weiss@babbage.seas.ucla.edu (Michael Weiss) (06/04/91)
I just thought of something. I recall having read in MacUser that an idea for an extension would be to trash all aliases of a file when the file is deleted. As an extension of that extension, it would also be interesting to have it so that if you REPLACE that file with another, the aliases that used to point to the old file would then point to the new one. Here's an example: You've got MSWord 4.0, and an alias or two pointing to it. Now, Microsoft, to remain competitive, releases 5.0. You upgrade, and stick 5.0 where your old 4.0 was, overwriting the old Word with the new Word. The aliases that used to point to MSWord 4.0 would now point to MSWord 5.0. Whaddaya guys think? I don't yet have enough knowledge to play with this sort of an extension, but it sounds useful to me. -- \ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | / - Michael weiss@seas.ucla.edu | School of Engineering & Applied Science - - Weiss izzydp5@oac.ucla.edu | University of California, Los Angeles - / | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | \
philip@pescadero.Stanford.EDU (Philip Machanick) (06/04/91)
In article <2999@lee.SEAS.UCLA.EDU>, weiss@babbage.seas.ucla.edu (Michael Weiss) writes: |> I just thought of something. I recall having read in MacUser that an idea |> for an extension would be to trash all aliases of a file when the file is |> deleted. I think it would be really useful if you could search for aliases using the Finder's Find command. It would also be useful if list views could show the owner, and sort by owner. I think these are more generally useful featues, and could be used to do what the MacUser article wants. |> As an extension of that extension, it would also be interesting |> to have it so that if you REPLACE that file with another, the aliases that |> used to point to the old file would then point to the new one. Here's an |> example: |> You've got MSWord 4.0, and an alias or two pointing to it. Now, Microsoft, |> to remain competitive, releases 5.0. You upgrade, and stick 5.0 where |> your old 4.0 was, overwriting the old Word with the new Word. The aliases |> that used to point to MSWord 4.0 would now point to MSWord 5.0. |> sort of an extension, but it sounds useful to me. No extension needed. Just rename the new MS Word so it has exactly the same name / directory path as the old one, and the alias mechanism will find it - as long as you have really removed the original. Once all your aliases have seen the new name, you can rename it or even move it. -- Philip Machanick philip@pescadero.stanford.edu
philip@pescadero.Stanford.EDU (Philip Machanick) (06/05/91)
In article <1991Jun4.163202.7765@neon.Stanford.EDU>, philip@pescadero.Stanford.EDU I wrote: |> I think it would be really useful if you could search for aliases |> using the Finder's Find command. It would also be useful if list |> views could show the owner, and sort by owner. I think these are |> more generally useful featues, and could be used to do what the |> MacUser article wants. A few minuites later, John Gibson <gibson@silvertone.princeton.edu> sent me mail: > Find DOES let you look for aliases. With "Kind" in the left popup, look > at the right-most popup. It lists "alias, application, document, folder, > stationery." I checked this out without delay - using the All At Once feature, you can find all the aliases on any or all of your disks. All that's missing is a way of sorting out the aliases that have lost their owners. -- Philip Machanick philip@pescadero.stanford.edu
Charlie.Mingo@p4218.f421.n109.z1.FidoNet.Org (Charlie Mingo) (06/05/91)
weiss@babbage.seas.ucla.edu (Michael Weiss) writes:
MW> I just thought of something. I recall having read in MacUser that an idea
MW> for an extension would be to trash all aliases of a file when the file is
MW> deleted. As an extension of that extension, it would also be interesting
MW> to have it so that if you REPLACE that file with another, the aliases that
MW> used to point to the old file would then point to the new one.
Instead of having six or seven extensions for all the possible permutations
(eg: delete all aliases referring to this file; redirect all aliases to another
file with the same name; and so on), why not just have a utility which FINDS
all aliases to a certain file, and then you can decide whether to trash 'em
or whatnot.
