I've been fiddling around with delphi 7 (yeah, outdated but free and working fine).
I've come to the point where I need to make a 'builder' that will build another file from source with custom settings such as 'application name' being a variable that can be changed.
I've made a builder that utilizes the DCC32.EXE and tried to redistribute this, its not been successful (Even with the entire bin folder/etc).
I'm wondering if hexediting or something else is needed (really not sure how to do this either!).
I'd love a few ideas on how to create an actual builder that can change settings in an app.
EDIT
Decided to do it with RT_RCDATA resources. It'll have to do :/
Related
This question have been asked numerous times, but I have not managed to get an answer that I am happy with. Probably because the most answers is of "how do I do this?" type and also get "this way you do this" answers.
The problem I have is that I need to use absolute paths when I want to reference to images in Xcode (version 6.0.1). I am quite sure that I could place the images in my working directory which is something like:
/Users/patrikek/Library/Developer/Xcode/DerivedData/ChessGame-
ftpbqerfsenxxbfvneyzfwdmtwjk/Build/Products/Debug
Then add the file to some Xcode group in project navigator (eg. images/myImg.png) and I would be able to reference the file as myImg.png (since I have not foldered the image inside my working directory). I am also quite sure that the project navigator stuff would not b required for this to work.
And after this introduction comes the questions:
1) Is it necessary to place all images and other resources in the current working directory? Also, if not what is the best way to store folders in a program and is it necessary to name the folder containing images to Resources?
2) Is it possible to arrange files using the project navigator? What I am after is to use the project navigator only and let Xcode worry about the details of copying files and so. It seems somehow unnecessary to have a project navigator, when the physical files are not packaged in the same way. It does also seem error prone to update the project navigator and the physical hierarchy independently of each other.
An example:
I create a folder images in the Project navigator, inside that folder am I placing a reference to the image using the usual way in the project navigator. Is it now possible to make Xcode arrange so that I can do a call images/myImg.png when I want to load the image in some function (without me doing anything, since if I move many images to my working directory I may forget one and I may also spell images wrong by mistake if I create another folder in my working space). Also what have happened inside Xcode when this action was done?
Since I am not at all familiar with Xcode yet I may have got something wrong here, but the core of this problem is to find out where the files physical location must/should be and if there is some way to let Xcode do this by using the project navigator.
BR Patrik
Xcode does not manage images the way you have presumed that it does. Take a look at the 2013 WWDC "What's New in Xcode" video to see how Xcode 5 and Xcode 6 organize and manage images for any given project. When you have configured the asset catalogues for your project correctly, it wouldn't matter where the original images live on disk. As long as you have dragged the right assets into the right catalogues, your projects will work. The good news is that you only need to configure images once and change only the ones that change once done. For details, see this wwdc video: http://devstreaming.apple.com/videos/wwdc/2013/400xex2xbskwa5bkxr17zihju9uf/400/ref.mov
Once an image is configured in the asset catalogue, you can refer to it with or without it's file extension. For example, you can refer to "example.png" as "example" in your code. Hence, "myImg.png" can be "myImg" or "myImg.png" in code. No need to worry about which subdirectory contains it.
Now if your question has to do with runtime assets, again your development system directory structure would not matter. If that is the case, then you might have to re-ask your question. I would be glad to help you there as well--if that's what you want to know.
I am trying to define 2 custom filetypes that I want them to feature thumbnail previews within windows explorer and I used this code sample (https://code.msdn.microsoft.com/CppShellExtThumbnailHandler-32399b35) to register the new shell extension but I can only make one of them work at a time.
The moment I try to register the second one it seems it replaces the IThumbnailProvider's Handler Subkey {E357FCCD-A995-4576-B01F-234630154E96} and breaks the first filetype's registration. If anyone has some experience with this, my question is,
can I register more than 1 filetypes at a time using this code sample?
Is there an alternative?
Thank you!
I managed to register more than 1 custom files, but the way I did it leaves me baffled... So if anyone could take the time to explain it to me I d sure appreciate it.
I copied the c++ project/solution to a new folder, changed the custom filetype parameters inside the code to match my 2nd custom filetype needs, build this new project and registered the resulting .dll.
So basically, what made it work, is that when you build the project/ solution the files that are being produced (the .dll being just one of them) are essential for the thumbnail handler to work.
And this is what baffles me.
I would expect that after you register the .dll, the new filetype is established and that I could even get rid off the aforementioned files. But apparently not only you have to register the .dll, but also make sure you keep the other files that are being produced upon built, unchanged in everyway.
So that basically means, 1 project/solution per custom filetype, nicely saved in its own folder :)
Is this the right way to do this, or am I just hacking it here?
This question have been asked numerous times, but I have not managed to get an answer that I am happy with. Probably because the most answers is of "how do I do this?" type and also get "this way you do this" answers.
The problem I have is that I need to use absolute paths when I want to reference to images in Xcode (version 6.0.1). I am quite sure that I could place the images in my working directory which is something like:
/Users/patrikek/Library/Developer/Xcode/DerivedData/ChessGame-
ftpbqerfsenxxbfvneyzfwdmtwjk/Build/Products/Debug
Then add the file to some Xcode group in project navigator (eg. images/myImg.png) and I would be able to reference the file as myImg.png (since I have not foldered the image inside my working directory). I am also quite sure that the project navigator stuff would not b required for this to work.
