Inside Macintosh: Using JBindery

Mac OS Resources

Under the Mac OS, a file can contain information in the data fork, the resource fork, or both. Traditionally the data fork holds large pieces of contiguous information (as contained in a text document or a flattened QuickTime movie), while the resource fork contains items commonly accessed by Mac OS applications (such as icons or dialog boxes). See Inside Macintosh: Overview for a general discussion of Mac OS resources.

You do not need to use resources when building a standalone Java application for the Mac OS. However, if you want to add Mac OS features, you may need to create or modify resources.

You can use the ResEdit resource editor to create or modify resources. You can download ResEdit from the following FTP site:

ftp://ftp.apple.com/Apple_Support_Area/Apple.Software.Updates/US/Macintosh/Utilities/

Documentation for ResEdit is available at the following web site:

http://developer.apple.com/techpubs/macos8/DevTools/ResEditReference/reseditreference.html

The following sections describe the features you can add to your application using Mac OS resources.

Subtopics

Splash Screens
Custom Icons