ResBuilder
Introduction
ResBuilder has been superseded by the FormBuilder module in the BASIS IDE for BBj. ResBuilder is no longer included in the BBj download package as of version 12.0 but can be downloaded with Visual PRO/5.
ResBuilder is a utility that allows you to design graphical user interfaces
that can be used by Visual PRO/5 programs. These interfaces are stored
in resource files in binary or ASCII format. Binary files have a default
extension of .brc, and ASCII files have a default extension of .arc. ASCII
format files are human-readable and can be converted to binary format
with ResBuilder or ResCompiler. With Visual PRO/5 Revision 3.03 and higher,
ResBuilder can open .brc files and save them as .arc files.
Graphical user interfaces can also be created using mnemonics in program
code, and it is frequently necessary to use mnemonics to disable, enable,
add, and remove controls while a program is running. It is generally recommended
that the reasonably static controls be defined in resource files and highly
volatile controls, such as context-sensitive messages, be added to the
resource display at run-time with mnemonics. There are several advantages
to creating resources with ResBuilder:
-
Resource files created with ResBuilder are external to the program code, so programs can be smaller and simpler if they do not create interfaces from scratch with mnemonics.
-
ResBuilder simplifies the interface prototyping process because it allows you to create GUI resources without writing program code. You can build, modify, and finalize the interface design before writing any code. Setting default values for resources makes it easy to create multiple resources without having to continually reset custom parameters.
-
ResBuilder makes it easier to modify interfaces at a later date by allowing you to open and modify existing resource files.
ResBuilder operates under Windows 98, Me, 2000, XP, 2003, and Windows NT 4.0.