Topic       : Documentation for Thing
Author      : Arno Welzel/Thomas Binder/TransAction
Version     : thing.hyp 1.27E (23/8/1998)
Subject     : Documentation/Shells
Nodes       : 269
Index Size  : 6336
HCP-Version : 4
Compiled on : Atari
@charset    : atarist
@lang       : 
@default    : %I
@help       : %Hilfe
@options    : +g -i -s +y +zz -t4 -d10
@width      : 75
@hostname   : THING   
View Ref-FileFile formats - THING.RSC and THINGTXT.RSC                             Thing

Thing currently uses two external RSC files, THING.RSC and THINGTXT.RSC. 
Both are normal GEM resource files that can be edited using most RSC file 
editors (Interface, ORCS, WERCS etc). Neither contains colour icons (this 
does not apply if one has installed THINGCOL.RSC with the coloured 
logo in place of THING.RSC from the original package!).

THING.RSC contains all dialogs, default icons and the menu bar, while 
THINGTXT.RSC contains all alert boxes, error messages and other free 
strings.

If you attempt to edit this file please bear in mind the following:

 ∙ Thing calculates the co-ordinates when loading the resource file not 
   on the basis of the system font but rather the 'cell size' of the 
   system font. The first object tree in the THING.RSC contains this 
   statement as a string (object number 1) in the first object tree:

     ' 8 16' ... means that the font during design of the file was based 
                 on a cell size of 8*16 pixels. This statement must be 
                 changed if during alteration of the file one is working 
                 with a replacement system font (which may, for example, 
                 be 7*12 or 8*8 pixels etc.)!

 ∙ Edited RSC files may NOT be distributed under any circumstances! 
   If you've created a new language version please send me a copy and 
   I'll check and include it in the official distribution. Currently 
   English and German versions are supported...

 ∙ The resource file is already bordering on the 64Kb upper limit so if 
   you're editing with Interface be careful not to save the file in RSX 
   format as the file will be too big!
 
   The RSX format cannot be read by Thing at present and leads to a crash!

 ∙ All keyboard shortcuts are MagiC compatible -- i.e. the shortcuts can 
   be seen and edited directly under MagiC. Using the 'Card index' style 
   paged dialogs the shortcuts for some buttons are not directly visible 
   but the definitions are MagiC compatible.

 ∙ Menu shortcuts are evaluated and can be changed as desired. However,
   only  Control  (^X) and  Shift  +  Control  (⇧^X) combinations should 
   be assigned, if possible.

   The shortcut  Shift  +  Delete  for 'Delete' is hard coded into Thing 
   and cannot be turned off, but additional 'Delete' shortcuts may be 
   assigned.

 ∙ The RCS must be able to read the top eight bytes of the object type 
   correctly (as I recall the old Digital Research RCS doesn't handle 
   these bytes correctly -- but please do check for yourselves!).

 ∙ Some Thing dialogs employ tabbed 'card index' style layouts where 
   individual 'pages' are simply stored as object trees overlaying one 
   another. Check that your RCS doesn't automatically combine these into 
   'Parent-child' relationships! To edit the underlying parts of the 
   dialogs one has to hide the 'obscuring' page to reach the next 'lower' 
   page. Make sure that you unhide all the hidden pages at the end (with 
   Interface you can hold down  Control  when clicking on 'Unhide' to 
   select the parent object) as otherwise you will get a partly blank 
   display!