Hi Moritz, Yes, I agree that the concept of encoding file metadata in the filename is an unreliable anachronism; it goes 'way back to some of the earliest filesystems.
However, that is the mechanism by which Windows associates icons, which is the problem that Rony is trying to solve in as thoughtful a way as possible. This issue, while related, has nothing to do with finding the executable for a data file, for which the shebang line is a fairly elegant solution on *nix systems. To my knowledge, the magic number line has not been implemented in the Windows command processor, so we are stuck with file extensions to make the association to executables and icons (and probably a couple of other things). OS/2 had an elegant file association mechanism that allowed you to assign an icon to a file based on its type property, or just by dragging an image to the existing icon for the file and dropping it on top of it. No registry mucking was required. Those were the days... <sigh> -Chip- On 10/12/09 16:34 Moritz Hoffmann said: > Rony G. Flatscher wrote: >> Hi there, >> >> in preparation of packaging BSF4Rexx 4.0 for the beta-test I would like >> to take advantage of those new icons that Gray Wilson has kindly created >> for BSF4Rexx and OOo (OpenOffice support via BSF4Rexx). In order to be >> able to utilize these icons, there need to be distinguished filetypes >> with which the icons can get associated. > > I would not use file extensions that are longer than 3 characters - it's > just not handy when working with it. > And those working on Unix systems know, that the file extensions have no > meaning at all. Sometimes, it is used to determine what application > opens a file, but there is no general rule. The association works via > the magic files discussed in the other message. > > Even for a rexx script running in Java or written for OOo, there are no > extensions required. The use of the shebang avoids it generally. That > means, that the type of file is obvious from the file itself, and there > is no need to rely on (unsafe) information concluded from some extension. > > I have not dealt with BSF4Rexx so far, but I guess you have some special > command to invoke it. Then, place the command at the script's first line > like this: > > #!/usr/local/bin/you_interpreter_here > > HTH, > Moritz > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > Come build with us! The BlackBerry(R) Developer Conference in SF, CA > is the only developer event you need to attend this year. Jumpstart your > developing skills, take BlackBerry mobile applications to market and stay > ahead of the curve. Join us from November 9 - 12, 2009. Register now! > http://p.sf.net/sfu/devconference > _______________________________________________ > Oorexx-devel mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/oorexx-devel > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Come build with us! The BlackBerry(R) Developer Conference in SF, CA is the only developer event you need to attend this year. Jumpstart your developing skills, take BlackBerry mobile applications to market and stay ahead of the curve. Join us from November 9 - 12, 2009. Register now! http://p.sf.net/sfu/devconference _______________________________________________ Oorexx-devel mailing list [email protected] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/oorexx-devel
