Scott Raney wrote:
>
> On Thu, 18 May 2000, Richard Gaskin wrote:
>
> > On 5/18/00 4:00 AM, Kevin Miller at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> >
> > > On 18/5/00 1:12 am, Scott Raney <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> > >
> > >>>> We considered this, but rejected it because I've seen many stacks that
> > >>>> change the current directory to select different sets of images or
> > >>>> movies (e.g., to support multiple languages), something that wouldn't
> > >>>> work if you hard-wired the image/player paths to be relative to the
> > >>>> stack path. This isn't an issue with stackFiles AFAIK, probably
> > >>>> because using separate *stacks* for the different languages isn't a
> > >>>> good design. Any other suggestions?
> > >>>
> > >>> I get it. I do have another suggestion: search the directory first as is
> > >>> done now. If (and only if) that results in file not found, search relative
> > >>> to the current stack?
> > >>
> > >> Sounds kind of unreliable to me. Sure it may be unlikely, but what if
> > >> the current directory happens to have a file of the same name as some
> > >> media file you're trying to access in the folder where your stack is?
> > >> You might get the wrong image displayed, or worse, it would display
> > >> the right image in your development environment and then fail later on
> > >> in the distributed version because that image really *isn't* in the
> > >> folder with the stack like you thought it was...
> > >
> > > An alternative might be an object property useDirectory or similar that
> > > defaulted to the current behaviour but could be turned off? Or perhaps this
> > > should be a global property? (I'm sure someone could think of a better name
> > > for it anyway.)
> >
> > I probbly won't get any points here by using HTML as a baseline, but
> > whenever we think about storing media separately from the document at least
> > it makes a familiar model:
> >
> > In HTML, the default behavior is to have media reference partial paths
> > relative to the document making the reference. There is an option which
> > allows one to specify a different base path, kinda like the directory
> > property, but this is an option which must be explicitely set up by the
> > user.
>
> Right, and it's specific to a document rather than global like the
> directory. The equivalent would probably be a stack property.
>
> > I don't have a strong argument for the technical merits of such an approach,
> > but I would suggest that the model would be immediately graspable to users.
That's a great usability argument. Let technical follow where usable
leads.
>
> Me too. And it'd be relatively safe, both WRT predictability and
> backward compatibility: If the stack property is set, it would use
> that, otherwise it would use the current directory. Any suggestions
> for the name of the property?
Some obvious ones:
the relativeDirectory
(and make "the baseDirectory" a synonym for "the directory")
the relativePath
(and make "the basePath" a synonym for "the directory")
So it could be used like:
set the relativeDirectory to tUserLanguage
put the files into tMediaAssets
...
Phil
> Regards,
> Scott
>
> > --
> > Richard Gaskin
> > Fourth World
> > Multimedia Design and Development for Mac, Windows, UNIX, and the Web
> > _____________________________________________________________________
> > [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.FourthWorld.com
> > Tel: 323-225-3717 ICQ#60248349 Fax: 323-225-0716
> >
> >
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> >
>
> ********************************************************
> Scott Raney [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.metacard.com
> MetaCard: You know, there's an easier way to do that...
>
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--
Phil Davis
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