ccc_ldo@waikato.ac.nz (Lawrence D'Oliveiro, Waikato University) (07/08/90)
Aliases in System 7.0 are implemented as files with special information in them. When you select an alias from the Finder or Standard File, they will automatically resolve the reference and return the "real" file to the application. However, if the application looks for a file itself (e g a preferences file), there is no automatic resolution of aliases; the application has to check for this situation and call the Alias Manager itself. I guess this is only a minor problem; I hit it when I tried to create an alias for the Scrapbook File from my System 6.0.5 folder (which is going to stay on my hard disk, thank you, until System 7.0 is a *lot* more stable). The Scrapbook complained that the file didn't have the right format. In the end I fixed this by copying the Scrapbook File itself. Could alias resolution have been embedded more deeply into the File Manager? That is, PBOpen, OpenResFile and OpenRFPerm could automatically resolve aliases if presented with them; you'd need some mechanism for explicitly overriding this (otherwise you'd have difficulty creating and manipulating the aliases themselves!), but existing applications would then support aliases on all file references automatically. Lawrence D'Oliveiro fone: +64-71-562-889 Computer Services Dept fax: +64-71-384-066 University of Waikato electric mail: ldo@waikato.ac.nz Hamilton, New Zealand 37^ 47' 29" S, 175^ 19' 16" E, GMT+12:00 It reflects on the state of the computing industry when the revolutionary advance is seen to be, not getting an idea to work, but getting it to work under Unix.
alexr@ucscb.ucsc.edu (Alexander M. Rosenberg) (07/10/90)
In article <963.269743d4@waikato.ac.nz> ccc_ldo@waikato.ac.nz (Lawrence D'Oliveiro, Waikato University) writes: > Aliases in System 7.0 are implemented as files with special information > in them. When you select an alias from the Finder or Standard File, > they will automatically resolve the reference and return the "real" > file to the application. Actually, aliases are just a data structure. Their presence as a file is the way that the Finder and Standard File use them. For example, there is an alias in the System file that points to the currently chosen printer driver. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- - Alexander M. Rosenberg - INTERNET: alexr@ucscb.ucsc.edu - Yoyodyne - - 330 1/2 Waverley St. - UUCP:ucbvax!ucscc!ucscb!alexr - Propulsion - - Palo Alto, CA 94301 - BITNET:alexr%ucscb@ucscc.BITNET- Systems - - (415) 329-8463 - Nobody is my employer so - :-) - - - so nobody cares what I say. - -