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Glossary

alternate rectangle A rectangle used by the Help Manager (under some circumstances) for transposing a help balloon's tip when trying to fit the balloon onscreen. For all help resources except the 'hdlg' resource, the Help Manager moves the tip to different sides of the hot rectangle. For 'hdlg' resources, however, the Help Manager allows you to specify alternate rectangles for transposing balloon tips. You can also specify alternate rectangles when you use the HMShowBalloon and HMShowMenuBalloon functions. Compare hot rectangle. See also tip.

application translation extension A translation extension that can create a list of file types and identify files but that performs no actual file translation.

balloon definition function An implementation of a window definition function that defines the general appearance of a help balloon. See also help balloon.

catalog type The type of a file as maintained in a volume's hierarchical file system catalog file. See also translation file type.

cell A rectangular part of a list displaying information about one item from the list.

color icon record A data structure of type CIcon used for information obtained from a color icon ('cicn') resource.

color icon resource A resource of type 'cicn' used for color icon resource data. A color icon resource can define a color icon of any size without a mask or a 32-by-32 pixel color icon with a mask. You can define the bit depth for a color icon resource and you can use resources of type 'cicn' in menus and dialog boxes. Note that the Finder does not use or display any resources that you create of type 'cicn'. To create an icon for display by the Finder, create one or more of the icons in an icon family. See also icon family, icon resource, small icon resource.

component A piece of code that provides a defined set of services to one or more clients. Applications, system extensions, as well as other components can use the services of a component.

component connection An access path to a component. A single component can serve multiple client applications at the same time by supporting multiple connections.

component identifier A value that identifies a particular component.

component instance A value that identifies
a component connection. Each instance of a component can maintain separate storage and error information, and manage its A5 world.

Component Manager A collection of routines that allows your application or other clients to access components. The Component Manager manages components and also provides services to components.

component subtype A value that identifies variations on the basic interface that a component supports. As with component types, a component subtype is a sequence of four characters. The value of the component subtype is meaningful only in the context of a given component type.

component type A value that identifies the type of service provided by a component. As with resource types, a component type is a sequence of four characters.

control device function A function that interacts and communicates with the Finder, responding to requests from the Finder to handle events and perform actions. Every implementation of a control panel must contain a control device function in the control device code ('cdev') resource.

control panel A modeless dialog box that contains controls that let users specify basic settings and preferences for a systemwide feature, such as the speaker volume, desktop pattern, or picture displayed by a screen saver.

control panel file A file of type 'cdev' that contains the required and optional resources to implement a control panel. These resources also define the look of a control panel, including its icon. One of the required resources is a code resource containing a control device function.

convertor See translator.

current resource file The file whose resource fork the Resource Manager searches first when searching for a resource; usually the file whose resource fork was opened most recently.

data fork The fork of a file that contains the file's data.

desktop database A database of icons, file types, applications, and comments maintained by the Finder for all volumes over 2 MB.

Desktop Manager A collection of routines that manages the desktop database.

dialog-item component The portion of an 'hdlg' resource in which you specify the help messages for a particular item in a dialog or alert box.

drop-launch To drag a document's icon onto an application's icon, thereby opening the document.

dynamic window A window that can change its title or reposition any of the objects within its content area.

explicit translation The conversion of a file or scrap requiring direct intervention from an application. See also implicit translation.

file A named, ordered sequence of bytes stored on a Macintosh volume and divided into two forks, the data fork and the resource fork.

file reference number A number (greater
than 0) returned to your application when it opens a fork of a file. Each file reference number corresponds to a unique access path.

file translation list A list of source and destination file types among which a file translation system can translate. Defined by the FileTranslationList data type.

file translation system A translation system that can recognize and translate files from one format to another.

file type specification A way of specifying the catalog type and translation file type of a file, as well as other information about translating the file. Defined by the FileTypeSpec data type.

filter See translator.

header component The portion of a help resource in which you supply information that applies to all help balloons specified in the resource--information such as the version number of the Help Manager, the balloon definition function, and the variation code.

help balloon A rounded-rectangle window that contains explanatory information for the user. With tips pointing at the objects they annotate, help balloons look like the bubbles used for dialog in comic strips. Help balloons are turned on by the user from the Help menu; when Balloon Help assistance is on, a help balloon appears whenever the user moves the cursor over the balloon's hot rectangle. See also alternate rectangle, hot rectangle.

