conversions to display the data forks of these files in a way which is meaningful in the context of ResEdit. For PICT files, the 512 byte header is chopped off the data fork and the remainder is treated as a PICT resource. For TEXT files, the data fork is read in as is, and is treated as a TEXT resource. If the data fork is modified in ResEdit, Forker chops off the trailing zero which ResEdit appends to the data.
If you hold the control key down when you open a file in ResEdit, Forker will not be invoked. You can change this behavior by editing Forker's 'Pref' resource. Setting the "Control Key Down?" Boolean to true will make Forker work in the opposite way; it will only be active when you open files using the Control key. There may be additional parameters which you can affect through editing the 'PREF' resource, as well.
If a file's data fork is too big to be read into ResEdit, it will not be displayed. This can be fixed by increasing the ResEdit's memory allocation in the Finder.
The only restriction I place on Forker is that if you copy or distribute it you must include this file along with the software, and that you must distribute it in unmodified form. Specifically, don't distribute it with a modified 'PREF' or 'T->R' resource. Otherwise, it is completely free. If you have any problems with Forker, or if you just like it, I would be happy to hear from you.
