Before you start using QuickCase:W for a serious project, take a moment to think about how you want your finished application to look. Consider the kinds of tasks your users are likely to do, and how the program might make those tasks easy.
Summary: Design Suggestion
Some particular issues you might keep in mind as you design your program are:
1.The contents and structure of the menu system
2.The dialog boxes to link to the program (if any), and the events that will invoke them
3.The icons, cursors, or other resources your application needs
4.The style of the application's window, including its border type, minimize and maximize buttons, and scroll bars
When you decide what type of dialog boxes and other resources best suit your user's needs, use the Dialog Editor and Image Editor to create those resources. QuickCase:W will link them directly to the program. (The Dialog Editor and Image Editor are described in Chapters 1–3.)
With your program's interface designed and resources completed, you're ready to start working with QuickCase:W.
QuickCase:W's main screen is a window-within-a-window: the outer one for QuickCase:W itself, and the inner one for your program (see Figure 5.1).
Notice the Edit, Design, and Build menus on the left side of the QuickCase:W menu bar. You'll use these three menus the most. The others are important, too, but these three control the interface features.
When you start building an interface, QuickCase:W saves your prototype in a Windows database (.WIN) file. By default, database files are saved in the same directory as QuickCase:W. As long as the .WIN file exists, you can always regenerate the interface portion of your program.