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MANUAL.RW ========= This file contains additions and corrections to the Resource Workshop User's Guide, including support of Windows 3.1 and Borland Windows Custom Controls (BWCC). The Resource Workshop online documentation also includes these files: BWCCAPI.RW Describes technical aspects of Borland Windows Custom Controls. CUSTCNTL.RW Describes creating Windows custom controls classes, with C and Pascal programming examples. BWCCSTYL.RW Describes general style guidelines for creating resources using BWCC. Contents (lists only section and first subsection headings) ----------------------------------------------------------- 1 Changes to the Resource Workshop User's Guide 1.1 Introduction 1.2 Chapter 2, Resource Workshop Basics 1.3 Chapter 3, Working with projects and resources 1.4 Chapter 4, Creating dialog boxes 1.5 Chapter 5, Creating menus 1.6 Chapter 6, Creating accelerators 1.7 Chapter 8, Using the Paint editor 1.8 Chapter 9, Creating icons 1.9 Chapter 10, Creating cursors 1.10 Chapter 11, Creating fonts 1.11 Appendix A, Technical notes 2 Changes for this release 2.1 Visible option 2.2 Windows version compatibility 2.3 Dialog box positioning 3 New features in Windows 3.1 3.1 Style dialog boxes 3.2 Icon sizes 3.3 Version stamper 4 Linker requirements 4.1 BWCC.LIB 4.2 BWCC.DLL 4.3 BWCC and Object Windows Library (OWL) 5 Borland Windows Custom Controls 5.1 Using the custom dialog class 5.2 Using the custom controls 5.3 Customizing existing applications for BWCC 6 Loading BWCC to enable Borland custom controls 7 Sample exercise: Customizing an existing application 7.1 Backing up the application 7.2 Opening a project 7.3 Editing the application's controls 7.4 Saving and testing the project 8 Tips on editing resources 8.1 Accelerators 8.2 Bitmaps 8.3 Cursors 8.4 Dialog boxes 8.5 Icons 8.6 Menus 8.7 String tables 1 Changes to the Resource Workshop User's Guide ------------------------------------------------------ The following sections describe corrections to the Resource Workshop User's Guide or changes to existing functionality. 1.1 Introduction --------------------- p. 5 The following is current information for "How to contact Borland": Phone/Command Service ------------------------------------------------------------- 408-461-9144 Borland Pascal Technical Support, 6 a.m. to 5 p.m. PST 800-822-4269 TechFax, 24-hour technical information to fax machines (touch-tone phones only) 408-439-9096 Borland File Download BBS (2400 baud) GO BORLAND CompuServe JOIN BORLAND BIX BORLAND GEnie 1.2 Chapter 2, Resource Workshop basics -------------------------------------------- p. 17 If you have a Pascal compiler, the demo file is called RWPDEMO. If you have a C++ compiler, the demo file is RWCDEMO. p. 25 If you have a Pascal compiler, put your identifiers in a .PAS constant file. 1.3 Chapter 3, Working with projects and resources ------------------------------------------------------- p. 33, step 2, last paragraph: The Resource|New and File|Add to Project commands are not available for the .CUR, .ICO, .BMP, and .FNT resource types. 1.4 Chapter 4, Creating dialog boxes ----------------------------------------- p. 64 Change the first bullet in the bulleted list at the bottom of the page to the following: - Resize the dialog box in either of the following ways: - Drag the appropriate edge or corner. - Select the dialog box by clicking the dialog box's title bar, and then choose Align|Size to display the Size Dialog dialog box. Enter width (CX) and height (CY) values in dialog units. The size values apply to the outer dimensions of the dialog box. p. 70 The following paragraph applies to Figure 4.6: If you install a custom control library containing custom controls whose Class is recognized by Resource Workshop, the Tools palette can have more than four columns. Bitmaps for these custom controls are added to the right side of the Tools palette. (See page 99 and the file CUSTCNTL.RW on the installation disk for more information on custom controls.) p. 82 In the section "Aligning multiple controls," the command is Align|Align, not Align|Align Controls. p. 90 The following text accurately describes the scroll bar alignment options: None The scroll bar fills the entire selection frame (default). If you resize the selection frame, you can distort the scroll bar. Top Left A horizontal scroll bar displays undistorted at the top of the selection frame and extends the full width of the frame. A vertical scroll bar displays undistorted at the left side of the selection frame and extends the full height of the frame. Bottom Right A horizontal scroll bar displays undistorted at the bottom of the selection frame and extends the full width of the frame. A vertical scroll bar displays undistorted at the right side of the selection frame and extends the full height of the frame. p. 100 Add the following paragraphs to the first sentence after "Adding a custom control": If you've added a custom control library whose Class is recognized by Resource Workshop and which has its own custom bitmaps, you can select your controls directly from the custom bitmaps on the right side of the Tools palette. If Resource Workshop doesn't recognize the Class of your custom controls, you must do the following to add them to your dialog boxes: p. 103 In step 5, just above the figure, the last sentence of the second paragraph should read: If you can't see it, select the Project window and then choose View|By File. p. 106 The description of the Draft Drawing Type option in Table 4.27 should read as follows: Draws each control as a rectangle with its control_ID in the center. This option also allows you to see the exact size of each control rectangle. The following is the correct description of the Selection options (Table 4.28): Select Near Border This option applies to clicking to select controls. On: You must click on the control's border. Off: You can click anywhere inside the control's border. Selection Rectangle This option applies to dragging a Surrounds selection frame to select controls. On: You must entirely surround the control (or controls) with the selection rectangle. Off: The selection rectangle need only touch the control (or controls). 