BriCad User's Manual

Configuration

Command line parameters for BriCad, and configuration through the .bricad resource file.

  1. Configuration

    1. The .bricad resourcefile

    2. Resourcefile sections

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The .bricad resource file

BriCad configuration takes place by using either command line parameters, or changing entries in its resource file, which is normally called .bricad. BriCad does not use any special shell variables, and there is no widget hierarchy for BriCad (since it isn't based on any widget sets ;-), so do not waste your time by fiddling with some BriCad* X resources.

The .bricad resource file provides the following services:

  1. Setting default values for BriCad's command line options.

    The .bricad file has a section whose line contents are treated as if they were given from shell, enabling you to 'hardcode' command line parameters into the resource file.

  2. Further customization entries which have no command-line counterparts.

    These items will not change frequently, e.g. the size of internal buffers or color values for BriCad's color palette.

  3. Brick definitions.

    BriCad has a dedicated brick definition language describing the graphical representation and structure of the elements from its brick library, and how to arrange them into the menu structure.

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Resource file sections

The .bricad resource file is divided into several sections, which are assigned to different configuration tasks. A section is introduced by a dot (.) directly preceding its name. The following sections are currently present in the .bricad resource file:

.flags Options written into this section are treated as given from the command line, e.g. inserting a line 
-xyz 20 20 30 #my favourite model size
into the resource file will have the same effect as calling 
bricad -xyz 20 20 30 from the shell.
Command line parameters override settings given in the resourcefile, so you could just call "bricad -xyz 30 30 40" to get a larger playfield than the standard 20x20x30 size set in the resource file.
.message Some resource files might want to display a special start-up message about their application domain. Since it can get annoying to see this message each time BriCad starts up, you are allowed to disable the message under certain conditions. Please see the respective resource files for more information.
.defs

Configuration items which do not need to be changed frequently enough to warrant a dedicated command-line option.

If you want to disable one of these items, enter "No", or take the proper action suggested in the accompanying comments. Never delete some of the options from this section, since this will cause BriCad to reject your resource file, and you'll most likely have to download a new one in that case.

.cmap This is BriCad's color palette in RGB format, using one byte for each color gun. Values are specified as hexadecimal values, with 'a'-'f' digits required to be in lower case.
Some colors are currently flagged as "free"; it is not safe to assign them some color values and use them in your own creations, since these will probably be redefined in subsequent BriCad releases.
.brickdefs This section defines the contents of the brick library represented by the respective resource file. Starting with BriCad V0.90, the current brick definition language will be replaced with a more powerful representation, and the .brickdefs section will go away. Since the current brick definition language is already considered as being obsolete, no documentation for the format of the .brickdefs section is available.
Since the structure and contents of the resource file are changing frequently yet, preparing on-line documentation for each section entry isn't very efficient. Instead, the .bricad resource file contains its own documentation in various comments along the sections, so please load and browse it using your favourite text editor for additional information.

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Copyright 1996 Carsten Gnörlich. Last change: 31.07.96