jlc@atux01.UUCP (10/21/87)
OK, Apple developers (and employees) on the net, here is my suggestion for a VERY useful feature for ANY software that uses Clipboard "Cut & Paste" features (which means ALL Mac programs). In any new or upgraded software, the Paste feature should contain the feature of doing MULTIPLE pastes of whatever is on the Clipboard. This could be done by writing the code so that when a user pulls down the edit menu and holds down a number key while selecting paste, the program will know that the user wants X number of copies of the item on the clipboard to be pasted into the document. For example, I'm in Superpaint and I have just copied a circle to the clipboard. I go to the edit menu and select "paste." Before I release the paste selection, I press the number "3" key, THEN I release the mouse button. I then have appear on the screen THREE circles! This could be a REAL time saving (and a nice upgrade) feature! So what do you think, people? Jim Collymore
gardner@prls.UUCP (Robert Gardner) (10/23/87)
In article <560@atux01.UUCP> jlc@atux01.UUCP (J. Collymore) writes: >In any new or upgraded software, the Paste feature should contain the >feature of doing MULTIPLE pastes of whatever is on the Clipboard. This could Not a bad idea, but I'd rather (also like to) see a standard way of having applications accumulate Copies to the clipboard. If I copy the words 'this text' and then (perhaps) use option-copy to copy the words ' is nice' then the clipboard should contain 'this text is nice'. Some applications do this -- I'd just like to see some standard guidelines for developers to follow. I've also found myself on several occasions wishing I had multiple clipboards, or the ability to "stack" Copy commands. I'll cut or copy something and then before I can paste it I find I want to do some more rearranging first, but can't because I'll lose the clipboard contents. It seems that some contortion-copy could mean "push selection onto clipboard" and contortion-paste could mean "pop most recent push into document (and remove it from clipboard)". This could cause problems with application-to-application communication, however, unless only the most recent copy (for instance) was saved to the "real" clipboard. I think that clipboard operations need some refinement, but of course, without user-interface guidelines and consensus developers will all do things differently (or not at all) and no one will really benefit. Robert Gardner
graifer@net1.ucsd.edu (Dan Graifer) (10/24/87)
In article <6921@prls.UUCP> gardner@prls.UUCP (Robert Gardner) writes: >In article <560@atux01.UUCP> jlc@atux01.UUCP (J. Collymore) writes: >>In any new or upgraded software, the Paste feature should contain the >>feature of doing MULTIPLE pastes of whatever is on the Clipboard. This could > >Not a bad idea, but I'd rather (also like to) see a standard way of having >applications accumulate Copies to the clipboard. Actually, a reasonable way to accumulate exists already: Use an editor DA. I use the FreeWare DA "McSink" that was posted to the net a while back. It also can be had from: Signature Software 2151 Brown Ave. Bensalem, PA. 19020 215-639-8764 Unfortunately, this looses Word Processor Text formating. The other way to play these games is with a good Scrapbook replacement. I use SmartScrap, which I got quite cheap (I forget how much) from MacConnection. The "multi-copies paste" idea is a good one though. Dan Graifer graifer@net1.UCSD.EDU Disclaimer: Nobody ever listens to me anyways; Why should they start now?
smethers@psu-cs.UUCP (Paul Smethers) (10/29/87)
In article <6921@prls.UUCP> gardner@prls.UUCP (Robert Gardner) writes: >I've also found myself on several occasions wishing I had multiple >clipboards, or the ability to "stack" Copy commands. I'll cut or copy >something and then before I can paste it I find I want to do some >more rearranging first, but can't because I'll lose the clipboard contents. This sounds like a great idea! How about having an hierarchical menu for the paste commands that leads to the levels of clipboards (maybe with some information about the item as well). There can be a control panel option for setting the preferred nesting of clipboards, and the application will support as many as memory (or disk space) permits. A similar implementation could be done for nested UNDO's. Since the entry level macintosh is now a megabyte, it is time we start getting applications that can use some of that extra memeory for things other than data (the old clipboard implementation reeks of the 128K macintosh). Paul Smethers