1.5 Chapter 5, Creating menus --------------------------------------- p. 119, Table 5.1: Use the EnableMenuItem function to change the state of Enabled, Disabled, and Grayed menu items. Use the CheckMenuItem function to change the state of Checked menu items. p. 125 In the text below the figure, "Arrange List..." should be "A&rrange List". p. 126, Fig. 5.9: The illustration shows the menu before the new items are inserted, not after. The figure will be corrected in the next printing of the manual. p. 136 The C header file (WDGCONST.H) would look like this: #define WMNU_LST 101 #define WMNU_ADD 102 #define WMNU_ASC 103 #define WMNU_DESC 104 In addition, the #include for the C version of the file would be #include "wdgconst.h" p. 137 In the last paragraph of step 4, the text should say: ...indicating that you can press Alt-W to display the Widgets menu. 1.6 Chapter 6, Creating acclereators ----------------------------------------- p. 140 The figure shows incorrect identifiers for the first four accelerators. The correct identifiers are, in order, cm_Undo, cm_Cut, cm_Copy, and cm_Paste. p. 153, step 6. The correct message text is "No duplicate key values found". 1.7 Chapter 8, Using the Paint editor ------------------------------------------ p. 181, Table 8.1. The mouse actions for Zoom In and Zoom Out are reversed. To zoom in, double-click on the Zoom icon; to zoom out, Shift+double-click on the Zoom icon. p. 188 The correct text for the second bullet is ...then choose Edit Foreground Color or Edit Background Color from the Icon or Bitmap menu, depending on which type of resource you're editing. p. 189 In two places on this page, the text says "palette" where it should say "device." In the section "Editing a color," the text in parentheses in the first paragraph should read (for a 16-color device, you might see a dithered color appear in this box) The marginal notation at the bottom of the page refers to a 256-color palette. The Granted color matches the Requested color on 256-color (or higher) devices, not palettes. p. 190 The System button is enabled for devices that support 256 colors or more. 1.8 Chapter 9, Creating icons ---------------------------------- p. 202, Fig. 9.4 and surrounding text: The dialog box is called New File Resource. 1.9 Chapter 10, Creating cursors ------------------------------------- p. 224, Fig. 10.4 and surrounding text: The dialog box is called New File Resource. 1.10 Chapter 12, Creating fonts ----------------------------------- p. 243 The following paragraph should appear after Step 1 of "Creating a new font resource": If you create a new project, you can choose the .RC, .RES, or .FNT format. If you choose .RES or .FNT, Resource Workshop automatically starts the Paint editor. The Source/Binary dialog box is not displayed. In Step 2, the option you choose is called FONT, not .FNT. In addition, the following might further clarify the Source and Binary options: The Source option "embeds" the font resource in the current project; the font does not exist as a separate file and cannot be used in any other project. The Binary option saves the font resource as a separate file (with the .FNT extension) that is linked to the current project. You can link an .FNT file to other projects using the File|Add to Project command. p. 244 The Paint editor tools appear on the right side of the screen. (A similar error occurs on p. 255.) p. 246 The following might further clarify the explanation of the Stretch Current Chars option: When this option is checked, any changes you make to the width or height values in this dialog box will cause the width or height of existing characters to change accordingly. p. 252 In Step 4 at the top of the page, the command is File|Save Project or File|Save File As. File|Save Project overwrites the current project; File|Save File As creates a new project file, allowing you to keep your old version. In the section "Saving the project," the command is File|Save Project. In the section "Saving a font resource as a file," the command is Resource|Save Resource As, and the dialog box is called Save Resource As. The first sentence in the section should read as follows: Saving the entire project saves all resources in the project, not just the font resource you're working on. p. 256 In Step 3, the two page references are inaccurate. In the second paragraph, the correct page reference for the maximum width value is to page 246. In the third paragraph, the correct page reference for the break character is to page 247. 1.11 Appendix A, Technical notes ------------------------------------ p. 266 The preprocessor incompatibility between the Microsoft Resource Compiler and the Resource Workshop compiler in handling complex parameterized #defines no longer exists. However, the Microsoft Resource Compiler and Resource Workshop are still incompatible in several areas: - interpretation of numbers with leading zeros - the #undef preprocessor directive - preprocessor token pasting - expressions in resources IDs and resource type IDs - hexadecimal numbers in resources IDs and resource type IDs - complex constant expressions - duplicate resource IDs - resource IDs greater than 32767 - floating END statements - floating operators in expressions - missing operators in expressions - parsing of the CAPTION statement - macros in include directives - valid characters in resource names 1.11.1 Numbers with leading zeros ----------------------------------- Because of inconsistencies in the Microsoft Resource Compiler's treatment of numbers with leading zeros, don't use them in preprocessor expressions or identifiers. The Resource Workshop compiler is consistent in interpreting as an octal number any numeric constant preceded by a zero that's used as part of an identifier or a preprocessor expression. However, the Microsoft Resource Compiler interprets numbers with leading zeros in preprocessor expressions as octal numbers, but interprets the same numbers in identifiers as decimal numbers. For example, the Microsoft Resource Compiler would interpret the expression 010+1 as a 9 in the following preprocessor expression, but as an 11 in the string table identifier. #if (9 == 010+1) STRINGTABLE BEGIN 010+1, "Bug" END #endif 1.11.2 The #undef preprocessor directive ------------------------------------------ Resource Workshop has limited support for the #undef preprocessor directive. You can use it only with #defines that are not referenced by a resource. If you use #undef with a #define that's been referenced, you get a fatal compiler error when compiling the .RC file under Resource Workshop. This restriction does not apply to the command-line resource compiler. 