--- name: "resource" section: "n" platform: "macos" package: "tcl" version: "152" release: "macOS 26.5" platforms: ["macos"] url: "https://new.carta.tech/resource/n" --- # resource(n) Manipulate Macintosh resources **Abstract**\ This is a manual page for the Tclresource extension for Tcl. NAME SYNOPSIS INTRODUCTION ((b resource attributes b)) ((i resourceRef i)) ?((i option i)) ((i resourceType i)) ? ?((i value i)) ? ((b resource attributes b)) ((i resourceRef i)) ((b resource attributes b)) ((i resourceRef i)) ((i value i)) ((b resource attributes b)) ((i resourceRef i)) ((i option i)) ((i resourceType i)) ((b resource attributes b)) ((i resourceRef i)) ((i option i)) ((i resourceType i)) ((i value i)) ((b resource close b)) ((i resourceRef i)) ((b resource delete b)) ?((i options i)) ? ((i resourceType i)) ((b resource fork b)) ((i resourceRef i)) ((b resource files b)) ?((i resourceRef i)) ? ((b resource id b)) ((i resourceType i)) ((i resourceName i)) ((i resourceRef i)) ((b resource list b)) ?((i -ids i)) ? ((i resourceType i)) ?((i resourceRef i)) ? ((b resource name b)) ((i resourceType i)) ((i resourceId i)) ((i resourceRef i)) ((b resource open b)) ?(((i -datafork i)) \|((i -resourcefork i)) )? ((i fileName i)) ?((i access i)) ? ((b resource read b)) ((i resourceType i)) ((i resourceId i)) ?((i resourceRef i)) ? ((b resource types b)) ?((i resourceRef i)) ? ((b resource update b)) ((i resourceRef i)) ((b resource write b)) ?((i options i)) ? ((i resourceType i)) ((i data i)) RESOURCE TYPES RESOURCE IDS RESOURCE ATTRIBUTES PORTABILITY ISSUES VERSION HISTORY KNOW ISSUES LICENSE AND DISCLAIMER SOURCE CODE SEE ALSO KEYWORDS ## NAME resource - Manipulate Macintosh resources ## SYNOPSIS ``` package require resource 1.1 resource subcommand ?arg arg ...? ``` ## INTRODUCTION The resource command provides some generic operations for dealing with Macintosh resources. This command is only supported on the Macintosh platform. Prior to system OSX, each Macintosh file consisted of two forks: a data fork and a resource fork. Since the advent of system OSX, resources can also be stored in the data fork (this is the recommended format for portability reasons: resource forks tend to be otherwise deleted when copied on another platform). You use the normal open, puts, close, etc. commands to manipulate the data fork but you must use this command, however, to interact with the resource map, even if it is stored in the data fork. In a resource map, resources are categorized by type and, in each type, are designated by an ID and possibly a name. See RESOURCE TYPES and RESOURCE IDS below for details. On OSX, the resource command is not a built-in command of Tcl anymore. It is made available by this extension which much be explicitely loaded with a package require instruction like this: ``` package require resource 1.1 ``` *Subcommand* indicates what operation to perform. Any unique abbreviation for *subcommand* is acceptable. The valid *subcommands* are explained in the next sections. This command is used to get or set the attributes of the resource map or\ the attributes of a particular resource in the resource map. It has four\ different syntaxes: ### resource attributes *resourceRef* To get the attributes of the resource map specified by the *resourceRef* \ argument. ### resource attributes *resourceRef* *value* To give the value *value* to the attributes of the resource map specified\ by the *resourceRef* argument. ### resource attributes *resourceRef* *option* *resourceType* To get the attributes of the resource specified by the argument *option* \ in the resource map designated by the *resourceRef* argument. The option\ can be one of: - \* **-id** *resourceId* : if the **-id** option is given, the id *resourceId* (see RESOURCE IDS below)\ is used to specify the resource whose attributes must be returned or set.\ The id must be a number: to specify a name use the **-name** option. - \* **-name** *resourceName* : if the **-name** option is specified, the resource named *resourceName* is\ used. ### resource attributes *resourceRef* *option* *resourceType* *value* To give the value *value* to the attributes of the resource specified by\ the argument *option* in the resource map designated by the *resourceRef* \ argument. The resource can be specified using either the **-id** or the\ **-name** as indicated above. Note that the **resource attributes** command is available only since\ version 1.1 of the Tclresource extension. See RESOURCE ATTRIBUTES below\ for details about the possible values for attributes. Closes the given resource reference (obtained from resource open).\ Resources from that resource file will no longer be available. This command will delete the resource specified by *options* and type\ *resourceType* (see RESOURCE TYPES below). The options give you several\ ways to specify the resource to be deleted. ((lu ((li **-id** *resourceId* : if the **-id** option is given the id *resourceId* (see RESOURCE IDS below) is\ used to specify the resource to be deleted. The id must be a number: to\ specify a name use the **-name** option. ((li **-name** *resourceName* : if **-name** is specified, the resource named *resourceName* will be deleted.