ejbehr@rs6000.cmp.ilstu.edu (Eric Behr) (06/01/91)
Here is a little problem I've encountered: some ASCII files can be successfully opened by "dropping" them onto the Word application icon, but *nothing happens* when I drop them onto a Word alias. Shouldn't aliases behave (in this regard) exactly like the application they point to? Is it a bug? -- Eric Behr, Illinois State University, Mathematics Department Internet: ejbehr@rs6000.cmp.ilstu.edu Bitnet: ebehr@ilstu
rmh@apple.com (Rick Holzgrafe) (06/01/91)
In article <1991May31.194622.4942@rs6000.cmp.ilstu.edu> ejbehr@rs6000.cmp.ilstu.edu (Eric Behr) writes: > Here is a little problem I've encountered: some ASCII files can be > successfully opened by "dropping" them onto the Word application icon, but > *nothing happens* when I drop them onto a Word alias. Shouldn't aliases > behave (in this regard) exactly like the application they point to? They do, a feature I find terribly convenient. I suspect your trouble is that those files, although ASCII, were not marked as being of type 'TEXT'. ========================================================================== Rick Holzgrafe | {sun,voder,nsc,mtxinu,dual}!apple!rmh Software Engineer | AppleLink HOLZGRAFE1 rmh@apple.com Apple Computer, Inc. | "All opinions expressed are mine, and do 20525 Mariani Ave. MS: 3-PK | not necessarily represent those of my Cupertino, CA 95014 | employer, Apple Computer Inc."
ejbehr@rs6000.cmp.ilstu.edu (Eric Behr) (06/01/91)
rmh@apple.com (Rick Holzgrafe) writes: >In article <1991May31.194622.4942@rs6000.cmp.ilstu.edu> >EJB writes: >> Here is a little problem I've encountered: some ASCII files can be >> successfully opened by "dropping" them onto the Word application icon, >but >> *nothing happens* when I drop them onto a Word alias. Shouldn't aliases >> behave (in this regard) exactly like the application they point to? > >They do, a feature I find terribly convenient. I suspect your trouble is >that those files, although ASCII, were not marked as being of type 'TEXT'. > Here's the setup: two volumes in addition to the boot volume: say Apps and Docs. Application (Word in this case) on Apps; its alias on Docs. A TEXT file dropped on Word (on Apps) opens fine; it does not open when dropped on Words alias (on Docs). This is weird, since the document is on Docs, i.e. it likes the application on a different volume, but doesn't like its alias on *the same volume*! Now an experiment: copy Word to Docs; same document dropped on this Word opens - no surprise. Make an alias which points to that local copy of Word - now dropping works with that "local" alias too! There may be some simple reason for this, but I stand by my gripe: aliases *do not* behave like applications, unless everything is on the same volume. This may be particularly important in network situations. Am I nitpicking? -- Eric Behr, Illinois State University, Mathematics Department Internet: ejbehr@rs6000.cmp.ilstu.edu Bitnet: ebehr@ilstu
draphsor@elaine39.Stanford.EDU (Matt Rollefson) (06/02/91)
ejbehr@rs6000.cmp.ilstu.edu (Eric Behr) writes: [lots of stuff deleted] >Here's the setup: two volumes in addition to the boot volume: say Apps and >Docs. >Application (Word in this case) on Apps; its alias on Docs. >A TEXT file dropped on Word (on Apps) opens fine; it does not open when >dropped on Words alias (on Docs). This is weird, since the document is on >Docs, i.e. it likes the application on a different volume, but doesn't like >its alias on *the same volume*! >Now an experiment: copy Word to Docs; same document dropped on this Word >opens - no surprise. Make an alias which points to that local copy of Word >- now dropping works with that "local" alias too! >There may be some simple reason for this, but I stand by my gripe: aliases >*do not* behave like applications, unless everything is on the same volume. >This may be particularly important in network situations. Am I nitpicking? I believe that there is a very simple reason for this. On the Apps drive, the desktop has the information from the Word application - thus it knows how to open the various documents that word can handle. On the Docs drive, the desktop does not include Word's bundle information. (It apparently does not come with the alias - probably to save space.) Thus the finder doesn't know what application to open. Suggested solution: copy word to the Docs drive, then delete it. The bundle information will remain in the desktop files until you rebuild the desktop. Not a perfect solution, but it should work. (Note that I haven't tried this, so if it doesn't work, don't blame me! :) ) >Eric Behr, Illinois State University, Mathematics Department >Internet: ejbehr@rs6000.cmp.ilstu.edu Bitnet: ebehr@ilstu -- Draphsor vo'drun-Aelf draphsor@leland.stanford.edu
ejbehr@rs6000.cmp.ilstu.edu (Eric Behr) (06/02/91)
draphsor@elaine39.Stanford.EDU (Matt Rollefson) writes: >ejbehr@rs6000.cmp.ilstu.edu (Eric Behr) writes: >[lots of stuff deleted] > >>[ditto] > >Suggested solution: copy word to the Docs drive, then delete it. The >bundle information will remain in the desktop files until you rebuild >the desktop. Not a perfect solution, but it should work. (Note that I >haven't tried this, so if it doesn't work, don't blame me! :) ) > Sure enough, it works! I'd think that the alias should contain this information and modify the desktop file accordingly upon being copied. A semi-bug, I guess... Thanks, Matt! -- Eric Behr, Illinois State University, Mathematics Department Internet: ejbehr@rs6000.cmp.ilstu.edu Bitnet: ebehr@ilstu
lsr@Apple.COM (Larry Rosenstein) (06/04/91)
In article <1991Jun01.033937.8241@rs6000.cmp.ilstu.edu> ejbehr@rs6000.cmp.ilstu.edu (Eric Behr) writes: > >There may be some simple reason for this, but I stand by my gripe: aliases >*do not* behave like applications, unless everything is on the same volume. >This may be particularly important in network situations. Am I nitpicking? I think aliases do behave as you expected. I don't have Word, but I tried this with MacWrite II. I had MWII on disk A. I created an alias and dragged the alias to disk B. I could drop TEXT documents on the alias regardless of where the the document was. On the other hand, the information about what types can be dropped onto an app (or alias) is stored in the desktop database. So I tried rebuilding the desktop, and then the alias stopped working if the document and app/alias have different creator IDs. (If the document and app have the same creator ID, then dropping still works.) The solution is to get the information back into the desktop database by either copying the app or a fresh alias onto the disk. -- Larry Rosenstein, Apple Computer, Inc. lsr@apple.com (or AppleLink: Rosenstein1)