Opening resource files Creating resource files Updating resource files Saving resource files automatically Creating backups How backups affect disk space usage Types of resources If FirstClass Designer doesn't recognize file types Copying resources between resource files Handling duplicate resources Opening resource files To open a resource file: 1       Choose File > Open. To open a resource file that you have opened recently, choose File > Open Recent, then choose the resource file. To change the number of recently opened resource files listed on this menu, update your "Number of files to list" preference. Windows You can also open a resource file by dragging it into the FirstClass Designer window. 2       Locate and open the resource file you want to change. The list of resources contained in the resource file opens. The resource list shows: Description The resource name. Resources are grouped by resource category (for example, Local Form). You can expand or collapse resource categories by clicking the tree view buttons (Windows) or disclosure triangles (Mac). ID The resource ID. Size The resource size in kilobytes. Type The type of resource. CRC A string that changes when the associated resource has been updated. This is useful information if you share the task of updating resources with others, and need to know if you have the latest version. To sort by a particular column, click that column heading. Top Creating resource files Usually, the easiest way to create a resource file is to copy an existing one and modify it. However, you can create a new resource file from scratch. To do this: 1       Choose File > New. 2       Select the folder in which you want to save the resource file, and specify a file name. A new resource list opens for this resource file. Top Updating resource files You can add pictures, icons, and sounds to the resource file, and add or customize forms. When you are finished customizing the resource file, choose File > Save to save your changes. To undo all changes you have made to the resource file in the current session, choose File > Revert to Original. The resource file reverts to the version that you started with at the beginning of your session. For the Revert to Original command to work, you must have "Create backup" selected in your preferences. Top Saving resource files automatically To make FirstClass Designer save your resource file periodically as you work on it, select the "Autosave" preference. Specify the time between saves at "Interval". For FirstClass Designer to save changes to a resource file automatically, you must have "Autosave" selected before you open the resource file. The temporary file created when Designer does an automatic save begins with $~. If your system goes down while you are working in FirstClass Designer, you can rename this file to act as a replacement for your resource file. This will save all the changes you made prior to the latest automatic save. Top Creating backups To make FirstClass Designer create a duplicate of a resource file whenever you open it, select the "Create backup" preference. The duplicate has a .bak extension. This allows you to discard all changes you made in your current session and revert to the version of the resource file with which you started the session. How backups affect disk space usage If you are short on disk space, consider how much extra space will be required when these preferences are selected. Selecting one of these preferences causes the resource file to require twice as much disk space. Selecting both preferences causes the resource file to require three times as much disk space. Top Types of resources The FirstClass resources that you can work with in a resource file are: pictures You can use customized pictures when you are working with the fields on forms. In addition, users can select a picture as a background for their Desktops, Mailboxes, or other containers while running FirstClass. Pictures are displayed actual size and placed in the upper left corner when they are selected as backgrounds. Users can change this positioning. The Picture category in a resource file contains pictures in PICT format. To see all the picture resources in a resource file, including their resource IDs, choose File > Picture List. icons Each FirstClass object has an icon associated with it. In addition, many system resources have icons associated with them. For example, the status field on the FirstClass Login form displays icons representing the login statuses. You can assign icons to objects, add them to forms, and use custom icons to replace the standard system icons. To see all the icon resources in a resource file plus the FirstClass standard icons, including their resource IDs, choose File > Icon List. PNGs Pictures in PNG format. These pictures are included when you choose File > Picture List. PNG icons Icons in PNG format. These icons are included when you choose File > Icon List. sounds FirstClass allows you to assign sounds to an action or to a window. FirstClass provides a standard set of sounds. In addition, you can assign custom sounds that are in resource files. The Sound category in a resource file contains sounds in SND format. forms Custom forms can supplement the standard FirstClass forms or act as replacements for standard forms. strings Strings of text are used for FirstClass interface elements like menus and error messages. To make custom strings work, you must have a database extension that can make use of them. toolbar buttons Custom buttons that users can add to FirstClass toolbars. To allow users to add custom toolbar buttons, you must create a form that contains these buttons. login settings The Login Settings category can contain one resource. Although you can create this resource by choosing Form > New > Login Settings, and edit the file as a straight text file, we recommend that you specify login settings using the FirstClass client rather than FirstClass Designer. custom file formats If you import a picture in a file format other than PNG or PICT, a category is created for that format. These pictures are included when you choose File > Picture List. To use picture, custom icon, and sound resources in a resource file, you must first import them into the resource file or store them on your server. If FirstClass Designer doesn't recognize file types When you import resources into resource files from other files, FirstClass Designer recognizes and automatically handles the basic file types supported by the FirstClass client. You may have a FirstClass Application Services application or client extension that handles additional resource types. You can import these resources, too. If FirstClass Designer doesn't recognize the file type of a resource you are importing, you are asked to supply the Mac 4-character resource type that applies. No attempt is made to convert these files, and a separate category, based on the resource type you provided, is created for them. Top Copying resources between resource files To copy a resource from one resource file to another: 1       Open the resource file containing the resource (the source resource file). 2       Open the resource file to which you want to copy the resource (the target resource file). 3       Select the resource in the source resource file's resource list. To select more than one resource at a time, press Control (Windows) or Command (Mac) while you click each one. 4       Drag the resource from the source to the target resource file while pressing Control (Windows) or Option (Mac). If you drag the resource without pressing Control/Option, the resource is moved rather than copied. If you don't have room on your screen to display both resource lists at once, you can use the standard Copy and Paste commands instead of dragging. Top Handling duplicate resources When you import resources or copy them between resource files, FirstClass Designer may encounter a resource already in the resource file that is the same type of resource, with the same resource ID, as a resource you are importing. In this case, FirstClass Designer will do one of the following, depending on your "Duplicate resources" preference: •       assign the resource being imported a unique resource ID •       replace the existing resource with the resource being imported •       ask you how to handle the resource being imported. If you are asked how to handle the resource being imported, you will see a dialog like this: To Do this assign a unique resource ID to the new resource Click Unique. If another duplicate resource is encountered, you will be asked how to handle it. replace the old resource with the new one Click Replace. If another duplicate resource is encountered, you will be asked how to handle it. avoid importing the new resource Click Skip. If another duplicate resource is encountered, you will be asked how to handle it. assign all duplicate resources unique resource IDs as they are imported, with no further prompting Click Unique All replace all old duplicate resources with the new ones, with no further prompting Click Replace All Top