zben@ni.umd.edu (Ben Cranston) (03/20/91)
My printer stuff works by redirecting LaserWriter's output to a device driver (named .NetPrint) which talks to MacTCP et al. Currently there is an INIT to install the driver in an unused slot above 48 at boot time. Because INIT31 does not look for INITs in PRER files I made the file into a RDEV. But, now Chooser does not recognize it as a printer resource file. I manually change the contents of system resource STR -8192 in the RDEV code, but it looks like there are other things Chooser does that I might have to do manually. I know I could do it with two System Folder files, one PRER and one INIT, but I had hoped to hold it to one additional file. This finesses a lot of "well, what if he installs one but not the other" questions. Could the device driver be installed into a PRER file in some way that LaserWriter's "_Open" call would get it loaded? How does this work for Desk Accessories that are installed in applications? How do they avoid device driver number conflicts with system file DAs? Failing that, does anybody know exactly what the Chooser does for "PRER"-type files (besides that stupid "Don't forget to do Page Setup because your stupid application might not be ready for a printer type change" alert)?