[comp.sys.mac.programmer] PrPicFile & MultiFinder

engber@gumball.ils.nwu.edu (Mike Engber) (04/10/90)

How do I get PrPicFile() to allow background processing or run in the
background.  This definitely seems like the kind of operation that
should take place in the background, but my application won't switch
out during it.

Please respond via email if possible.

-ME

oster@well.sf.ca.us (David Phillip Oster) (04/11/90)

In article <6183@accuvax.nwu.edu> engber@gumball.ils.nwu.edu (Mike Engber) writes:
_>How do I get PrPicFile() to allow background processing or run in the
_>background.  This definitely seems like the kind of operation that
_>should take place in the background, but my application won't switch
_>out during it.
Don't bother trying. PrPicFile() takes over the machine for large chunks
of time, so if it were not the foreground application, the foreground
application would be unusably jerky. (I've tried. I know.) Just let the
user turn on spooling if they want background printing. You can call 
SystemTask() from the routine pointed to by the filter proc field of the
print record. You should be puttin gup a dialog  with a Cancel button,
managed by that filterproc, since the User Interface Guidelines say that
you shouuldn't expect the user to type strange control sequences to abort
a print.  Remember that <Escape> is a synonym for the (Cancel) button,
but that the extended keyboard has a <Clear> key that generates the same Ascii
code. It is a synonym for the Clear menu cxommand on the edit menu, so
don't make the two synonomous. Watch out for foreign keyboards.
Wear a helmet, buckle Up, and use a condom, but not simultaneously.
-- 
-- David Phillip Oster - Note new address. Old one has gone Bye Bye.
-- oster@well.sf.ca.us = {backbone}!well!oster