Users Guide
Creating Executables and Components

When a resource is referenced at runtime, if the resource has not been included in the executable file or in a dynamic library, PowerBuilder looks for it in the search path. You need to distribute resources with your application and make sure they get installed in the user's search path.

For example, assume you use two bitmap files as in the following script:

IF Balance < 0 THEN
   p_logo.PictureName = "frown.bmp"
ELSE
   p_logo.PictureName = "smile.bmp"
END IF

You can distribute the files frown.bmp and smile.bmp with your application. If the files are on the search path at runtime, the application can load them when they are needed.

The Windows search path is as follows:

Instead of distributing resources separately, you can create a PowerBuilder resource file (a PBR file) that lists all dynamically assigned resources.

A PBR file is an ASCII text file in which you list resource names (such as BMP, CUR, GIF, ICO, JPEG, RLE, WMF, and PNG files) and DataWindow objects. To create a PBR file, use a text editor. List the name of each resource, one resource on each line, then save the list as a file with the extension PBR.

Here is a sample PBR file:

ct_graph.ico
document.ico
codes.ico
button.bmp
next1.bmp
prior1.bmp
background.png

PowerBuilder compiles the listed resources into the executable file or a dynamic library file, so the resources are available directly at runtime.

For more information about creating and using PBR files, see the section called “Packaging an Application for Deployment” in Application Techniques.

When a resource such as a bitmap is referenced at runtime, PowerBuilder first looks in the executable file for it. Failing that, it looks in the PBDs that are defined for the application. Failing that, it looks in directories in the search path for the file.