1.11.3 Token pasting ---------------------- Resource Workshop does not support token pasting in preprocessor statements. See the "Borland C++ Programmer's Guide" for more information on token pasting. 1.11.4 Hexadecimal numbers in resource IDs and resource type IDs ------------------------------------------- Resource Workshop supports hexadecimal numbers in resource IDs; the Microsoft Resource Compiler does not. For example, the following statement compiles correctly using Resource Workshop, but fails using the Microsoft Resource Compiler: 0x0001 ICON file.ico The Microsoft Resource Compiler emits an icon resource with the name "0x0001". Resource Workshop emits an icon resource with an ID equal to 1. 1.11.5 Expressions in resource IDs and resource type IDs ---------------------------------------------------------- Resource Workshop supports expressions in resource IDs; the Microsoft Resource Compiler does not. For example, the following statement compiles correctly using Resource Workshop, but fails using the Microsoft Resource Compiler: 101 + 1000 BITMAP vga.bmp The Microsoft Resource Compiler parses "101" as a resource ID, "+" as a resource type name, "1000" as a file name, and then fails. Resource Workshop correctly emits a bitmap resource with an ID equal to 1101. 1.11.6 Complex constant expressions ------------------------------------- Resource Workshop supports full C-language constant expressions in place of a simple number anywhere in a resource script where a number is allowed. The Microsoft Resource Compiler supports only simple expressions. For example, the following expression is correctly evaluated by Resource Workshop, but fails using the Microsoft Resource Compiler: 3 * (1 + 2) - 1 The most common example of this incompatibility is often seen in ICON statements in DIALOG templates. The following statement causes an error in Resource Workshop, but not in the Microsoft Resource Compiler: ICON 3 -1, 10, 10, 0, 0 Resource Workshop interprets "3 -1" as an expression that evaluates to 2. The Microsoft Resource compiler interprets "3 -1" as two separate fields. If you add a comma after the first number, both compilers interpret the statement correctly: ICON 3, -1, 10, 10, 0, 0 1.11.7 Duplicate resource IDs ------------------------------- To allow resources to be accessed at run time, Resource Workshop enforces the rule that resource IDs or names must be unique within each resource type; the Microsoft Resource Compiler does not. The following statements causes Resource Workshop to display an error: 1 ICON file1.ico 1 ICON file2.ico 1.11.8 Resource IDs greater than 32767 ---------------------------------------- Although the Microsoft documentation states that resource IDs can be any number between 1 and 65535, you must actually use resource IDs that fall between 1 and 32767 to ensure that the IDs are unique. The reason is that resource binders like RLINK or the Microsoft Resource Compiler OR all resource IDs with 0x8000 when they build the resource directory in the executable file, producing a value from 32768 to 65535. 1.11.9 Floating END statements -------------------------------- Resource Workshop does not allow END statements with no corresponding BEGIN. The Microsoft Resource Compiler allows these statements. For example, the following script fragment causes an error in Resource Workshop: 1 RCDATA BEGIN 0 END END 1.11.10 Floating operators in expressions ------------------------------------------ Resource Workshop's expression parser does not allow "floating" operators in constant expressions; the Microsoft Resource Compiler does. For example, the following expression is flagged as an error in Resource Workshop: WS_SYSMENU | WS_CAPTION | To correct the error, merely remove the last bitwise OR operator: WS_SYSMENU | WS_CAPTION 1.11.11 Missing operators in expressions ----------------------------------------- Resource Workshop's expression parser requires that all operators required for an expression be present. The Microsoft Resource Compiler assumes that a missing operator is a bitwise OR operator. For example, the following expression is flagged as an error in Resource Workshop: WS_SYSMENU WS_CAPTION To correct the error, add the bitwise OR operator: WS_SYSMENU | WS_CAPTION 1.11.12 Parsing of the CAPTION statement ----------------------------------------- The Microsoft Resource Compiler is order-dependent in the way it handles the CAPTION statement in a DIALOG template; the Resource Workshop compiler is not. The following fragments illustrate this difference: 1 DIALOG 10, 10, 100, 100 CAPTION "Caption" BEGIN END 2 DIALOG 10, 10, 100, 100 STYLE WS_POPUP CAPTION "Caption" BEGIN END 3 DIALOG 10, 10, 100, 100 CAPTION "Caption" STYLE WS_POPUP BEGIN END In the first example, there is no explicit STYLE statement, and both compilers default to WS_POPUP | WS_BORDER | WS_SYSMENU, which is OR'd with WS_CAPTION. The style of the resulting DIALOG template is WS_POPUP | WS_BORDER | WS_SYSMENU | WS_CAPTION In the second example, the STYLE statement precedes the CAPTION statement, and both compilers OR the two together. The style of the resulting DIALOG template is WS_POPUP | WS_CAPTION In the third example, the CAPTION statement precedes the STYLE statement. The Microsoft Resource Compiler, having encountered an explicit STYLE statement, clears any preceding implicit or preset styles. The resulting DIALOG template has the style WS_POPUP By contrast, the Resource Workshop compiler ORs the CAPTION and STYLE statements to produce a DIALOG template with the style WS_CAPTION | WS_POPUP 1.11.13 Macros in include directives ------------------------------------- Resource Workshop does not support macro expansion in include directives. For example, the following fragment causes a compile error: #define MYFILE "afile.h" #include MYFILE 1.11.14 Support of the CTLDATA statement ----------------------------------------- Resource Workshop supports the CTLDATA statement for use with custom controls. The CTLDATA statement is described in the online file CUSTCNTL.RW. The Microsoft Resource Compiler does not support CTLDATA. 