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<title>Framework Overview - Resource Files</title>
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<h1>Framework Overview - Resource Files</h1>
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<p>Updated: April 10, 2004 for release 0.7.3</p>
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<p>Resource files are an old idea, but they are not widely used in the Python
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community. My own experience with resources is based largely on how Mac
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applications used the resource fork. PythonCard separates the window,
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component layout, menu descriptions, and strings from the source code by putting
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them in a separate .rsrc.py file. This allows the layout to be modified
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independently of the source code and logic of the application. It also
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simplifies supporting multiple layouts for different OS platforms or doing
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international versions of an application. Finally, it means that a
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non-programmer can handle the layout since they do not need to write any
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<p>The resource file typically shares the same base name as the main
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application, so the <a href="http://pythoncard.sourceforge.net/samples/minimal.html">minimal sample</a> has two files:</p>
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<p>The resource file has a .py extension because the resource file is actually
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a valid Python dictionary and so it is easy to edit and validate
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the resource file using a Python-aware editor. The files are plain text.
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They are not in XML format since a separate program would be necessary to
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validate the XML and I feel that XML is less human-readable than the
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equivelant nested dictionary/list done using Python syntax.</p>
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<p>For the most part, it is no longer necessary to edit resource files in a text
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editor, instead you can use the resourceEditor sample to change the layout
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and menus for a PythonCard application.</p>
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<p>Note that once the resource file attributes are frozen we will likely switch
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to XML for the resource format to improve interop with other layout tools. [Since
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we're approaching a 1.0 release of PythonCard, I think this is unlikely, but I'll
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leave this comment in for the time being. - Kevin Altis]</p>
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<p>Binary data necessary for an application such as images and sound files are
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stored separately. Images necessary for the application components are
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referenced via 'image' or 'file' attributes in the resource file.</p>
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<p>It is possible to have a fairly short edit/run cycle by keeping the
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layout of your app open in the <a href="../resource_editor_overview.html">resourceEditor</a> (layout editor) and the source code
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open in the <a href="http://pythoncard.sourceforge.net/tools/codeEditor.html">codeEditor</a> or your favorite editor/IDE and then launching the app using the Run
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command under the File menu or from the command-line or a directory browser
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(Explorer) as you make changes. If you have an error in your source that
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prevents the app from running, you can use the "Run with interpreter"
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command and the interpreter will be left open showing you where the error
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occurred in your source.</p>
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<p>The organization of the resource file is defined by the spec classes in
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pom.py spec.py, widget.py, and each component module. When a
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resource is read in (see res.py) it is validated against the specs, default
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arguments are initialized and any undefined component types in the resource
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will cause a runtime error. The resource dictionary is converted to an
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object that supports dot notation automatically and most places in the
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framework where a resource argument is used, it is valid to pass in a
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dictionary instead.</p>
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<p>The noresource sample shows an example of a PythonCard application that
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does not have a resource file. The noresource sample also shows an
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example of dynamic component creation when the app starts up.</p>
b'| <a href="general_concepts_and_limitations.html">General Concepts and Limitations</a> '
b'| <a href="components.html">Components</a> '
b'| <a href="dialogs.html">Dialogs</a> '
b'| <a href="events_and_handlers.html">Events and Handlers</a> '
b'| <a href="menus.html">Menus</a> '
b'| <a href="resource_files.html">Resource Files</a> '
b'| <a href="runtime_tools.html">Runtime Tools</a> '
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<p>$Revision: 1.3 $ : $Author: kasplat $ : Last updated $Date: 2004/08/14 21:51:40 $</p>
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