\ If the **-id** is also provided, then there must be a resource with BOTH this\ name and this id. If no name is provided, then the id will be used\ regardless of the name of the actual resource. ((li **-file** *resourceRef* : if the **-file** option is specified then the resource will be deleted from\ the file pointed to by *resourceRef* . Otherwise the first resource with the\ given *resourceName* and or *resourceId* which is found on the resource file\ path will be deleted. To inspect the file path, use the resource files\ command. \ lu)) Returns which fork (either data fork or resource fork) contains\ the resource map specified by the argument *resourceRef* . The return value\ will be *datafork* , *resourcefork* or *unknown* . The value *unknown* is returned\ for the resource maps listed by the command **resource list** which were not\ opened explicitely by a resource open command but were already in memory. Note that the **resource fork** command is available only since version 1.1\ of the Tclresource extension. If resourceRef is not provided, this command returns a Tcl list of the\ resource references for all the currently open resource files. The list\ is in the normal Macintosh search order for resources. If *resourceRef* is\ specified, the command will return the path to the file whose resource\ fork is represented by that token. Returns the id of the resource of type *resourceType* with name\ *resourceName* in the resource map designated by the argument *resourceRef* .\ This is the reverse of command \[resource name\]. List all of the resources ids of type *resourceType* (see RESOURCE TYPES\ below). If *resourceRef* is specified then the command will limit the\ search to that particular resource file. Otherwise, all resource files\ currently opened by the application will be searched. A Tcl list of\ either the resource name's or resource id's of the found resources will\ be returned: each time the name of the resource is not empty, it is used\ preferably to the id, unless the *-ids* option has been specified, in\ which case only id's are returned. See the RESOURCE IDS section below for\ more details about what a resource id is. Note that the *-ids* option is only available since version 1.1 of the\ Tclresource extension. Returns the (possibly empty) name of the resource of type *resourceType* \ with ID *resourceId* in the resource map designated by the argument\ *resourceRef* . This is the reverse of command \[resource id\]. Open the resource map for the file *fileName* . On OSX, resources can be\ stored either in the resource fork of the file or in the data fork of the\ file. By default, resource open will try to find resources in the data\ fork of the file, then, if none is found, in its resource fork. This\ behavior can be modified with one of the *-datafork* or *-resourcefork* \ switches which force the command to search only in the data fork or the\ resource fork respectively. Standard file access permissions may also be\ specified with the *access* optional argument (see the manual entry for\ open for details). A resource reference ( *resourceRef* ) is returned that\ can be used by the other resource commands to refer to this opened\ resource map. An error can occur if the file doesn't exist or the file does not have\ resources in the data or the resource fork. However, if you open the file\ with write permissions the file and/or resource fork will be created\ instead of generating an error: the *-datafork* or *-resourcefork* switches\ let you specify which kind of resource file should be created (data fork\ resource file or resource fork resource file). If neither *-datafork* nor \ *-resourcefork* are specified, a data fork resource file is created by \ default. Note that the *-datafork* and *-resourcefork* switches are only available\ since version 1.1 of the Tclresource extension. Read the entire resource of type *resourceType* (see RESOURCE TYPES below)\ and the name or id of *resourceId* (see RESOURCE IDS below) into memory and\ return the result. If *resourceRef* is specified we limit our search to\ that resource file, otherwise we search all open resource forks in the\ application. It is important to note that most Macintosh resource use a\ binary format and the data returned from this command may have embedded\ NULLs or other non-ASCII data. This command returns a Tcl list of all resource types (see RESOURCE\ TYPES below) found in the resource file pointed to by *resourceRef* . If\ *resourceRef* is not specified it will return all the resource types found\ in every resource file currently opened by the application. This command updates the resource map designated by the *resourceRef* \ argument. It performs three tasks: - \* changing, adding, or removing resource data in the fork on disk to\ match the resource map in memory; - \* compacting the resource fork, closing up any empty space created when\ a resource was removed, made smaller, or made larger; - \* writing the resource map in memory to the resource fork. Because the \[resource close\] command calls \[resource update\] before it\ closes the resource fork, you need to call it directly only if you want\ to update the file without closing it. Note that the **resource update** command is available only since version\ 1\.1 of the Tclresource extension. This command will write the passed in *data* as a new resource of type\ *resourceType* (see RESOURCE TYPES below). Several options are available\ that