rcompile Overview

> RCompile is a command-line application which compiles resources into a .CPP file for incorporation into a Un*x based YAAF application. This tool can also be used to generate .CPP source for resources which you would rather incorporate into a library rather than leave out as an external resource.

Usage

>     rcompile infile.rl outfile.cpp

> - infile.rl is the input resource file, a text file whose format is described below.
> - outfile.cpp is the output file, as a C++ file, which defines the function GetResourceData() which gets the resource by it's type and resource ID.

> Macintosh and Windows applications commonly rely on "resources", small snippets of data which contain things like error strings or the layout of the views inside of a window. Unix, on the other hand, doesn't have this utility. So the solution used by YAAF is to first convert these small data snippets into an array of data objects, and to create an accessor routine to get those snippets of data.

> This process is automatically done by the RCompile tool.

> The RCompile tool also compiles the resources used to specify the layout of a menu by YAAF, using a specification that is similar to that used by Microsoft Windows in an .RC file.

infile.rl format

> The input file is a text file. Comments may be added by using C or C++ style comments; that is, anything between a /* and */ is ignored, as well as all text from a // to the end of line.

> There are three different types of resource statements that are accepted by the RCompile tool.

> >     raw type resID data-file

> The 'raw' keyword accepts a raw binary data file (such as a bitmap file) into the resource. The type of the resource is a four-character string in single quotes which give the type of resource (such as 'bmap' or 'icon'), and the resID of the resource is an integer resource number to use. The data-file is a string giving the name of the raw binary data to incorporate.

> >     rdata rdata-file

> The 'rdata' keyword loads the resources stored in the binary 'rdata' file that was generated by the YAAF Constructor tool. The resource IDs and types are stored in this data file.

> >     menu menuResID menu_definition

> The 'menu' keyword defines the format of a menu as used by the YAAF library. This resource is defined in menu_definition, and the resource ID of the menu is in menuResID. The menu definition is:

> > menu_definition :== begin menu_list end

> > menu_list :== menu_item | menu_item menu_list

> > menu_item :== menu menu_name begin item_list end

> > item_list :== item_item | item_item item_list

> > item_item :== item | separator

> > item :== item item_name command_id [accelerator]

> > separator :== separator

> For example, a simple menu item with two menus, a "file" and "edit" menu, would be defined as:

> >     menu 128 begin
> >         menu "File" begin
> >             item "Exit"                   3
> >         end
> >         menu "Edit" begin
> >             item "Undo"                   4 'Z'
> >             separator
> >             item "Cut"                    5 'X'
> >             item "Copy"                   5 'C'
> >             item "Paste"                  5 'V'
> >             item "Clear"                  5
> >         end
> >     end

License

> The YAAF Constructor is licensed under the GNU General Public License, and may be freely redistributed so long as the terms of the GNU GPL are honored.