IJLUSTIG@pucc.Princeton.EDU (Irvin Lustig) (12/11/87)
With previous releases of the Finder, one could select an application and a file that was created by another application, choose "Open" from the FILE menu in the Finder, and the file would be opened by the chosen application. For example, one could take a TEXT file created by one application (say EDIT, or EXCEL), and have MacWrite startup with that file by choosing MacWrite and the file, and then selecting Open. This no longer works, presumably because Multifinder would get confused. But it doesn't even work in the Finder 6.0. I use this feature all of the time, and now I'll have to find some workaround. This feature was especially useful in Excel, where I could open multiple TEXT files transferred from a remote machine using Kermit, without having to startup Excel and do a <Command-O> for each of the files. -Irv Lustig Dept. of Civil Engineering and Operations Research Princeton University Preferred E-Mail Address: irv@marie.princeton.edu
tim@hoptoad.uucp (Tim Maroney) (12/11/87)
I always hated the need for that feature. Maybe the reason it's going away
is that Apple's rumored Finder interface improvements will make it
unneccessary. Let's say I have a TEXT file from Consulair Edit, back for
the days of yore when I used Consulair C. If I double-click on it, then
there are two possibilities: it will open the Consulair editor program,
which I hope never to see again as long as I live; or it will not be able to
find the Consulair editor and will not do anything except alert me. In
fact, what I want it to do is open the MPW Shell on the file, but hey, the
creator longwords don't match. Grr.
Applications ought to have a way of saying which file types they are capable
of opening, and the user should be able to specify a preferred application
for each file type. Granted that this is expert-friendliness and Apple
often seems to labor under the delusion that expert friendliness is
incompatible with novice friendliness, but maybe they are finally figuring
out that the two can go together.
An even friendlier way of handling the same situation would be, if the
creator application can't be found, bring up a list of applications which
could be used for the file and let the user select as normal in the list
(including standard file type power keys). If the list has only one entry,
then use it without asking. A user preference could choose whether or not
to always use the creator application if there are other possibilities.
Dream on....
--
Tim Maroney, {ihnp4,sun,well,ptsfa,lll-crg}!hoptoad!tim; hoptoad!tim@lll-crg
"You say that this wasn't in your plan
Don't mess around with the Demolition Man"han@apple.UUCP (Byron Han) (12/12/87)
In article <4025@pucc.Princeton.EDU> IJLUSTIG@pucc.Princeton.EDU writes: >With previous releases of the Finder, one could select an application and >a file that was created by another application, choose "Open" from >the FILE menu in the Finder, and the file would be opened by the >chosen application. For example, one could take a TEXT file created by >one application (say EDIT, or EXCEL), and have MacWrite startup with >that file by choosing MacWrite and the file, and then selecting Open. >This no longer works, presumably because Multifinder would get confused. >But it doesn't even work in the Finder 6.0. > I believe that you CAN open a document with a specified application using the procedure you described. Earlier versions of Juggler had a problem with this. The released Finder 6.0 does not. Are you sure you are using the released Finder/Multifinder/System software? It may also be fruitful to rebuild your desktop if you ARE running FInder 6.0/Multifinder 1.0/System 4.2. ----- Byron Han - Apple Computer Inc - 20525 Mariani Ave MS 27Y - Cupertino, CA 95014 "These are my opinions and views only. Apple has nothing to do with them." ATTNet: 408-973-1940 GENIE: BYRONHAN APPLELINK: HAN1 UUCP: {sun, voder, nsc, mtxinu, dual}!apple!han
raylau@dasys1.UUCP (Raymond Lau) (12/13/87)
There is an indirect way to specify what application will open documents of
a certain creator. The Finder maintains this information in a resource of
type APPL id 0 in the DeskTop file. This resource is just a list of creators,
the application and the directory ID of the application. The list is sort of
like a LIFO thing. The last application you've touched in the Finder...that
creator and name and dir ID will be added to the head of the list.
Thus, if you have multiple applications of the same creator, the one last moved,
etc. will be the one the Finder "sees" when you d-click on a document of that
creator.
This list also grows forever if you use DAs et al to delete files, since the
Finder can't tell that the files are gone. Solution - rebuild desktop file,
but that also trashes the entire APPL list.
Alternatively, you can write an application to maintain the APPL list. Such
an application might allow the user to specify which of mult applications of
same creator to use. (Of course, when you go to the Finder and move things
around, the list will be updated)
--
Raymond Lau GEnie: RayLau
100-04 70 Ave. CIS: 76174,2617
Forest Hills, NY 11375-5133 Delphi: RaymondLau
United States of America MacNET: RayLau
uucp: raylau@dasys1.UUCP (..{phri,cucard,bc-cis,mstan}!dasys1!raylau})merlyn@starfire.UUCP (Brian Westley) (12/15/87)
Tim Maroney wants: > [opening a file whose creator can't be found, e.g. MacPaint -> Superpaint] > ...if the > creator application can't be found, bring up a list of applications which > could be used for the file and let the user select as normal in the list.. What about this... 1) trap the "Can't find an application to open this file" 2) Scan a list in a well-known place which has MPNT=SPNT (i.e. files created by macpaint are to be opened by superpaint) ZSYS=RSED (systems files opened by resource editor) ... (I know I'm not using the right identifiers, this is only a simulation) 3) Find all existing applications that can handle a type of file; if the total is 0, error msg as usual; if 1, launch it; if >1, dialog box This is upward compatible and allows the user to decide what opens what. If the "well-known place" is designed carefully, with a list on an inserted floppy have precidence over a list on the hard disk, then you could insert, say, a floppy with binary editor to momentarily tweak files. Maybe this routine should trap ALL application launches, not just unfound ones, so the binary editor could grab ANY file opened. (*=BNED or whatever) No more mass conversions needed either. Just move the original application out of sight, and map the old files to launch the superceding app. Well, I've done the hard part (design :-), anyone care to implement it? Merlyn LeRoy