Help Manager A collection of routines that your application can use to provide Balloon Help assistance to your application's users.

help messages Descriptive text or pictures that appear inside help balloons.

help resources Application-supplied resources that describe help messages, balloon definition functions, variation codes, and, when necessary, the tips and the hot rectangles or alternate rectangles for the Help Manager to use in drawing help balloons. These help resources are the menu help ('hmnu') resource, the dialog item help ('hdlg') resource, the rectangle help ('hrct') resource, the window help ('hwin') resource, the Finder icon help ('hfdr') resource, and the default help override ('hovr') resource.

hot rectangle An area defined to display a help balloon. When the user moves the cursor over this area, the Help Manager displays the help balloon associated with the hot rectangle. Compare alternate rectangle.

hot-rectangle component The portion of an 'hrct' resource in which you specify hot rectangles and the help messages associated with each hot rectangle.

icon An image on a Macintosh screen that graphically represents some object, such as a file, a folder, or the Trash. See also icon family.

icon cache An icon suite that includes a pointer to an icon getter function and a pointer to data that can be used as a reference constant. See also icon getter function, icon suite.

icon component The portion of an 'hfdr' resource in which you specify a help message for your application's Finder icon.

icon family A set of icons that represent a single object and share the same resource ID. The resource types and names of each member of an icon family are 'ICN#'--a large (32-by-32 pixel) black-and-white icon and mask; 'ics#'--a small (16-by-16 pixel) black-and-white icon and mask; 'icl4'--a large (32-by-32 pixel) color icon with 4 bits of color data per pixel;
'ics4'--a small (16-by-16 pixel) color icon with 4 bits of color data per pixel; 'icl8'--a large (32-by-32 pixel) color icon with 8 bits of color data per pixel; and 'ics8'--a small (16-by-16 pixel) color icon with 8 bits of color data per pixel.

icon getter function An application-defined function that returns a handle to icon data for a specified icon type. You can associate an icon getter function with an icon cache. Subsequent calls to Icon Utilities routines that use icons not present in the icon cache use the icon getter function to read the icon data into memory.

icon resource A resource of type 'ICON' that contains a bitmap for a 32-by-32 pixel black-and-white icon. You can use resources of type 'ICON' in menus and dialog boxes. Note that the Finder does not use or display any resources of type 'ICON' that you create. To create an icon for display by the Finder, create one or more of the icons in an icon family. See also color icon resource, icon family, small icon resource.

icon suite One or more handles to icon data that represents icons from a single icon family. Some Icon Utilities routines accept a handle to an icon suite and draw the appropriate icon from that suite for the destination rectangle and the bit depth of the display device.

Icon Utilities A collection of routines that your application can use to display icons in graphics ports (such as windows or dialog boxes) created by your application.

implicit translation The automatic conversion of a file or scrap without direct intervention from an application. See also explicit translation.

kind resource A resource that contains kind strings for document types. Defined by the 'kind' resource type.

kind string The string displayed in the "Kind" column in a Finder window when a folder's contents are viewed by name, size, kind, label, or date (that is, by any method other than by icon or small icon).

list A series of items displayed within a rectangle. Lists may have zero, one, or two scroll bars.

list definition procedure A code resource of type 'LDEF' that defines the appearance of a list.

List Manager A collection of routines that your application can use to create and display lists in your application's windows or dialog boxes.

