Legacy Document
Important: The information in this document is obsolete and should not be used for new development.
Important: The information in this document is obsolete and should not be used for new development.
Standard Icons
System software uses icons to represent documents, applications, folders, disks, and other elements of the Macintosh interface. Many of these standard icons are stored in the System file. You can design your own icons for your application and its documents. If you do not provide your own icons, the Finder displays a default icon. Your application can retrieve any of the icons in the System file by using theGetResourcefunction. You should refer to these icons by their constant names and not by their resource IDs. For a description of theGetResourcefunction, see page 1-68.Most icons are available in at least two sizes: large (32 by 32 pixels) and small (16 by 16 pixels). They are also available in three bit depths: 8-bit, 4-bit, and black-and-white. An icon family consists of the large and small icons for an object, each with a mask, and each available in the three different color depths. See the chapter "Finder Interface" in Inside Macintosh: Macintosh Toolbox Essentials for information about how to create your own icons.
Many of the icons in the System file are also available in a small size (16 by 16 pixels), represented by the
'SICN'resource. These icons are used in Standard File Package dialog boxes. The Finder also uses icons in the System file to display in its windows the contents of disks or folders by name, date, size, or kind. The Views menu in System 7 allows the user to display large or small icons for a given window.The icons listed in Table 1-4 represent default icons for documents (including special classes of documents such as stationery), applications, and desk accessories. The icons show the
'icl8'resource from the icons' icon family. You can include customized versions of the icons in Table 1-4 with your documents and applications. There are icon families and'SICN'resources for all of these icons unless otherwise noted.
Table 1-4 Document and application icons Constant name and icon Resource ID Description genericDocumentIconResource
-4000 The default document icon. The Finder displays this icon if your application does not provide its own icon for documents. genericApplicationIconResource
-3996 The default application icon. The Finder displays this icon for any application that does not provide its own icon. genericDeskAccessoryIconResource
-3991 The default desk accessory icon. In System 7 and later versions, desk accessories are represented on the desktop as applications are, each with its own icon. The Finder displays this icon for any desk accessory that does not provide its own icon. genericEditionFileIconResource
-3989 The default edition file icon. (See Inside Macintosh: Interapplication Communication for information about editions.) genericStationeryIconResource
-3985 The default stationery file icon. (See Inside Macintosh: Macintosh Toolbox Essentials for information about stationery.) genericPreferencesIconResource
-3971 The default preferences file icon. Preference files appear in the Preferences folder, which is located inside the System Folder. There is no 'SICN'resource for this icon.genericQueryDocumentIconResource
-16506 The default query document icon. (See Inside Macintosh: Interapplication Communication for information about query documents.) There is no 'SICN'resource for this icon.genericExtensionIconResource
-16415 The default extension icon. The Finder displays this icon for any extension that does not have its own icon. Extension files appear in the Extensions folder, which is located inside the System Folder. There is no 'SICN'resource for this icon.The icons listed in Table 1-5 represent the different types of folders found on the desktop. The icons shown are the
'icl8'resource for the icons' icon families. There are icon families and'SICN'resources for all of these icons unless otherwise noted.The icons listed in Table 1-6 represent the different types of folders found in the System Folder. The icons shown are the
'icl8'resource for the icons' icon families. You should not alter the appearance of these icons. There are only icon families for these icons.The icons listed in Table 1-7 appear on the desktop. The icons shown are the
'icl8'resource for the icons' icon families. There are icon families and'SICN'resources for these icons unless otherwise noted.The icons listed in Table 1-8 are used only by the Standard File Package and are available only as an
'SICN'resource. The pop-up menu in the standard file dialog boxes indicates where the list of files shown in the dialog box is located (whether on the desktop, at the top level of a volume, or inside a series of folders on a volume).