Note that you may not have to develop a special extension to do this if you
just give helpful names to your aliases. For example, any alias to MS Word
could have "MSW" in its name. (You could even let your alias to MS Word be
called "Microsoft Word alias", which would remove all doubt.)
* Origin: "Each to his point of bliss" -- Browning (1:109/421.4218)juh@cs.hut.fi (Juha Hyv|nen) (06/06/91)
weiss@babbage.seas.ucla.edu (Michael Weiss) writes:
+------------------------
! ..., it would also be interesting
! to have it so that if you REPLACE that file with another, the aliases that
! used to point to the old file would then point to the new one.
!........................
But it works that way. At least for me.
I tested it like this:
1. made a file and an alias of it: test test alias
2. deleted the file: test alias
3. made another file test test alias
(with the same name as the original
the alias remains the same)
4. opened the alias => new file was opened
(The test files were TeachText documents.)
/ (.__o
/_/ __/ ..
! / ! Juha.Hyvonen@hut.fi (juh@cs.hut.fi)
!/ ) !
------Juha.Hyvonen@hut.fi (Juha Hyv|nen) (06/11/91)
In article <676362366.32@egsgate.FidoNet.Org> Michael.Weiss@f98.n250.z1.FidoNet.Org (Michael Weiss) writes: +------------------------ ! You've got MSWord 4.0, and an alias or two pointing to it. Now, Microsoft, ! to remain competitive, releases 5.0. You upgrade, and stick 5.0 where ! your old 4.0 was, overwriting the old Word with the new Word. The aliases ! that used to point to MSWord 4.0 would now point to MSWord 5.0. !........................ Does this work: 1) delete MSWord 4.0 2) move MSWord 5.0 where v4.0 was 3) rename MSWord 5.0 to MSWord 4.0 since aliases are (?) "soft links" they should now point to the renamed file, shouldn't they 4) rename it back to MSWord 5.0 since aliases are not really (?) "soft links" they should still point to the file, shouldn't they 5) move it anywhere you want the aliases should still point to the file, shouldn't they (I cannot test it now...) / (.__o /_/ __/ .. ! / ! Juha.Hyvonen@hut.fi (juh@cs.hut.fi) !/ ) ! ------
Charlie.Mingo@p4218.f421.n109.z1.FidoNet.Org (Charlie Mingo) (06/13/91)
Juha.Hyvonen@hut.fi (Juha Hyv|nen) writes:
JH> Does this work:
JH>
JH> 1) delete MSWord 4.0
JH> 2) move MSWord 5.0 where v4.0 was
JH> 3) rename MSWord 5.0 to MSWord 4.0
JH> since aliases are (?) "soft links"
JH> they should now point to the renamed file, shouldn't they
JH> 4) rename it back to MSWord 5.0
JH> since aliases are not really (?) "soft links"
JH> they should still point to the file, shouldn't they
JH> 5) move it anywhere you want
JH> the aliases should still point to the file, shouldn't they
It will work if you launch each alias while the pseudo-"MSWord 4" is
still in the old folder. When you launch each alias, it will figure out that
the old app is gone, and the new app is there, and adjust itself.
After that, you could move the pseudo-"MSWord" all over the place.
* Origin: Woof alpha test point (1:109/421.4218)lsr@Apple.COM (Larry Rosenstein) (06/13/91)
In article <676828817.2@blkcat.FidoNet> Charlie.Mingo@p4218.f421.n109.z1.FidoNet.Org (Charlie Mingo) writes: > > It will work if you launch each alias while the pseudo-"MSWord 4" is >still in the old folder. When you launch each alias, it will figure out that >the old app is gone, and the new app is there, and adjust itself. You don't have to launch the alias, just resolve it to locate the "real" file. Clicking Find Original in the alias' Get Info box is sufficient. -- Larry Rosenstein, Apple Computer, Inc. lsr@apple.com (or AppleLink: Rosenstein1)