Palm OS Resource File Formats describes the formats for files used by the Palm OS® resource tools.
This book does not cover the following:
- How to programmatically work with the user interface elements that are part of the Palm OS UI Library. For information on the user interface API functions, see Exploring Palm OS: User Interface.
- How to use a resource editor to create UI elements. See the documentation that came with your development environment on how to use the resource editor.
- How to design an interface that is user-friendly and conforms to Palm OS guidelines. See the book Palm OS User Interface Guidelines for this type of information.
Who Should Read This Book
Palm OS Resource File Formats is intended for the following readers:
- Palm OS application developers who want to use the ARM-native Palm OS tools to develop applications.
- Tools vendors or implementers who are creating tools that cooperate with the ARM-native Palm OS tools.
This book is intended to be used with Palm OS Resource Tools Guide. Palm OS Resource Tools Guide provides guidance information on how to use the Palm OS resource tools developed by PalmSource.
What This Book Contains
This book has the following organization.
- Chapter 1, "Creating XML Resource Files," introduces XML and describes how to use XML files to define Palm OS resources.
- Chapter 2, "Specifying XRD Data Types," describes how to define the basic data types: binary, boolean, enumerated, external file, four-character code, integer number, and quoted text data.
- Chapter 3, "XRD Resource Element Reference," provides an alphabetical reference of all of the XRD resource elements, and a summary categorized list of the elements.
- Chapter 4, "Custom Resources," describes how you can create custom resources in XML: enumerations, structures, and resource types.
Additional Resources
- Documentation
PalmSource publishes its latest versions of this and other documents for Palm OS developers at
- Training
PalmSource and its partners host training classes for Palm OS developers. For topics and schedules, check
- Knowledge Base
The Knowledge Base is a fast, web-based database of technical information. Search for frequently asked questions (FAQs), sample code, white papers, and the development documentation at
The Exploring Palm OS Series
The Palm OS Protein API documentation is called the Exploring Palm OS series. Together, the books in this series document and explain how to use the APIs exposed to third-party developers by the fully ARM-native versions of Palm OS, beginning with Palm OS Cobalt. Each of the books in the Exploring Palm OS series explains one aspect of the Palm operating system, and each contains both conceptual and reference documentation for the pertinent technology.
IMPORTANT: The Exploring Palm OS series is intended for developers creating Palm OS Protein applications for Palm OS Cobalt. If you are interested in developing applications that work through PACE and that also run on earlier Palm OS releases, read the latest versions of the Palm OS Programmer's API Reference and Palm OS Programmer's Companion instead.
As of this writing, the complete Exploring Palm OS series consists of the following titles:
- Exploring Palm OS: Programming Basics
- Exploring Palm OS: Memory, Databases, and Files
- Exploring Palm OS: User Interface
- Exploring Palm OS: System Management
- Exploring Palm OS: Text and Localization
- Exploring Palm OS: Input Services
- Exploring Palm OS: High-Level Communications
- Exploring Palm OS: Low-Level Communications
- Exploring Palm OS: Telephony and SMS
- Exploring Palm OS: Multimedia
- Exploring Palm OS: Security and Cryptography
- Exploring Palm OS: Porting Applications to Palm OS Cobalt
- Exploring Palm OS: Palm OS File Formats
Palm OS Developer Suite Documentation
The following tools books are part of the Palm OS Developer Suite package: