[comp.sys.mac.programmer] MacDraw file format

jenlan@eos.arc.nasa.gov (Jennifer S Lanham) (06/19/91)

Is the file format for MacDraw publicly available?
If so, where might I get it?

Thank you,

Russel Martin

kaufman@neon.Stanford.EDU (Marc T. Kaufman) (06/19/91)

jenlan@eos.arc.nasa.gov (Jennifer S Lanham) writes:

>Is the file format for MacDraw publicly available?
>If so, where might I get it?

You don't want it.  The format is tightly bound to the internal representation
of the various MacDraw objects -- not a pretty sight.

What you DO want is the Claris XTND documentation, which IS a standard
interchange format that all Claris products support.  As you might expect,
the graphical format handles MacDraw pretty well.

Contact Claris for info.

Marc Kaufman (kaufman@Neon.stanford.edu)

chuck@brain.UUCP (Chuck Shotton) (06/20/91)

In article <FRANCIS.91Jun19142740@arthur.uchicago.edu>, francis@zaphod.uchicago.edu (Francis Stracke) writes:
> Wait a minute.  I thought MacDraw format was just PICT with some
> comments to act as brackets defining grouped objects.  Or is that just
> the old format?
> 

Old MacDraw's format WAS just a PICT spooled to disk (preceeded by a 512 byte
header.) However, MacDraw defines several QuickDraw comments that are not
part of the PICT definition (eg. arrowheads, rotated text). Old versions of
Mac Tech Notes had the MacDraw file format. Subsequent updates "removed" the
definition and replaced it with Claris' address.

You can still get the file format. Write to claris.tech@applelink.apple.com.

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francis@zaphod.uchicago.edu (Francis Stracke) (06/20/91)

In article <1991Jun19.021340.11947@neon.Stanford.EDU> kaufman@neon.Stanford.EDU (Marc T. Kaufman) writes:

>jenlan@eos.arc.nasa.gov (Jennifer S Lanham) writes:

>>Is the file format for MacDraw publicly available?
>>If so, where might I get it?

>You don't want it.  The format is tightly bound to the internal
							representation 
>of the various MacDraw objects -- not a pretty sight.

Wait a minute.  I thought MacDraw format was just PICT with some
comments to act as brackets defining grouped objects.  Or is that just
the old format?

Granted, PICT is not too pretty to look at, but you don't have to; you
just get your Mac to deal with it.

--
/============================================================================\
| Francis Stracke	       | My opinions are my own.  I don't steal them.|
| Department of Mathematics    |=============================================|
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kaufman@neon.Stanford.EDU (Marc T. Kaufman) (06/20/91)

francis@zaphod.uchicago.edu (Francis Stracke) writes:
>In article <1991Jun19.021340.11947@neon.Stanford.EDU> kaufman@neon.Stanford.EDU (Marc T. Kaufman) writes:
->jenlan@eos.arc.nasa.gov (Jennifer S Lanham) writes:

->>Is the file format for MacDraw publicly available?
->>If so, where might I get it?

->You don't want it.  The format is tightly bound to the internal
-							representation 
->of the various MacDraw objects -- not a pretty sight.

>Wait a minute.  I thought MacDraw format was just PICT with some
>comments to act as brackets defining grouped objects.  Or is that just
>the old format?

MacDraw can certainly SAVE in PICT format, but that is NOT the format saved
in regular document files.

Marc Kaufman (kaufman@Neon.stanford.edu)

drc@claris.com (Dennis Cohen) (06/20/91)

kaufman@neon.Stanford.EDU (Marc T. Kaufman) writes:

>jenlan@eos.arc.nasa.gov (Jennifer S Lanham) writes:

>>Is the file format for MacDraw publicly available?
>>If so, where might I get it?

>You don't want it.  The format is tightly bound to the internal representation
>of the various MacDraw objects -- not a pretty sight.

>What you DO want is the Claris XTND documentation, which IS a standard
>interchange format that all Claris products support.  As you might expect,
>the graphical format handles MacDraw pretty well.

>Contact Claris for info.

Almost right, Mark.  Right now the dust is settling and XTND will be shipped
by _Apple_ from APDA within a few weeks.  As was announced at the recent
Apple WorldWide Developer's Conference, Apple is working on a new Translator
Manager for the toolbox and they have promised that it would be backward
compatible with XTND 1.3 (the version that has just been completed and which
APDA will be shipping).

By the way, it is not just Claris products which support XTND.  Word Perfect
2.0, RagTime, and Nisus (among a long list of others) support XTND, although
the US version of Nisus supporting XTND has not yet shipped.

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