The AMOS Professional interface provides a vast range of facilities for generating attractive dialogue boxes and selectors on the screen. These items can be created from a set of pre-defined components held in a "resource bank". The Interface normally uses the existing resources assigned to the Editor screen, and all of these graphics and messages can be accessed immediately.
In addition to these resources, there is an invaluable Resource Creator available on the Accessories Disc, allowing you to define your own messages and import your own graphics from any IFF picture. It is even possible to replace the Editor screen with your own customised version!
The standard resources are held in the "AMOS_System/AMOSPro.Editor_Resource" file, and they are loaded automatically when AMOS Professional loads. If this file is replaced by your own version, the appearance of the Editor screen will be transformed, but please take care. The sizes and positions of all the Editor objects must remain as set, or your personalised Editor will not work! Prepare for accidents by keeping a copy of the original resources somewhere safe before you make any changes.
The Resource Creator Main Menu
On entry to the Resource Creator, a simple Main menu screen is presented, which can be moved
anywhere over the current display by dragging its title zone with the left mouse button. Here is
a list of the Main Menu options.
[Create New Bank]
This erases the current resource bank, and removes the source picture from memory.
[Load Bank]
When this option is selected, a file selector is opened, and a request is made for a filename. This
new resource bank can now be loaded into memory. If graphic elements have previously been
defined in the bank, their original source picture will be loaded automatically. If this file is not
available from the current disc, you will be asked to insert the appropriate disc. Obviously, it is
sensible to keep the resource and image files on the same disc, and avoid the tedious process of
swapping over discs.
[Grab Bank]
There is an automatic facility for grabbing a Resource Bank, and this is explained at the end of
this Chapter.
[Save Bank]
This option is used to save a resource bank as an ".Abk" file on the disc. The file can then be
loaded into the main AMOS Professional program, and allocated to an Interface program with a
simple call to the RESOURCE BANK command.
[Save Bank As]
This saves the existing resource bank under a new name.