Macintosh OSX custom stack icons

[Shari]

>I've made my own stand alone using Metacard's Standalone Builder, and it
>runs the stacks.  The stand alone (my app) shows my own custom icon, but the
>stacks don't show theirs.

Ah... gotcha....

Only thing I forgot to ask, was WHICH flavour of Mac you are 
targeting... OSX or PPC.  The following instructions are for OSX.

You need to set the creator of the standalone, and the stacks.

Step 1:

The resource fork of the standalone, and stacks.  Firstly, the stacks 
themselves do NOT need a resource fork.  But the standalone does.  In 
the stack that will become the standalone, you should have an ic14, 
ic18, icns, ics4, and ics8 resource.  If you edit ic18, the rest 
should be edited for you automatically.  Put your standalone icon 
into resource 128 of ic18.  Put your stack icon into resource 129 and 
130.


Step 2:

When you use the Standalone Builder, there is a field "Creator" that 
has "MSTD" in it.  This is Metacard's creator code.

You'll need to use a custom code for this.  Creator codes are 4 
characters, letters or numbers, small or capital.  If you plan to 
distribute the standalone to others, you should make sure not to use 
a code already in use.  You can get creator code info at:

http://developer.apple.com/dev/cftype/faq.html

I register all mine with Apple thru this link.  And check for 
existing codes before using one, to make sure it is not already 
registered.  For Blackjack Gold I used "bJg3".

Enter this code in the "Creator" field when you build the standalone.


Step 3:

You must save the icons as files, specifically ".icns" files, and put 
them into your "Resource" folder that Metacard OSX will create in the 
OSX package of your program.  Save one for the standalone, and one 
for the stacks.  Replace the Metacard .icns files with your own, and 
enter the new info into the info.plist file.

The CFBundleTypeIconFile should be your icon for the stacks, for 
Blackjack Gold, I called the stack icon "Data.icns"

<key>CFBundleTypeIconFile</key>
<string>Data.icns</string>

The CFBundleIconFile should be your icon for the standalone, for 
Blackjack Gold, I called the standalone icon "Gold.icns"

<key>CFBundleIconFile</key>
<string>Gold.icns</string>

The CFBundleSignature is your creator code.

<key>CFBundleSignature</key>
<string>bJg3</string>

I've attached the actual plist file I used for Blackjack Gold, so you 
can see the other changes I made to Metacard's.

Step 4:

The pkgInfo file.

Open it, and change the text to "APPLXXXX", where XXXX is your creator code.

Step 5:

The standalone, and the stacks, should be in the MacOS folder of the package.



Step 5:

Open the resource for of the standalone with ResEdit or a similar 
program.  There should be a resource named your chosen creator code. 
There should be the ic** series, and each one should have 128 as the 
standalone icon, and 129-130 as the stack icon.  Except for icns, 
which you just leave alone.

Open the BNDL resource and edit 128.  The signature field should be 
your creator code.  If it isn't, enter it there.

There should be two types:  APPL and MSTK.  APPL should be your 
standalone icon, MSTK should be your stack icon.  If they aren't, 
double click to edit them.


Step 6:

Set the creator code of your stacks.  To do this, save your external 
stacks with stackfiletype "XXXXMSTK" where "XXXX" is your creator 
code.

In the standalone, every place it saves a stack, set the stackFileType first:

set the stackFileType to "XXXXMSTK"
save stack someStack


Step 7:

You are done.  Hopefully I haven't left anything out!

Shari C

-- 
--Shareware Games for the Mac--
http://www.gypsyware.com