New PBRes.exe resource converter

[Tom Hanlin]

A new build of PBRes, v1.60, is available by http and ftp:
http://www.powerbasic.com/files/pub/pbwin/pbres.zip

This corrects a bug in the aggregation of named resource types (such as AVI and WAV, among others) that would tend to make all but one of the affected resources unavailable. It also removes the internal limit on the total resource count (formerly 16,000).


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Tom Hanlin
PowerBASIC Staff

[Egbert Zijlema]

Tom,
In exactly the same circumstances as the old one, it generates a "not enough memory" error.
Platform: Windows95
Memory: 64 MB
I've re-installed (renamed to exe) the old one for the time being.


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[This message has been edited by Egbert Zijlema (edited September 28, 2000).]

[Ian Cairns]

Tom,
With NT4 SP4, 32Mb memory
(635,248 bytes conventional + 931,840 bytes XMS available in DOS),
I get a "Not enough Memory" error with the new PBRES, but no problems
at all with the old version.

Regards,

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[email protected]

[Tom Hanlin]

The new build uses more dynamic memory allocation than previous builds, so as to be able to support more resources. Unfortunately, it sounds like we're hitting the infamous Windows memory fragmentation problem in the process. Since Microsoft has made GlobalCompact "obsolete", there's no simple solution. We'll have to go back to the old approach or redesign the data structures.

"It's always something."

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Tom Hanlin
PowerBASIC Staff

[Egbert Zijlema]

Tom,
Don't understand your reply very well. Who are 'we'? Power Basic Inc.?
And if so, will you (PB) come with a bugfixed release soon?
Or do 'we', the users, have to do something with our code in order to
avoid memory limits? If that is the case, I rather use the old version.


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[Edwin Knoppert]

While it's easy to append resources AFTER compile, hopefuly PB will reconsider the PBR files in PB7.
(Already mentioned)


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[Tom Hanlin]

There's no harm in using the older version if you have too many (or too large) resources to use the new version-- provided that you're not having a problem with named resource types.

We will certainly have another update to get around the memory restriction.

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Tom Hanlin
PowerBASIC Staff

[Edwin Knoppert]

I'm not sure this msg was for me, i'm talking about abandon the .pbr files completely and make use of .res if possible.

Like i said, using a custom tool to append res files is already possible.
Wouldn't it be possible to let PB do this in a sim. way in the future?


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[Dan Soper]

Never mind abandoning .pbr in favour of .res - why not incorporate the functionality of both rc.exe and pbres.exe into the PB compiler itself?
So that to include a resource in a programme we'd use:
#INCLUDE "resource.rc"

It would make it vastly easier, and would avoid the generation of two binary files that aren't going to be touched after the programme has been compiled.


d.

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[Lance Edmonds]

Dan, the problem with the .RC approach is that the exact format/content of an RC file depends on the editor that created the RC file to begin with... while there are a set of standards for these files, the differences in syntax and content can vary dramatically... take a look at an RC (.DLG) created with DLGEDIT against one created with Visual Studio.

Therefore, to make this idea work, we would have to *duplicate* the functionality of at least 3 major existing Resource Compilers, and the amount of work involved in reinventing the wheel would be unlikely to be worth while.

OTOH, incorporating a .RES file directly would be a comparitively easier matter, and IIRC, that suggestion has already appeared on the "wish list".


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Lance
PowerBASIC Support
mailto:[email protected][email protected]</A>

[Tom Hanlin]

Originally posted by Tom Hanlin:
A new build of PBRes, v1.60, is available by http and ftp:
http://www.powerbasic.com/files/pub/pbwin/pbres.zip

This corrects a bug in the aggregation of named resource types (such as AVI and WAV, among others) that would tend to make all but one of the affected resources unavailable. It also removes the internal limit on the total resource count (formerly 16,000).

Ok, we've got a new new build of PBRes. This corrects a problem in v1.60, which expected at least one named resource to be present. The new build 1.61 is available from the same location.

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Tom Hanlin
PowerBASIC Staff

[Wayne Diamond]

im trying to avoid the wish-list forums as you blokes have probably got ideas coming out of your ears by now, and who'd listen to me anyway but one timesaver I would love to see is something like this:

#ICON "myicon.ico"

rather than having to do the whole .rc -> .res -> .pbr thang just to give my exe an icon


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[Lance Edmonds]

Something like that may give your app an Icon in Explorer, but it won't give your Windows & Dialogs icons automatically... not much of a time saver really, given the very limited scope it offers, IMO. Also, it would preclude or at least severely complicate adding a resource file to your EXE later on...

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Lance
PowerBASIC Support
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