SicnEdit is an editor for SICN (small icon) resources. For denotational purposes, an entire SICN resource is termed a "sicn", and an individual item in it a "sicn item" ("sitm" for short). SICN resources are stored as a sequential set of zero or more items. SicnEdit allows the SICN resources in a file to be edited at either the resource level or the item level.
There is an editing window for each level. The resource level window indicates the name of the current file in the title bar. The title bar says "Untitled" if there is no file. At the resource level, sicns may be created, duplicated, deleted, renumbered or renamed. The attributes of SICN resources may be manipulated. ICON or ICN# resources from existing files may be read in and converted into sicns.
The resource window contains a single text line for each sicn in the current file. The lines describe the sicns by resource ID and name (ID only if the name is blank). The window is empty is there are no sicns. If the file contains more sicns than the window can display, the scroll bar may be used to bring the desired one into view. You can also make the window scroll by clicking the mouse in the window and dragging outside the top or bottom of the window.
Clicking on a resource selects it, as indicated by highlighting. Double-clicking a resource brings up a dialog allowing its ID, name and resource attributes to be edited. Double-clicking is the same as selecting Get Info... from the Special menu.
At the item level, new sitms may be added to the sicn, and existing items may be duplicated, deleted, edited graphically, or reordered within a sicn. Editing at this level takes place in the item editing window. Select a resource in the sicn window, then click in the item window to bring it to the front. The item window is divided into four regions. The lower part is the choice region. All the items from the current sicn are displayed here. To edit an item, click on it. A surrounding rectangle indicates the current selection.
The region at the upper left is the edit region. A large image of the selected item is drawn here and may be edited with the mouse. Click on individual dots, or click and drag the mouse while holding the mouse button down.
The current selection is displayed several ways in the gallery region at the upper right. The item is displayed isolated, tiled, and icon-sized, both normally and inverted. The repetition in the tiled image sometimes helps to give a better impression of what the the item looks like.
The upper middle region of the item window is the control region. It contains several item manipulators that may be clicked with the mouse to change the current selection. These controls may be used to shift, center, fill, erase, invert, rotate, flip, or fold the current item. (If you want to see where the control images come from, you might try using SicnEdit to edit itself.) These controls perform many of the functions that are often done by menu item selection in other image editors, but are much more convenient.
Shift operations may be made to wrap around (or not) with the Wrap on Shift item from the Special menu. When wraparound is on, shifts are non-destructive in the sense that they may always be completely undone. Otherwise only the last shift is undoable. (You can easily duplicate an item and edit the duplicate to be safe.)
To reorder the items in the item window, click on the items you want to move and drag them where you want them. The other items shift up or down to make room. If you drag an item past the last item, it becomes the new last item.
The Apple Menu
This menu supports desk accessories in the standard manner.
The File Menu
New begins editing with a clean slate.
Open... reads the sicns from a file in for editing.
Set Add Type... and Add From... are used to add SICN, ICON or ICN# resources from another file to the current file. First select Set Add Type... from the File menu and indicate which types of resources should be read. Then select Add From... and choose a file. If ICON or ICN# resources are read, they are converted into sicns. Note that these generally need some cleanup before they look even slightly presentable. Some icons look horrible as sicn items no matter what you do.
Save writes the sicn set out to the current file without closing. If there is no current file ("Untitled"), a name is requested.
Save As... is like Save except that a name is always requested.
Revert throws away all changes to the current file and re-reads it for editing. Revert is disabled if the file is "Untitled".
Close saves the current file and stops editing it. The resource and item windows remain closed until a New or Open... is done.
Quit terminates SicnEdit.
The Edit Menu
Items chosen from the Edit menu always pertain to the frontmost window.
Undo
The last edit operation performed in the sicn window is usually undoable. Changing to a different file, or doing a Get Info... cancels undoability in this window.
The last operation performed in the item window is always undoable, including reordering, as long as the sicn selection remains unchanged.
Cut, Copy and Paste affect or use the SicnEdit clipboards. Each window has its own clipboard, and the clipboards are completely independent. Only the clipboard pertaining to the frontmost window is active. Cut deletes the current selection and places it in the clipboard. Copy copies the selection to the clipboard without deleting it. Paste replaces the current selection with the contents of the clipboard, or, if there is no selection, the clipboard contents are added to the end of the resource set or item set.
Clear tosses the current selection, but does not put it in the clipboard.
Duplicate makes a copy of the current selection, adding it to the end of the resource set or item set.
The last item in the edit menu (New SICN/New SICN Item) creates a new sicn or a new sitm, depending on which window is frontmost. item window is in front.
The Special Menu
Wrap on Shift controls whether item shifting operations will cause the shifted edge(s) to reappear on the opposite side(s).
Check Duplicates... indicates whether there are any name or ID conflicts (duplicates) in the current sicn set. It is a good idea not to have any duplicates.
Get Info... presents a dialog box allowing the sicn name, ID and attributes to be viewed and/or edited. This dialog is also presented if a resource is double-clicked in the resource window.
Limitations
No more than 32 items per sicn are allowed. No more than 100 sicns per file are allowed.
Other Remarks
SicnEdit 1.0 was created with the Rascal‚Ñ¢ Development System. Bug reports and comments may be sent to the author:
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