describe where and how the resource is stored. - \* **-id** *resourceId* : if the **-id** option is given the id *resourceId* (see RESOURCE IDS below) is\ used for the new resource, otherwise a unique id will be generated that\ will not conflict with any existing resource. However, the id must be a\ number: to specify a name use the **-name** option. - \* **-name** *resourceName* : if **-name** is specified the resource will be named *resourceName* , otherwise\ it will have the empty string as the name. - \* **-file** *resourceRef* : if the **-file** option is specified then the resource will be written in\ the file pointed to by *resourceRef* , otherwise the most recently open\ resource will be used. - \* **-force** : if the target resource already exists, then by default Tcl will not\ overwrite it, but raise an error instead. Use the **-force** flag to force\ overwriting the existant resource. ## RESOURCE TYPES Resource types are defined as a four character string that is then mapped to an underlying id. For example, TEXT refers to the Macintosh resource type for text. The type STR# is a list of counted strings. All Macintosh resources must be of some type. See Macintosh documentation for a more complete list of resource types that are commonly used. ## RESOURCE IDS For this command the notion of a resource id actually refers to two ideas in Macintosh resources. Every place you can use a resource Id you can use either the resource name or a resource number. Names are always searched or returned in preference to numbers. For example, the resource list command will return names if they exist or numbers if the name is NULL. ## RESOURCE ATTRIBUTES Resource maps and individual resources have attributes. The attributes for resource maps are: | | | | | --- | --- | --- | | mapChanged | 32 | Write map out at update | | mapCompact | 64 | Compact resource file when writing to disk | | mapReadOnly | 128 | Resource file is read-only | The attributes are additional values. To set both the *mapReadOnly* and *mapChanged* attributes for the resource map with reference *resourceRef* , one would write: ``` resource attributes ((i resourceRef i)) 160 ``` The allowable attributes for individual resources are: | | | | | --- | --- | --- | | resChanged | 2 | Resource changed | | resPreload | 4 | Load in on OpenResFile | | resProtected | 8 | Protected | | resLocked | 16 | Load it in locked | | resPurgeable | 32 | Purgeable resource | | resSysHeap | 64 | System or application heap | ## PORTABILITY ISSUES The resource command is only available on Macintosh. On systems older than OSX, the resource command was built in Tcl but it was removed from the versions of Tcl compiled for OSX. It is now made available as an extension which should be loaded in the scripts with the following instruction: ``` package require resource 1.1 ``` Version 1.0 of the extension is simply a port to OSX of the old **resource** command: it does not handle data fork resource files. Support for data fork resource files is introduced in version 1.1. ## VERSION HISTORY - \* 1\.0 - 03/09/25 - First release of the extension for OSX. - \* 1\.1 - 03/10/05 - Support for data fork resources, attributes, update, name. - \* 1\.1.4 - 04/09/07 - Fixed a bug related to permissions. Added a complete tests suite. Better error messages. ## KNOW ISSUES The \[resource\] command has been ported to OSX as a Tcl extension by Bernard Desgraupes. Please e-mail any bug or problem you encounter: \ Version 1.0 strictly corresponds to the old \[resource\] command included in the pre-OSX versions of Tcl. Version 1.1 added several improvements: - \* possibility of opening and writing to datafork resource files as well \ as resource fork resource files. - \* new subcommand \[resource attributes\] to get/set the attributes of a resource \ map or an individual resource. - \* new subcommand \[resource update\] to update a resource map without closing it. - \* new subcommand \[resource fork\] to indicate which fork a resource map was opened from. - \* new subcommands \[resource name\] and \[resource id\] returning the name of a resource given its ID, and vice versa. - \* new *-ids* option for the \[resource list\] command The Tclresource folder (Tclresource1.0, Tclresource1.1 etc) contains the extension compiled as a dynamic library. For the Tcl interpreter to find it automatically, it should be located on your system in /Library/Tcl/ (administrator password required) or in your personal folder ~/Library/Tcl/. ## LICENSE AND DISCLAIMER This software is free software and distributed under the same licensing terms as the Tcl language itself. See license.terms in the Tcl distribution. The original code of the resource command has the following copyright. ``` Copyright © 1997 Sun Microsystems, Inc. Copyright © 1995-1997 Roger E. Critchlow Jr. ``` For the Tclresource extension: ``` Copyright © 2003-2004 Bernard Desgraupes ``` ## SOURCE CODE Tclresource is an Open Source Project. Its source code is public and can be found on the SourceForge site at the following address: \ Tclresource binary releases are available at \ or on my web page at \ The code is under CVS control. You can retrieve the latest stage of development using any CVS client. See instructions at: \ You can browse the cvs repository online at \ ## SEE ALSO open ## KEYWORDS open, resource