1.11.15 Valid characters in resource names ------------------------------------------- Resource Workshop follows standard C-language practice for valid characters in resource names. It accepts any alphanumeric characters in the ANSI character set (including accented non-English-language characters like "é"), plus the underscore. Nonalphanumeric characters like slash, backslash, or the plus sign are not valid. The resource name must start with a letter or the underscore; it cannot start with a number. The Microsoft Resource Compiler does not restrict resource names to alphanumeric characters. 2 Changes for this release --------------------------------- This section describes the changes made for this release of Resource Workshop. 2.1 Visible option ----------------------- The style dialog boxes for buttons, list boxes, group boxes, combo boxes, static controls, and text controls (including static text) have a check box option called Visible. By default, this option is checked on (WS_VISIBLE), and the control appears when the dialog box is first displayed. If the option is turned off (NOT WS_VISIBLE), the control does not appear. In that case, the application can call the ShowWindow function at run time to display the hidden control. 2.2 Windows version compatibility -------------------------------------- You can specify the target Windows version in the File|Preferences dialog box. Note that .RES and .EXE files targeted for Windows 3.1 are not backward-compatible with Windows 3.0. If the .RES file is targeted to Windows 3.1, you cannot use the Windows 3.0 version of RC.EXE to bind your resources to the application. You must use Borland tools or version 3.1 of the Microsoft Resource Compiler. 2.3 Dialog box positioning ------------------------------- For dialog boxes that use the WS_OVERLAPPED style, Windows allows you to leave the positioning of a dialog box to Windows itself. The Size Dialog dialog box (Align|Size) has a radio button called Set by Windows, which appears in the Horizontal Size column when the selected control is a dialog box frame. If you click Set by Windows, the X-position field is automatically blanked out. Resource Workshop puts a value of 0x8000 into the X field (although not displayed on the screen), which tells Windows that it has charge of positioning the dialog box. This option is generally used for dialog box frames that are used as main windows. 3 New features in Windows 3.1 ------------------------------------ The following sections describe changes to Resource Workshop that reflect new features in Windows 3.1. 3.1 Style dialog boxes --------------------------- The following check box options implemented in Windows 3.1 have been added to three of the style dialog boxes. List Box Style Scroll bar always The list box always displays a vertical scroll bar, regardless of the number of items it contains. The WINDOWS.H constant for this style is LBS_DISABLENOSCROL. Combo Box Style Vertical scroll The combo box always displays a vertical always scroll bar, regardless of the number of items it contains. The WINDOWS.H constant for this style is CBS_DISABLENOSCROL. Edit Text Style Read only The text is set to read-only. The WINDOWS.H constant for this style is ES_READONLY. Want return A multiline edit text control accepts a carriage return to force a line break. The carriage return goes to the Defpushbutton if keyboard focus is NOT in the edit text control. The WINDOWS.H constant for this style is ES_WANTRETURN. 3.2 Icon sizes ------------------- Windows 3.1 supports icons in three sizes: 32x32 and 32x16 (also supported in Windows 3.0), plus 64x64. The New Icon Image dialog box, illustrated in Figures 3.14 and 9.5 in the Resource Workshop User's Guide, now includes the new 64x64 option. In reading Chapter 9, "Creating Icons," keep in mind that this new image size is now supported. 3.3 Version stamper ------------------------ Resource Workshop now supports VERSIONINFO, the version stamper for Windows 3.1 .EXE files. For a detailed description of VERSIONINFO, see the Resource Workshop online Help file. 4 Linker requirements ---------------------------- The following sections describe some special requirements for linking. See also section 9 for a description of Resource Workshop's command-line linker and compilers. 4.1 BWCC.LIB ----------------- You must link your program first with the import library BWCC.LIB and then with IMPORT.LIB, both of which are contained in the LIB subdirectory specified by the Install program. The order in which you use these two library files is critical: BWCC.LIB must precede IMPORT.LIB. 4.2 BWCC.DLL ----------------- Make the dynamic link library BWCC.DLL available for your application to use at run time by locating it in one of the following places: - the same directory as your application's .EXE file - the Windows startup or system directory - a directory in your PATH 4.3 BWCC and Object Windows Library (OWL) ---------------------------------------------- If you use the DLL version of OWL, you must load BWCC.DLL explicitly. To do so, insert the following code into WinMain before the code that invokes the Application Run method: HANDLE hDLL: hDLL = LoadLibrary ("BWCC.DLL"); At the end of WinMain, insert this line of code: if (hDLL) FreeLibrary ("BWCC.DLL"); 5 Borland Windows Custom Controls ---------------------------------------- The Borland Windows Custom Controls (BWCC) library contains a custom dialog class and a set of custom controls (buttons, check boxes, group shading boxes, and the like). BWCC adds to the visual impact of your dialog boxes and optimize their functionality. 