brecher@well.UUCP (Steve Brecher) (04/24/89)
If a suitcase file that Suitcase II wants to reopen at startup cannot be reopened at startup, Suitcase II forgets about that file forever after (unless the user opens it again). A suitcase file on a file server would not be able to be reopened at startup if the server were not available at the time of the workstation's startup. This is sometimes a problem for network users of Suitcase II (and hence for the network administrator or support person). Ric Anderson of the University of Arizona has suggested a solution to this problem. This solution has some drawbacks, as noted below, but it may be of interest to some network support people. Suitcase II remembers the list of files to be reopened at startup in the SCfl 0 resource in the Suitcase II file. If, with ResEdit, the SCfl 0 resource's Protected attribute is set (checked in ResEdit's Get Info display for the resource), then Suitcase II will not be able to modify the resource on disk and the list of "permanent" suitcase files will remain unchanged. When/if the user opens or closes a suitcase file using the Suitcase II desk accessory, the user will get an error message alert indicating an error code of -198. The file will be opened/closed, but the action will not be "remembered" after the current session; the list of files to be reopened at startup will remain unchanged. Aside from the error alert, this has the drawback of requiring use of ResEdit to turn off the SCfl 0 resource's Protected attribute prior to opening or closing a suitcase file which is intended to be permanently remembered (on opening) or forgotten (on closing). It would also be required should the identity or location of the permanent suitcase files on the server change. The location of a file includes the "directory ID" of its folder, which could change should the server be reinitialized and restored from a backup. The name of the server volume is also part of a remembered file's location. If the SCfl 0 resource is thus protected, the "Reopen at startup" checkbox in the Suitcase II DA's file selection dialog will have no function. It is possible to remove that checkbox from the dialog with ResEdit by changing the checkbox's screen coordinates (which are relative to the upper left corner of the dialog window) so that the checkbox is moved outside of the dialog window. If this is done, then the bottom coordinate of the Cmd-key equivalents text item to the left of the checkboxes might be altered to 238, so that the Cmd-R display is hidden. For safety's sake, any use of ResEdit on Suitcase II should be made while Suitcase II is not installed. These changes comprise a "hack" which is not necessarily supported by Fifth Generation Systems, the publisher of Suitcase II. I am the developer of Suitcase II. -- brecher@well.UUCP (Steve Brecher)