Re: [DotGNU]Concept: Box files

[Rhys Weatherley]

Peter Minten wrote:

> > In the case of "download and run" scenarios, the assemblies
> > already act as a kind of .jar file, so I'm not sure that a
> > .box format would really help us.
> 
> Can support files like mp3 or jpeg be build into the assembly?

Yes.  The string resource system is layered on top of a more
primitive file encapsulation system within the assembly.  If
you call "Assembly.GetManifestResourceStream" on an assembly,
you get binary access to the underlying data.  Microsoft uses
this to embed icon bitmaps and the like.

The Windows and Mac worlds have had embedded auxillary files
forever.  It's just the Unix camp that insists upon zillions
of files in zillions of directories (which is OK sometimes,
but can be a pain when distributing simple applications).

Cheers,

Rhys.