Types of Bundles
The Project Builder application defines four types of projects that produce a bundle. A bundle is constructed as a file package--a folder that the Mac OS X Finder presents to users as if it were a simple file; the contents of the folder are hidden. Here are the four project types accompanied by brief descriptions.
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Application. For Mac OS X applications, the application wrapper is a bundle that contains the resources needed to launch the application, including the application executables.
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Framework. A framework is a folder containing a dynamic shared library and all the resources that go with that library, such as header files, images, and documentation.
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Loadable bundle. Like an application, a loadable bundle usually contains executable code and associated resources. Loadable bundles differ from applications and frameworks because they must be explicitly loaded into a running application.
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Palette. A palette is a type of loadable bundle specialized for Interface Builder. It contains custom user-interface objects and compiled code that are loaded into an Interface Builder palette.
A plug-in is a special type of loadable bundle that has its own Core Foundation type defining a higher-level API above and beyond the simple code loading and function lookup of CFBundle. See the chapter "Core Foundation Plug-in Services" for details.
© 1999 Apple Computer, Inc. (Last Updated 07 September 99)