Best way?

[The Hobo]

I'm trying to find the best way to store my programs skin files. I don't want to create a directory for every skin file and store all the images and skin files in the directory.

I want to do something like winamp does. Create a .zip like file (even if it doesn't compress) and store all the files in there. If I were to do that, how would I extract them when the skin is initialized? Should I send them to a temporary directory, then delete them after they're all loaded?

Or is there a better idea that I haven't thought of?

[filburt1]

Originally posted by The Hobo
Should I send them to a temporary directory, then delete them after they're all loaded?

That's what I would do. You can use the "official" temp directory too:

Msgbox Environ$("TEMP")

[The Hobo]

It won't seem like I'm ripping off WinAMP will it?

[filburt1]

I'm sure other programs use this technique. Windowblinds does, for example.

[macai]

OK, heres what you do. You load lets say you want to import
jpeg.jpg. You open a text file, in another file, open jpeg.jpg's
binary as string.

In the text file, make like a splitter...you know, some random
ASCII crap. THen you plop the image's binary there.

When you want to open this skin and do stuff to\with it (such as
displaying the skin), you open the txt, say Split(MyTextVar, "My
Random ASCII Crap").

Then, the different Array elements are the different images... you
save them as bitmaps or whatever in the temp folder, you then
load them back up in an image box or whatever;.


This helP?

[The Hobo]

If you're trying to tell me how to archive or zip things, I already have that code of my program written. But thanks anyways.

If you're talking about something else, then you've lost me.

[macai]

Nah, im not talking about that. I'm talking about a cheap file
merging technique!

[The Hobo]

Originally posted by macai
Nah, im not talking about that. I'm talking about a cheap file
merging technique!

File Merging is a basically what archiving is. It's just like zipping, but without compression.

[macai]

ok, yeah...

you got me.

But you asked how to do something and it looked like you
wanted to know how to merge\archive etc... oh well, sorry.

[The Hobo]

I just wanted to know if that'd be the best way to do it. But thanks for tryin' to help, brotha'z!

[macai]

Hmm, let me put it this way;

If your looking for ease of creation etc, Make a Directory With
All the Skin's Files.

If your looking for integrity, Archive the files into a file with
a custom file extension.