5.1 Using the custom dialog class -------------------------------------- The custom dialog class, BORDLG, works on both a visual and a functional level. - It improves the appearance of your dialog window by painting the background with a brush that varies according to the target display device. For screens of VGA and higher resolution, the background is a fine grid of perpendicular white lines, giving the effect of "chiseled steel." For EGA and monochrome screens, the background is white. - It optimizes the drawing of dialog boxes by calling the custom control drawing routines directly, instead of waiting for Windows to paint the controls. This eliminates the typical sluggish drawing of dialog boxes. To use the custom dialog class, enter "bordlg" as the Class in the Window Style dialog box. 5.2 Using the custom controls ---------------------------------- The custom controls give the dialog box visual impact, with several of them adding a three-dimensional effect. To the end-user, they function in the same manner as the standard Windows controls, although they include several technical enhancements (described later). The following is a brief description of the custom controls. Detailed descriptions are given later in this file. Group shade A recessed, shaded rectangular box used to group other controls. It differs from the standard group box by giving an impression of depth. Borland A family of push buttons with several highly push button visual bitmapped symbols, plus an owner-draw option. The BWCC push buttons are larger than most standard Windows push buttons. Borland A raised diamond-shaped radio button. When the radio button button is clicked, a black diamond appears in its center, and the button shading reverses, giving the impression that the button has been pushed down. There is also an owner-draw option. Borland A raised check box that displays a check mark check box instead of an "X." There is also an owner-draw option. Bitmap A bitmap that can display a splash panel, or a non-modifiable image that remains on the dialog box. Horizontal/ Horizontal and vertical dividing lines that Vertical dip give the impression of being etched into the surface of the dialog box. You can convert the dips to horizontal and vertical bumps, which appear to be raised above the surface of the dialog box. 5.2.1 Button and check box messages -------------------------------------- The BWCC push buttons, radio buttons, and check boxes have the following functional enhancements over the standard Windows controls: - They include an additional level of parent window notification and control over keyboard focus and tab movement. If you choose the Parent Notify option in the control's style dialog box, the control sends the following messages (as appropriate) at run time: BBN_SETFOCUS Indicates to the parent window that the push button, radio button, or check box has gained keyboard focus through an action other than a mouse click. BBN_SETFOCUSMOUSE Indicates to the parent window that the push button, radio button, or check box has gained keyboard focus through a mouse click. BBN_GOTATAB Indicates to the parent window that the user has pressed the Tab key while the push button, radio button, or check box has keyboard focus. The parent can intervene in the processing of the keystroke by returning a nonzero value. BBN_GOTABTAB Indicates to the parent window that the user has pressed Shift-Tab (back-tab) while the push button, radio button, or check box has keyboard focus. The parent can intervene in the processing of the keystroke by returning a nonzero value. - They include an owner-draw option so that the parent window can draw the push button, radio button, or check box. The owner-drawn control will look different from standard Windows controls, but will have the standard behavior of that class of control. 5.2.2 Using the BWCC style dialog boxes ------------------------------------------ There are four style dialog boxes for the BWCC controls: - Borland Button Style - Borland Radio Button Style - Borland Check Box Style - Borland Shade Style Each has a control window for entering a Caption and a Control ID. The button style and check box style dialog boxes have Attributes options for Tab Stop, Disabled, Group, and Border (described in the Resource Workshop User's Guide), as well as Visible, Parent Notify, and Owner Draw (described earlier in this file). The shade style dialog box's only Attribute option is Group. The next four sections describe the features unique to each of the style dialog boxes. 5.2.2.1 Borland Button Style dialog box ---------------------------------------- This dialog box allows you to choose from the three button types: Pushbutton, Defpushbutton, and Bitmap. By default, Pushbutton is the selected option. A Defpushbutton has a bold border to identify it to the end-user as the "default button," which is executed when the user presses the Enter key. (The one exception occurs when keyboard focus is in an Edit Text control for which the Want Return flag has been set. See Section 3.1 of this file.) The following Control ID values and images are predefined for the BWCC button controls: ID button image --- ------ ----------------- 1 OK green check mark 2 Cancel red X 3 Abort panic button 4 Retry slot machine 5 Ignore 55 mph speed-limit sign 6 Yes green check mark 7 No red circle-slash 998 Help blue question mark - Button generic "Button" text - uses next available Control ID If you choose the Bitmap option, you can insert an image (based on its Control ID) into the button image. To read in a bitmap: 1. Use the Button control to add the generic BWCC button to your dialog box. Note its Control ID. 2. Switch to the Paint editor and create a bitmap image. (See page 234 for information about creating bitmaps.) 3. In the Paint editor, choose Resource|Rename. If you have a screen of VGA resolution or higher, add 1000 to the Control ID, and enter this value into the New Name field. For EGA or monochrome screens, add 2000 to the Control ID, and enter this value into the New Name field. Choose OK. 6. Close the Paint editor and return to the Dialog editor. The bitmap will then appear in the BWCC button. 5.2.2.2 Borland Radio Button Style dialog box ---------------------------------------------- This dialog box lists two button styles: Auto radio button BWCC and Windows combine to handle highlighting the selected button and deselecting the other buttons. This is the default option. Radio button The application must call the CheckDlgButton function to send a BM_SETCHECK message to highlight the selected button and deselect the other buttons. 