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An overview of the stages of application development
New (shell) applications are created from the “New app” entry in AppBasic's iconbar menu.
Applications created this way immediately run and will place an icon on the iconbar from where they can be quit.
The shell's resfile is then edited by loading it into ResEd. (Alternatively you can replace the resfile).
While editing resfiles it is worthwhile remembering that the application will always run; this often enables the programmer to see the effects of any edits. Remember also to update the application's RMEnsure commands as you add objects to the resfile. (This is done via the menu popped up by Ctrl double-clicking the shell)
Resfile editing is fairly intuitive. The guide to ResEd is in Chapter 17 of User Interface Toolbox; see also the examples in the first section of these tutorials.
Programs take the form of BASIC files placed in !RunImage. (N.B. !RunImage is a directory which can be opened by Ctrl double-clicking the application with the Adjust - right-hand - button). The files in !RunImage contain procedure and function definitions written in the form of BASIC procedure libraries.
Programming essentially consists of "filling-out" the details of the definitions of special procedures known as event-handlers. The event-handlers may call other procedures which are also placed in BASIC files added to !RunImage. Libraries are easy to deal with - just place a copy in the !RunImage directory (no need for LIBRARY commands).
Event-handlers are added to the !RunImage directory for those events (selecting a menu entry, clicking an action button, ...) the programmer wishes to respond to. The quick way to do this is via the application processing menu (popped up by Ctrl double-clicking the application). Selecting leaf entries in the Event handler submenu places a BASIC file in the !RunImage directory containing a skeleton definition.
Applications are compressed to a single !RunImage file via the application processing menu. This has been setup as a “toggle” - Ctrl double-clicking an application which has just been compressed will return it to its edit (shell) state. It is a good idea to compress/decompress often. Not only is it easier to keep track of any possible compression difficulties (there are remarkably few in my experience) but the Modules file is automatically updated.