on 7/24/00 2:46 PM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] at
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> On a Mac, you should be writing preference files to the "Preferences"
> folder in the system folder. You may need to use an external command to
> have a bullet-proof method of getting the name of the system folder,
> because hard disks on the Macintosh can have any name.
>
> On Windows, you should write to "C:/Windows/file" or
> "C:/Windows/Config/file".
>
> Under Linux, and probably most (all?) other Unixes, you should write to
> a hidden file in the user's home directory. Assuming Metacard honours
> the Unix shortcut "~", you can use "~/.file" or "~/.MyApplication/file".
> If Metacard doesn't understand "~", you might need to play around with
> the shell() function to query the operating system for the user's home
> directory. shell("ls -d ~") should work.
For all the difficulty and cross platform issues I think I will need, given
my skill level, to stick with writing preferences to a data folder in the
directory containing the engine. Many mainstream applications do employ this
strategy. For example, our primary page layout program, Quark XPress, keeps
it Prefs and extensions in the folder with the application. This would seem
a more bullet proof method in the long run than trying to manage a variety
of platform scenarios. . . but, perhaps there are other issues that I am not
aware of. If so please share those. . .our preferences would be pretty small
since the .exe file that would need them (because it can't be saved) will be
very small.
Also, over the years we have found the system folders on people's hard
drives, at least in our Mac world can sometimes be MORE volatile than
applications folders, the "thirst for computing power" and trouble shooting
system problems, (very rare now under Mac OS System 9.0 which is rock
solid.) leads to on-going updates, reformatting hard drives, re-installing
systems etc. While application folders go through it all unscathed, system
prefs invariably get wiped. Any comments?
Hinduism Today
Sivakatirswami
Editor's Assistant/Production Manager
www.HinduismToday.com
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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