5.2.2.3 Borland Check Box Style dialog box ------------------------------------------- This dialog box lists two check box styles: Auto check box BWCC and Windows combine to handle checking the selected box. This is the default option. Check box The application must call the CheckRadioButton function to send a BM_SETCHECK message to check the selected box. 5.2.2.4 Borland Shade Style dialog box --------------------------------------- You can use this dialog box to convert a vertical or horizontal dip (described in section 5.2 of this file) to a vertical or horizontal bump. Dips are primarily intended to act as separators in the dialog box background; bumps are intended as separators in gray shade boxes. To convert a vertical dip to a vertical bump, 1. Use the Vertical Dip control to add the dip to your dialog box. 2. Locate and size the dip as you want it. 3. Double-click on the dip to display the Borland Shade Style dialog box. 4. Click the Vertical Bump radio button and then click OK. To convert a horizontal dip to a horizontal bump, follow the same series of steps using the Horizontal Dip tool and the Horizontal Bump radio button. 5.3 Customizing existing applications for BWCC --------------------------------------------------- Resource Workshop allows you to customize existing Windows applications with Borland-style custom controls (3D buttons, dialog boxes with the "chiseled steel" look, and so on). There are two steps to this process: 1. Modify your WIN.INI file to load the Borland Windows Custom Control (BWCC) library each time you start Windows. 2. Edit the application in Resource Workshop to change user interface features like dialog boxes, menus, icons, and so on. The next two sections describe these steps in greater detail. 6 Loading BWCC to enable Borland custom controls ------------------------------------------------------- The BWCC library, which provides support for Borland-style custom controls, must be loaded before an application can use BWCC's features. Edit the WIN.INI file (located in the Windows main directory) so that Windows loads the file LOADBWCC.EXE into memory at start up. The installation program places LOADBWCC.EXE in the language compiler directory (the default location is \BORLANDC\BIN) and adds this directory to your PATH. Add LOADBWCC.EXE to the beginning of the list of files that appear after the "LOAD=" statement. For example, if the LOAD statement in your WIN.INI file looks like this: LOAD=NWPOPUP.EXE the statement must be changed to this: LOAD=loadbwcc.exe NWPOPUP.EXE LOADBWCC.EXE must appear first in the statement, to ensure that BWCC is loaded into memory before any modified applications are executed. If you edit WIN.INI from within Windows, you must exit and restart Windows to actually load LOADBWCC.EXE. 7 Sample exercise: Customizing an existing application ------------------------------------------------------------- This section gives an overview of the steps typically involved in modifying an existing application--in this case, the Windows Program Manager. Resource Workshop operates on projects, which are made up of one or more resources. Because a Windows application contains a collection of resources, you can open the application itself as a project and then modify its resources. 7.1 Backing up the application ----------------------------------- You should always edit backup copies of an application. Only replace the original when you're satisfied that the modified version functions correctly. To make a backup copy of PROGMAN.EXE (Program Manager), 1. In the Program Manager's Main window, double-click the DOS Prompt icon. 2. At the DOS command line, switch to the C:\WINDOWS directory. 3. Type "copy PROGMAN.EXE MYSHELL.EXE" and press the Enter key. 4. Return to Windows by typing "exit" and pressing the Enter key. 7.2 Opening a project -------------------------- To open the Program Manager as a project in Resource Workshop, 1. Choose File|Open Project to display the Open Project dialog box. 2. Display the list of types by pressing the button for the File Type drop-down list box. Select EXE Application from the list. 3. Use the Directories box to change to the directory containing MYSHELL.EXE. 4. Double-click on the file name in the Files list box to load MYSHELL.EXE as the project. 7.3 Editing the application's controls ------------------------------------------- Now that you've loaded the application into Resource Workshop, you can use the Dialog editor, Menu editor, Accelerator editor, String editor, or Paint editor to customize the application. The editors are discussed in the Resource Workshop User's Guide. In this exercise, you'll use the Dialog editor to convert one of the dialog boxes in the Program Manager to use BWCC. NOTE: When it appears in the body of a paragraph, text that you enter from the keyboard is set off by quotation marks. Unless you are explicitly told to do so, do NOT include the quotation marks in the text you enter. 7.3.1 Starting the Dialog editor ----------------------------------- With MYSHELL.EXE loaded as the current project, you see the Project window appear with "myshell.exe" as the title. This window displays a list of the resources contained in the Program Manager: a menu, several dialogs, a few string tables, an accelerator table, and a number of icons. You can edit any one of these resources by double-clicking it or by highlighting it and choosing Resource|Edit. Select dialog number 3 by locating the "Dialog" section of the resource list and double-clicking "3". The dialog editor loads the New Program Object dialog box (displayed when the user chooses the Program Manager's File|New command). When the Dialog editor appears, you can begin editing the dialog box. The tasks you'll perform in this exercise include - Changing the dialog box's class to the Borland style - Changing the size of the dialog box - Recessing and aligning the controls - Changing the radio buttons to BWCC - Replacing the buttons with BWCC buttons - Aligning the buttons - Saving and testing the edited dialog box 7.3.2 Changing the dialog's class name ----------------------------------------- To convert the New Program Object dialog box to a Borland-style dialog box, you must first change its class name. 1. Double-click on the New Program Object dialog box's title bar to display the Window Style dialog box. 2. Press the Tab key to move the cursor to the Class text control. 3. Enter the following as the Class: BorDlg Click OK to exit the dialog box. The New Program Object dialog box now has the BWCC "chiseled-steel" background. 