#$K+ Contents
This file has been created with the evaluation or unregistered copy of EasyHelp/Web™ from Eon Solutions Ltd (Tel: +44 (0)973 209667, Email: eon@cix.compulink.co.uk).

About
Features
Resource Bench Tour
Troubleshooting
Support

#$K+ Resource Bench - Integrating Windows™ resources to your Eiffel code

Resource Bench lets you use popular Windows interface builders ("resource editors") and combine them with the power of Eiffel for writing your application faster and better. With Resource Bench you will gain precious time to market and dazzle your customers with the quality of both the interface and the application.
From a Windows "Resource File", Resource Bench will generate Eiffel Classes providing your application with necessary graphical mechanisms, based on the Windows Eiffel Library (WEL). Resource Bench is entirely written in Eiffel using the power of the ISE Eiffel libraries: WEL, EiffelLex, EiffelParse and EiffelBase.
To produce a graphical WEL-based application, all you need is a resource file, created with an ordinary interface builder such as Microsoft Developer Studio or Borland Resource Workshop, or with a resource file editor. Resource Bench will parse this resource file and generate WEL-based Eiffel source code.
Because it automatically generate classes that would take a long time to write by hand (for example 50 classes, each with its own creation routine and some routine redefinitions, assuming you have 50 different dialogs in your application), Resource Bench reduces the development time of your Windows project and enables you to concentrate on your product's added value.

#$K+ Resource Bench features

•	Adds to the power of ISE Eiffel the ability to reuse the output of popular Interface Builders on Windows,
•	Parses any Windows resource file (created by Microsoft Developer Studio or Borland Resource Workshop),
•	Shows resources through a "tree view" control,
•	Displays resource information,
•	Open and Save a Project (projects are not compatible with upcoming version of Resource Bench,
•	Generates both Eiffel Classes for producing an Eiffel graphical application (based on WEL, the Windows Eiffel Library) and an updated resource file,
•	Lets you specify which parts of your resource file you want to include in the code generation,
•	The perfect tool for Windows developer who want to get their product to market before the competition -- and with a better result. 

#$K+ Resource Bench Tour

1 - Launch Resource Bench. A small initialization dialog box appears: 

{bmc retriev.bmp}

Then you get the main window of Resource Bench:

{bmc rb.bmp}

2 - Open a resource file; the first time around, we suggest you choose the example.rc file provided with the release . Resource Bench parses the file.

A dialog box will inform you of the progress of the parsing. The first step is the preprocessing of the resource file:
{bmc prepro.bmp}

Then the analysis phase:
{bmc analyz.bmp}

3 - After these two steps you will see a hierarchical view of the resource file that show you what resource's type are included in the resource file (Below the result of the "example.rc" file).

{bmc collaps.bmp}

You can expand the tree view to see associated resources for each resource type.

{bmc expand.bmp}

At this point you are able to:
•	Select some properties for the Eiffel code generation
•	Save a project file
•	Generate Eiffel Code
•	Regenerate the same resource file (this is useful in particular when you have a Resource Bench Project but do not have access any more to the original resource file.

4 - To save a project, click on the Save button of the toolbar or select the Save item in the file menu. A standard Save dialog box will appear, letting you specify the file name of your project. The file extension for a Resource Bench project is .prb.

5 - To generate Eiffel code, select the "Generate Eiffel Code..." item in the Build menu. The following dialog box will appear to let you specify the target directory for the generated Eiffel classes:
{bmc browse.bmp}

6 -  To generate a resource file, select the "Generate Resource file..." item in the Build menu. A standard Save dialog box will appear, letting you specify the file into which you can generate the resource file.

#$K+ Troubleshooting

If you have problems when you parse a resource file, you can first try to remove the grammar file (its name is "rb.gram"), and then re-launch Resource Bench. It creates again the grammar file to allow parsing resource files (on a Pentium 120 it takes less than one minute).

#$ Support
For comments, suggestions or bug reports, the customer support address is <support@eiffel.com>. Resource Bench is a new product and we are interested in your views about the product and its future evolution.
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