izumi@violet.berkeley.edu (Izumi Ohzawa) (08/11/89)
Hi folks! Don't you have problems COPYing files/directories using Browsers? I have had much grief because NeXT tends to do MOVING, which is a destructive operation to the original files/dirs, when what I really want is COPYing. I know, I know, I am supposed to hold down the COMMAND key when I want to COPY. But, it doesn't take much to make a mistake there. Why isn't it the other way around? It seems more natural and safe if simple dragging is a COPY operation instead of MOVE. Is this something which comes from Mac ? I know it's not just me who's done this, because I've seen it happen to other people. I want COPY and MOVE reversed! That is: Drag --> Copying Command + Drag --> Moving Exception to this is dragging to and from the Black Hole. That should default to MOVing. You should be able to accept that exception, because currently an operation like dragging an EPS icon into a Draw application is a copy because the original stays put. As it is, this is in a way a contradiction in the user interface. Otherwise, I can just see it. Some day soon, I will loan my OD to a friend who wants to copy something off my disk to hers. She does the copying (which is in reality MOVing which she does not see because she isn't paying attention to that panel.) She returns my disk. I find that one of my directory is gone completely. If it is too late to change this, PLEASE at least make the dragged icon indicate whether the imminent operation is going to be a MOVE or COPY as soon as the target folder starts to open. Izumi Ohzawa izumi@violet.berkeley.edu
ali@polya.Stanford.EDU (Ali T. Ozer) (08/11/89)
In article <1989Aug11.112637.13462@agate.berkeley.edu> Izumi Ohzawa writes: > [In Workspace] at least make the dragged icon >indicate whether the imminent operation is going to be a MOVE or COPY >as soon as the target folder starts to open. 1.0 Workspace Manager displays the operation (move, copy, or link) by changing the mouse cursor shape as you drag the file icon. Ali Ozer, NeXT Developer Support aozer@NeXT.com
clp@wjh12.harvard.edu (Charles L. Perkins) (08/12/89)
In the Macintosh world, the "Icon dragging" operation is defined as follows: (1) If you are dragging from the same disk to itself, it does a move, (2) If you are dragging from one disk to another, it does a copy. This has the rather nice feature that backups, copying from friends, etc., all work the way you'd expect while hard-disk-hard-disk movement also does what you want. This strategy is probably the way to go...inconsistent though it is, I found it instantly easy to remember once I learned it the first time. A UNIX hacker, having recently visited Mac-Land, Charles
jacob@gore.com (Jacob Gore) (08/12/89)
/ comp.sys.next / clp@wjh12.harvard.edu (Charles L. Perkins) / Aug 11, 1989 / > In the Macintosh world, the "Icon dragging" operation is defined as follows: > > (1) If you are dragging from the same disk to itself, it does a move, > (2) If you are dragging from one disk to another, it does a copy. The Unix file hierarchy goes to great length to hide the presence of multiple disks (if any). I don't think it's a good idea to have a situation where the result of dragging a file from directory /pinkfiles/lastyear to directory /bluefiles/thisyear depends on whether those directories happen to be on the same disk or not. Jacob -- Jacob Gore Jacob@Gore.Com {nucsrl,boulder}!gore!jacob
jordan@Morgan.COM (Jordan Hayes) (08/15/89)
Charles L. Perkins <clp@wjh12.harvard.edu> writes: > In the Macintosh world, the "Icon dragging" operation is defined as follows: > > (1) If you are dragging from the same disk to itself, it does a move, > (2) If you are dragging from one disk to another, it does a copy. The Unix utility mv(1) does *almost* this, except when the (2) case happens, it also unlink(2)s the original. I think the Mac version is a hack, but on a NeXT I could see something like Control-drag doing a copy ... /jordan