Using Iconia is a fast and easy way to create application and document icons used by the Finder. Iconia performs resource compilation which makes the use of RMaker or ResEdit superfluous. New or modified icons are directly visible in the Finder, without rebuilding the DeskTop file. Icons can be copied from programs or be read from MacPaint documents. The Clipboard and Scrapbook are fully supported.
For more detailed information please refer to the manual below.
Manual
The purpose of this program is to help you to create the special Finder related resources called the Version Data, File Reference and the Bundle which are needed for an application and its documents to have their own icons. You paint the actual icons to be displayed and their masks.
The resources are output as a textfile for RMaker or compiled directly to an application or a resource file. The resources should be given a unique four-character application signature to be used as the bundle owner name, i.e. the creator, which is used by the Finder to associate documents with their applications.
About the File menu
Ñ New
clears all icons and deactivates all documents.
Ñ Open╔
reads text files saved by Iconia.
Ñ Save as╔
saves text files for Iconia and RMaker. The destination file (in the Set menu) needed by RMaker must be set first. The default file type is 'APPL'. This text file format is to be regarded as the Iconia source code of your bundle structure.
Ñ Compile╔
creates the Finder related resources. The destination file's creator is set according to the destination file specification (in the Set menu), the type is unchanged and its bundle bit is set.
If the file has any old bundle structures you should normally let Iconia delete them. If you don't delete them the affected resources might be renumbered to make sure that they are not overwritten, i.e. the old resources with IDs needed by Iconia (see below) are renumbered.
If there is an old creator resource in the Desktop file corresponding to the bundle owner name you compile to your application file, you should normally let Iconia remove the old bundle and its associated resources from the Desktop file and leave updating to the Finder. This way you don't have to delete the entire Desktop file when you have changed something in an old bundle resource structure.
Ñ Decompile╔
reads a bundle resource and its associated version data, file references and icons.
Ñ Load╔
reads icons (ICN# and ICON resources) from a file.
Ñ Read╔
reads MacPaint documents from which you can Copy an optional area. Hold down Shift to get a square Copy area for proportional scaling. Click the mouse to get the default icon sized Copy area.
About the Set menu
Ñ Types
Check as many documents as you need and define their file types. The checked documents are activated in the Window menu. These types are needed to create the file reference resources.
Ñ Version
The version data should be set up to contain the name, version number and date of the application, since it is used as the default for the comment text displayed by the Finders's (v6.0) "Get Info" command.
Ñ Destination file╔
- Define the Name of the destination file needed by the RMaker exclamation point character ('!') command, which specifies the output file to add the compiled resources to. It is also used as default destination by Compile╔.
- The Type field contains the file type for the destination file, and should be set to 'APPL' for an application, so that it can be launched from the Finder. The field is automatically updated when you perform Set Destination file╔.
- The Creator field should contain the bundle owner name, a unique signature by which the Finder can identify the file. The signature can be any four-character sequence not being used for another file. The creator defaults to the truncated filename.
About the Misc menu
Ñ Default Mask
calculates a mask with the shape of the icon but it is filled inside.
Iconia displays the icons like the Finder used to do (v5.5 and older) making full use of the masks. You should preferably only use filled masks for compatibilty with Finder v6.0.
Ñ Mask -> Selected
calculates the mask needed to make the non-open, selected icon look like the current mask (Finder v5.5 and older).
Iconia uses the following resource IDs
Ñ BNDL 130
Ñ ICN# 130 [-139]
Ñ FREF 130 [-139]
Ñ The version data has the signature of the application as its resource type and the resource ID is 0 by convention.
About resource compilation with RMaker
Text files saved by Iconia can be compiled by the Macintosh Resource Compiler RMaker but you should preferably use Compile╔ instead.