And after this introduction comes the questions:
1) Is it necessary to place all images and other resources in the current working directory? Also, if not what is the best way to store folders in a program and is it necessary to name the folder containing images to Resources?
2) Is it possible to arrange files using the project navigator? What I am after is to use the project navigator only and let Xcode worry about the details of copying files and so. It seems somehow unnecessary to have a project navigator, when the physical files are not packaged in the same way. It does also seem error prone to update the project navigator and the physical hierarchy independently of each other.
An example:
I create a folder images in the Project navigator, inside that folder am I placing a reference to the image using the usual way in the project navigator. Is it now possible to make Xcode arrange so that I can do a call images/myImg.png when I want to load the image in some function (without me doing anything, since if I move many images to my working directory I may forget one and I may also spell images wrong by mistake if I create another folder in my working space). Also what have happened inside Xcode when this action was done?
Since I am not at all familiar with Xcode yet I may have got something wrong here, but the core of this problem is to find out where the files physical location must/should be and if there is some way to let Xcode do this by using the project navigator.
BR Patrik
Xcode does not manage images the way you have presumed that it does. Take a look at the 2013 WWDC "What's New in Xcode" video to see how Xcode 5 and Xcode 6 organize and manage images for any given project. When you have configured the asset catalogues for your project correctly, it wouldn't matter where the original images live on disk. As long as you have dragged the right assets into the right catalogues, your projects will work. The good news is that you only need to configure images once and change only the ones that change once done. For details, see this wwdc video: http://devstreaming.apple.com/videos/wwdc/2013/400xex2xbskwa5bkxr17zihju9uf/400/ref.mov
Once an image is configured in the asset catalogue, you can refer to it with or without it's file extension. For example, you can refer to "example.png" as "example" in your code. Hence, "myImg.png" can be "myImg" or "myImg.png" in code. No need to worry about which subdirectory contains it.
Now if your question has to do with runtime assets, again your development system directory structure would not matter. If that is the case, then you might have to re-ask your question. I would be glad to help you there as well--if that's what you want to know.
I'm currently running into a problem that drives me a little bit mad. I hope it's a little stupid mistake on my side.
For convenience, I added an environmental variable in Windows 7, VS_BOOST_INCLUDE_HEADER with the value set to D:\01_Programs\boost_1_55_0\. My VC C++ include directories contain $(VS_BOOST_INCLUDE_HEADER).
Remark: I changed that variable this morning, but I've rebooted my computer since than multiple times.
Now my VS project complains it can't find any of the boost includes anymore, e.g. <boost/asio.hpp>. If I add the whole path manually to the include paths (adding D:\01_Programs\boost_1_55_0\ as text to my VC C++ include directories), everything works as expected.
To avoid a simple typo, I added a post-build event:
echo $(VS_BOOST_INCLUDE_HEADER)
That works as expected:
1>PostBuildEvent:
1> D:\01_Programs\boost_1_55_0\
All my other environmental variables still work as expected, even those that were renamed this morning as well.
Any ideas?
What am I doing wrong?
Maybe I'm late to the party, but a possible scenario is when you
run VS as administrator
adjusted a User environment variable
Then it would make some sense for VS to see the System environment only and still use the old value.
If you decide to use property sheets the msdn has clear docs
"If you have a common, frequently used set of properties that you want
to apply to multiple projects, you can use Property Manager to capture
them in a reusable property sheet file"
Under the view menu, chose property manager and add a new sheet.
You can then make your project inherit its settings from this property sheet, thereby just setting this in one place.
I've not done much coding for Windows lately, and I find myself sitting at Visual Studio right now, making a small program for Windows 7 in C++. I need some configuration data to be read/written.
In the old days, (being a Borland kind of guy) I'd just use a TIniFile and keep the .ini beside my exe Obviously this is just not the done thing any more. The MS docs tell me that Get/WritePrivateProfileString are for compatibility only, and I doubt that I'd get away with writing to Program Files these days. Gosh I feel old.
I'd like the resulting file to be easily editable - open in notepad sort of thing, and easily findable. This is a small app, I don't want to have to write a setup screen when I can just edit the config file.
So, what is the modern way of doing this?
Often people use XML files for storing preferences, but they are often overkill (and they aren't actually all that readable for humans).
If your needs would be easily satisfied with an INI file, you may want to use Boost.Program_options using the configuration file parser backend, which actually writes INI-like files without going through deprecated (and slow!) APIs, while exposing a nice C++ interface.
The key thing to get right is where to write such configuration file. The right place is usually a subdirectory (named e.g. as your application) of the user's application data directory; please, please, please, don't harcode its path in your executable, I've seen enough broken apps failing to understand that the user profile may not be in c:\Documents and settings\Username.
Instead, you can retrieve the application data path using the SHGetFolderPath function with CSIDL_APPDATA (or SHGetKnownFolderPath with FOLDERID_RoamingAppData if you don't mind to lose the compatibility with pre-Vista Windows versions, or even just expanding the %APPDATA% environment variable).
In this way, each user will be able to store its preferences and you won't get any security-related errors when writing your preferences.
This is my opinion (which I think most of the answers you get will be opinion), but it seems that the standard way of doing things these days is to store config files like these in C:\Users\<Username>. Moreover, it is generally good to not clutter this directory itself, but to use a subdirectory for the purpose of storing your application's data, such as C:\Users\<Username>\AppData\Roaming\<YourApplicationName>. It might be overkill for a single config file, but that will give you the opportunity to have all of your application data in one place, should you add even more.