Is Resource Builder compatible with FWH?

[dutch]

Dear Antonio,

I heard someone said Resource Builder from http://www.resource-builder.com is good Resource Editor. Is it compatible with FWH? Because I can do real 32bit RC file. If so, it can use instead of BRW.

Best regards,
Dutch

[Rick Lipkin]

Dutch

I have downloaded and played with it .. and YES .. you have to configure the builder for for the correct .rc layout .. 'curly brackets {}' if I recall.

For all the resource editors I have looked for .. Resource builder would be my choice .. and I think you can purchase it for around 50 usd.

As a side note .. you might look at UE Studio 6 .. I think Antonio is using it and there are configuration links in this forum for xHarbour and Harbour. The IDE is a project manager, builder and resource editor all in one.

I use xMate myself as a project manager and builder .. like you.. I just need a good 32 bit resource editor to replace Borland Workshop .. just ole fashoned here .. I would rather 'keep it simple' and not have an IDE ( UE6 ) that has all kinds of 'gadgets' bells and whistles on it ( sorta overwhelming like Visual studio ) .. maybe I am wrong about UE 6 .. you will have to test drive it for yourself.

http://www.ultraedit.com/index.php?name ... ge&pid=150

Just give me a ( simple efficient ) project manager and ( stand alone ) resource editor and I am happy!!

Rick Lipkin
SC Dept of Health, USA

[Ken Wantz]

Hello Dutch and Rick,

I recently wrote a post regarding the UES RE to get any feedback since the folks at UE said they had no reported problems, except a number from myself. I forwarded what I received from that post including user interest numbers for the for the first week.

On June 22, I got a response back from UE saying they were looking into the items I reported and were planning to release an updated version to me the week of June 25. As of yet I have not received any update.

I also suggested to them that the Resource Builder had a number of features missing from UES. While I consider my input only drop in the bucket, they are willing to consider any options and opinions. I hope they are putting 100% effort into improving the resource editor portion of the program. If they do, I believe it could be a very good programming solution.

Regards,

Ken

[TimStone]

I, too, have been looking for a better resource editor. Since I use xHarbour, with its (Pelles) C compiler, I used the resource editor in Pelles. However it has problems. I tried to post to their forum and it was dead. Finally I posted a note there Saturday when it was revived, but no response.

I use Multi-Edit for development and I am so used to it that making a change to UE is not desirable, especially if their resource editor has problems.

I tried Resource Builder and when it created a mess with the tab pages ( not aligned on the master page ), I removed it. I got a survey asking why I removed it and replied. Then I received an email saying they wanted to work with me to earn my business, so I sent them details of the problem. They never replied.

My needs are simple. I want a resource editor that will show me the same dialog as what will display with the program. So far, getting that result is not happening. I have to do a lot of manual editing to get things into the proper sizes ... which is most frustrating.

[Antonio Linares]

Tim,

Have you tried with the Borland Resources Workshop ? It keeps working very nicely.

[dutch]

Dear Antonio,

I've used BRW but when I convert to 32bit the size is not exactly the same in 16bit and grahic is only support 256 colors. Now it has a lot of nice icons but it's more than 256 colors.

Best regards,
Dutch

[Rick Lipkin]

Antonio

You are correct ( sorta ) on Borland Resorce Workshop .. With Vista you have to associate the .rc with Resource workshop and then double click on the .rc to open BRW. If you try to Open BRW and navigate to your folder .. you will get an un-recoverable error.

For new .rc files .. I just copy one .rc to another and then go in and change it the way I want..

You have to work in .rc and use rc2dll32.bat to create your 32 bit .dll if you use .dll with your program.

Hope that helps .. Only with Vista 32 bit does the above apply.

Rick Lipkin

[Enrico Maria Giordano]

I've used BRW but when I convert to 32bit the size is not exactly the same in 16bit

This is not a resource editor problem but a well known difference between Win16 and Win32 platform.

and grahic is only support 256 colors.

Yes, you can't use the internal editor but you can import any bitmap without problems.

EMG

[Richard Chidiak]

Rick

I use BRW with Vista without problems, i open brw direct

My vista is 32

Hth

Richard

[Rick Lipkin]

Richard

WOW .. something has changed .. must be a recent Microsoft patch .. I will have to try it at home as well.

When I would open BRW from File and drill to the folder I want .. it would give me a NVTM .. something error.

Seems to be working fine now

Rick

[James Bott]

>Yes, you can't use the internal editor but you can import any bitmap without problems.

Glady this is true.

I am not sure if it is a FWH or RW issue, but it seems we cannot use 32bit icons (XP style with alpha channel). Those are the ones with the transparent shadows. They are either converted 24 bit when they are imported or FWH cannot display them--I don't know which.

James

[TimStone]

I gave up Borland awhile ago. As I upgraded computers it became harder to install, and I really didn't want to play games. I also wanted a realistic 32 bit resource editor. I never thought it would be so hard, but apparently it is !

The Pelles editor doesn't display the dialog in the same way that the program does so I have to do a lot of playing around. I haven't found a way to set the label font in an RC to be the same as the windows font. Also, some of the "snap to" is automated and thus I have to type in coordinates to get them there.

The siComponents Resource Editor which is supposed to be a 32 bit replacement for Borland's has problems and they can't give me any guidance on why. The major one is that an .rc file modified with it will not align dialogs onto a folder. The folder centers in the window, but the dialogs display in the upper left corner of the screen ! They don't know why !

[James Bott]

Tim,

>The major one is that an .rc file modified with it will not align dialogs onto a folder. The folder centers in the window, but the dialogs display in the upper left corner of the screen ! They don't know why !

Did you know that a RC file is just text? Can't you just create a Workshop one that is working and then copy it and edit it with the other resource editor and then compare the new RC with the old looking for differences?

James

[TimStone]

Yes, the RC file is text, and yes I do edit it with Multi-Edit. However, the Pelles RC Editor saves values in a file somewhere and I can't get an answer from them about what file and where. As a result, if I make changes in the text, I have to put it in a new directory and open a new file, or it will revert to the old file and delete my changes !

I can edit everything manually, but thats not exactly easy to do. I have been doing it to get alignments right, etc.

Here is an example. If I select MS Sans Serif, -12 BOLD in the program for the window font, it will override the font in the .RC. However, if I set the font in the .RC to the same thing so I can edit the display, then it changes the size of the dialog and I end up with problems getting it to fit correctly. If I create the dialog in the .RC, and then set it in the program to a different value, then labels may be cut off, edit boxes may not be long enough for the fields, etc.

I simply want to set the editor and the program to the same values and get it to work.

Oh ... Pelles Resource Editor has fits if you try to change the font within it !

Maybe I'll go get a Margarita and forget it for awhile.

[Rick Lipkin]

Just a thought .. I wonder ( if you asked nicely ) if Borland would release the 16 bit BRW code into public domain and one of our Experts here could re-compile it in 32 bit

Rick Lipkin