7.3.3 Sizing and rearranging the dialog box ---------------------------------------------- Now change the size and layout of the dialog box to make room for the "group shade" and the BWCC buttons. (The group shade is a recessed area you place behind the two radio buttons to give the dialog box the appearance of depth.) 1. Select the dialog box by clicking on its title bar or edge. (If the dialog box is already selected, skip this step.) 2. Drag the bottom border down about two inches. 3. Deselect the dialog box frame by clicking anywhere in the empty Dialog editor workspace outside the dialog box itself. (Use this same technique whenever you are instructed to deselect something.) 4. Shift-click on each of the dialog box's buttons (OK, Cancel, and Help) to select them. Delete them by pressing the Del key. (The BWCC buttons are larger than standard Windows buttons. You will replace the buttons in a later set of steps.) 5. Select the "New" group and press the Del key to delete it. You will replace it shortly. The gray background of the two radio buttons extends well past the text strings. Make the background smaller by doing this: 1. Select the "Program Group" radio button. 2. Drag the right edge of its selection frame to the left, until it's close to the text. 3. Shift-click to select the other radio button. Both should now be selected. 4. Choose Align|Size, and choose the Horizontal Size|Shrink to Smallest option from the Size Controls dialog box. 5. With both radio buttons still selected (and their gray backgrounds now the same size), click the Horizontal Center in Dialog tool (third from the left in the top row of alignment tools). 6. To make room for the new "New" text string, press the down-arrow key several times to move the radio buttons down in the dialog box. Press the Enter key when the radio buttons are where you want them. 7.3.4 Adding the group shade ------------------------------- To make the controls appear recessed, add the group shade. 1. Click the group shade tool (in the upper right corner of the Tools palette). 2. Move the crosshair cursor above and to the left of the radio buttons. Don't start so far above the radio buttons that there won't be room for the "New" text string. Click to place the group shade box. 3. Drag the lower right corner of the group shade box until it surrounds the radio buttons. Make it large enough that the radio buttons don't appear crowded inside. 4. Click the Horizontal Center in Dialog tool (third from the left in the top row of the Alignment tools) to center the group shade in the dialog box. 7.3.5 Adding the text string ------------------------------- To add the "New" text string above the group shade box, 1. Click the Text Static Tool (the large letter T in the third column from the left of the Tools Palette). 2. Move the crosshair to a point directly above the upper left corner of the group shade box. Click to place the static text. 3. Drag the right edge of the static text frame to the right until it is not quite as wide as the group shade box. 4. Double-click on the static text to display the Static Style dialog box. 5. Type " New" (with one leading blank space) as the Caption, and click OK to close the dialog box. 6. With the static text still selected, Shift-click to select the group shade box too. 7. Choose Align|Size and then Grow to Largest from the Size Controls dialog box. 8. Deselect everything by clicking in the empty work area outside the dialog box frame. Note how the static text appears to be slightly longer than the group shade because of the white edge on the right side of the group shade. 9. Click to select the static text. 10. Drag its right edge one grid increment to the right. (You'll see the selection frame "snap" to the new position.) 11. At this time, you can also drag the static text down closer to the group shade, if necessary, to leave just a single dark line between the static text and the group shade. Deselect the static text if you need to check its position. 7.3.6 Converting the radio buttons ------------------------------------- To convert the "Program Group" radio button to BWCC, 1. Hold down the Ctrl key as you double-click the radio button. The Generic Control Style dialog box is displayed. 2. Change the Class from "BUTTON" to "BorRadio" and then click OK. The quotes are required, but the text is not case sensitive. Repeat these steps for the "Program Item" radio button. 7.3.7 Adding a horizontal dip -------------------------------- Borland dialog boxes use a horizontal dip (see section 5.2 of this file) to separate the exit buttons (OK, Cancel, and others) from the rest of the controls. To add a horizontal dip 1. Click the Horizontal Dip tool (second from the top in the BWCC column in the Tools palette). 2. Click the crosshair at the left edge of the dialog box frame, about a quarter of an inch below the group shade box. Note that the horizontal dip does not extend the full width of the dialog box. 3. Choose Align|Size and then choose the Horizontal Size|Width of Dialog option. 7.3.8 Replacing the buttons ------------------------------ To replace the dialog box's buttons with BWCC buttons, 1. Select the BWCC Button tool (in the middle of the fourth column of the Tools palette). 2. Locate the crosshair at the point where you want the upper left corner of the first button (the OK button), and click. At this point, all the new buttons will simply say "Button". If the dialog box is not large enough for the new buttons, drag the bottom border to make more room. 3. Move the mouse to the right, locate the pointer arrow at the point where you want the upper left corner of the second button (Cancel), and click the RIGHT mouse button. By doing so, you duplicate the most recently added control (in this case, the first button). 4. Repeat step 3 to place the third button (Help). When you are done, you should have a horizontal row of three buttons. Don't worry about how neat the row is. To convert the first button to a BWCC OK button with the green check mark, 1. Double-click on the left button to display the Borland Button Style dialog box. 2. Type the following (in all uppercase letters) as the Control ID: IDOK You can also enter 1 as the Control ID. 3. Select Defpushbutton as the Button Type to make OK the default push button. 