Macintosh Easy Open The part of the Macintosh system software that provides translation services for users of Macintosh computers. Macintosh Easy Open uses the Translation Manager to provide these services.

menu-item component The portion of an 'hmnu' resource in which you specify the help messages for a particular menu item.

menu-title component The portion of an 'hmnu' resource in which you specify help messages for the menu title.

mini icons Icons of resource types 'icm#', 'icm4', and 'icm8' that measure 12 by 16 pixels. Like the icons in an icon family, the three resource types for mini icons identify the icon list, 4-bit color icons, and 8-bit color icons, respectively. Compare small icon resource.

missing-items component The portion of a help resource in which you specify help messages for any items missing from or unspecified in the rest of the resource.

monitors extension An extension to the Monitors control panel that a video card manufacturer can develop and provide to give users a simple way to control features of the video card. A monitors extension is limited to
the video card; it cannot be used to control the settings of systemwide features. A user can open an extension only through the Monitors control panel.

monitors extension file A file of type 'cdev' that contains required and optional
resources that implement an extension to the Monitors control panel for a specific video card. One of the required resources is a code resource containing a monitors extension function.

monitors extension function A function that interacts and communicates with the Monitors control panel, responding to requests from the Monitors control panel to handle events and perform actions. Every implementation of an extension to the Monitors control panel must contain a monitors extension function in the monitors code ('mntr') resource.

mouse location The location of the cursor at the time an event occurs.

open resource A resource of type 'open' that declares which file types your application can open as documents.

point-to-point translation A translation group with one source type and one destination type.

resource Data of any kind stored in a defined format in a file's resource fork and managed by the Resource Manager.

resource attributes Flags in the resource map that tell the Resource Manager how to handle the corresponding resource.

resource file Synonym for resource fork.

resource fork The fork of a file that contains the file's resources.

resource ID An integer that identifies a specific resource of a given type.

resource map Data read into memory when the Resource Manager opens a resource fork.
A resource map contains information about the resources in the resource fork.

resource type The type of a resource in a resource fork, designated by a sequence of four characters (such as 'MENU' for a menu).

scrap A storage area (either in memory or on disk) that is available to applications to hold the last data cut or copied by the user.

Scrap Manager A collection of routines that your application can use to support copy-and-paste operations.

scrap translation list A list of source and destination scrap types among which a scrap translation system can translate. Defined by the ScrapTranslationList data type.

scrap translation system A translation system that can recognize and translate scraps from one format to another.

scrap type specification A way of specifying information about translating a scrap. Defined by the ScrapTypeSpec data type.

small icon resource A resource of type 'SICN' that describes 12-by-16 pixel icons, even though the icons are stored in the resource as 16-by-16 pixel bitmaps. An 'SICN' resource consists of a list of 16-by-16 pixel bitmaps for black-and-white icons; by convention, the list includes only two bitmaps, and the second bitmap is considered a mask. You can use resources of type 'SICN' in menus. Note that the Finder does not use or display any resources that you create of type 'SICN'. To create an icon for display by the Finder, create one or more of the icons in an icon family. See also color icon resource, icon family, icon resource. Compare mini icons.

static window A window that doesn't change its title or reposition any of the objects within its content area.

superuser A user who is considered to be very knowledgeable. A monitors extension can define controls that it displays for superusers only.

tip At the side of a help balloon, the point that indicates what object or area is explained in the help balloon. See also help balloon, variation code.

transform A mode you can specify with some Icon Utilities routines that draw icons. Specifying transforms with these routines alters the appearance of the icons in standard ways that are analogous to Finder states for icons. For example, you can specify the transform ttSelected to draw an icon so that it is highlighted as if it were selected in the Finder.

translation extension A component called by Macintosh Easy Open to identify and translate files or scraps. See also application translation extension.

translation file type The type of a file relevant for translation purposes. See also catalog type.

translation group A collection of source and destination file types; within each translation group, each source file type can be translated into any destination file type.

Translation Manager A collection of routines that provide data conversion services (such as implicit translation) for applications on Macintosh computers. You can use the Translation Manager to implement explicit translation.

translation system A translation extension, with or without external translators, that is able to recognize and translate files or scraps.

translator A piece of software called by translation extensions or by applications to convert documents or scraps from one format to another.

type selection A feature that allows a user to type the name of an item in a list to select it.

variation code In the header component of a help resource, an integer that specifies the preferred position of a help balloon relative to its hot rectangle. The balloon definition function draws the frame of the help balloon based on its variation code. See also balloon definition function.

window component The portion of an 'hwin' resource in which you associate an 'hrct' or 'hdlg' resource to a particular window.