4. Click the Group check box in the Attributes. (The button should now be set to both Tab Stop and Group.) 5. Click OK to change the button to the Borland-style OK button. To convert the second button to a BWCC Cancel button with the red X, 1. Double-click on the second button to display the Borland Button Style dialog box. Type the following (in all uppercase letters) as the Control ID: IDCANCEL You can also enter 2 as the Control ID. 2. Click the Group check box in the Attributes. (The button should now be set to both Tab Stop and Group.) 3. Click OK to change the button to the Borland-style Cancel button. To modify the last button for Help, 1. Double-click on the last button to display the Borland Button Style dialog box. Type the following as the Caption: &Help (The ampersand puts an underscore under the "H," so the user can get Help by pressing the Alt-H key combination.) 2. Tab to Control ID and enter "126". (This was the button's original control ID and is required for the user to be able to access Help successfully.) 3. Click the Group check box in the Attributes. (The button should now be set to both Tab Stop and Group.) 4. Click OK to exit the dialog box. To align the buttons relative to each other and to center them in the dialog box, first select them by dragging a selection frame. Make sure nothing else is selected. Then use the Align menu commands or the Alignment tools. To use the Align menu commands, 1. Choose Align|Align to display the Align Controls dialog box. Choose the Vertical Alignment|Centers option and click OK. This command aligns the buttons in a single row. 2. Choose Align|Array to display the Form Control Into an Array dialog box. Set Rows to 1, Columns to 3, and Order to "Left to right." Click OK. This command spaces the buttons evenly relative to each other. 3. If there is too much space at the bottom of the dialog box, now is the time to drag the buttons up nearer to the gray shade and to drag the bottom edge of the dialog box up. 4. Choose Align|Align again. Choose the Horizontal Alignment|Center In Dialog option and click OK. This command centers the buttons horizontally in the dialog box. To use the Alignment tools, 1. Click the Vertical Alignment|Centers tool, the vertical double-headed arrow without line segments (second from the left, bottom row). This tool aligns the buttons in a single row. 2. Click the Duplicate tool (in the left column of the Tools palette, second from the bottom). In the Form Control Into an Array dialog box, set Rows to 1, Columns to 3, and Order to "Left to right." Click OK. This tool spaces the buttons evenly relative to each other. 3. If there is too much space at the bottom of the dialog box, now is the time to drag the buttons up nearer to the gray shade and to drag the bottom edge of the dialog box up. 4. Click the Horizontal Alignment|Center in Dialog tool, the horizontal double-headed arrow with line segments at each end (third from the left, top row). This tool centers the buttons horizontally in the dialog box. 7.4 Saving and testing the project --------------------------------------- You have now completed your modifications to the Program Manager's New Program Object dialog box. To save your work, choose File|Save Project. To test the modified dialog box in Resource Workshop, choose Options|Test Dialog or click the Test tool. You can also run MYSHELL.EXE from Windows to see how the new dialog box looks under the Program Manager. Choose File|Run, and set the command line to "C:\WINDOWS\MYSHELL.EXE" (or give the path to your Windows directory, if it is not on drive C). In this case, you are actually running a second "copy" of the Program Manager. When you are finished, choose File|Exit Windows to return to your initial "copy" of the Program Manager. 8 Tips on editing resources ---------------------------------- This section discusses considerations to keep in mind when editing resources of existing applications. 8.1 Accelerators --------------------- If you add an accelerator, make sure it returns the same ID value as its corresponding menu command. If you don't, the accelerator will either execute the wrong command or do nothing. 8.2 Bitmaps ---------------- You may modify existing bitmaps in an application, but you may not delete them. Do not add new bitmaps. In most cases, the application will not be able to use them. 8.3 Cursors ---------------- You may modify existing cursors in an application, but you may not delete them. Do not add new cursors. In most cases, the application will not be able to use them. 8.4 Dialog boxes --------------------- You can reposition items in a dialog box and convert controls to their Borland custom control counterparts. As you edit, be sure not to change the type of control associated with each control ID value. For example, if control ID 100 is a check box, don't change it to a radio button. The application will still treat it as a check box. In most cases you can remove controls that are not directly tied to the application's functionality. For example, you can usually remove a caption, a static text item that has no effect on how the application works; but you can't remove an edit control, which does affect how the application works. Never add new controls. The application will not be able to use them. 8.5 Icons -------------- You may modify existing icons in an application, but you may not delete them. Do not add new icons. In most cases, the application will not be able to use them. 8.6 Menus -------------- With most applications, you can safely move commands within a menu. Don't, however, move commands from one menu to another. (For example, don't move the Open command from the File menu to the Edit menu.) If you do, the application might be unable to display context-sensitive Help or to check or uncheck the menu commands. Never change the order of the menus in the menu bar. For example, if File is the first menu, don't make it the second. 8.7 String tables ---------------------- Use caution when editing existing string tables. Some programs load the strings into buffers of fixed size, and adding text to an existing string could overflow the buffer. Never add new strings. The application will not be able to use them.