To REAL Software people (David, The Engineering Team, Geoff)
No specific version (_current), no specific OS (all platforms).
The File Type Sets Editor holds six "properties":
Display Name,
Object Name,
MacType,
MacCreator,
Extensions,
Icon
Before any answer, read the REALbasic User’s Guide.pdf (in the 2007r1
Documentation folder) "Version 2007 Release 1, January, 2007", thanks.
1. Positive critics and opinions
--------------------------------
Page 401: the text below Figure 297 is either incorrect or misleading (or I am
wrong).
The Display Name: what about the SaveAsDialog ? The text there is displayed (on
Mac OS X: Safari, Preview) in a PopupMenu, and is certainly displayed on the
two other platforms (Linux, Windows). So the text is a bit short on this
paragraph.
The Object Name: I do not have done that; instead, I have used (here or there)
the Display Name (as "application/txt", or FileType.WhateverText).
I skip the MacType / MacCreator debate since Apple does not (AFAIK) have a real
position even if under 10.4.8 there is not many "MacType / MacCreator" used...
The Extensions paragraph (bottom of the page) have been merged with the Icon
paragraph (a \return have certainly been lost). I recall have seen somewhere
that the leading dot (".mp3") is not mandatory, but I do not have seen that
while I was reading the pdf and the html lr.
The "Icon" name have to be a plural since you can put one or many size icons;
is this a matter of taste ? If so, I said nothing, sorry. Remember "Extensions"
is a plural even if you can place only one extension.
Nothing is set on Page 401 about the automatic filling of the Field "Object
Name" (when the cursor leaves the "Display Name" and that field holds some
text). OK, the developer will saw it on its first try :) and the surprise will
be for who ?
Page 402, Figure 298:
Try what you see and report what you get!
I already made a mail about that (but I have probably forget where I saw that I
can place a slash in the Object Name Field (without an error).
Is "text" a valid data for the MacCreator under one platform ? [the screen shot
is either Linux or Windows]
2. Now what kind of trouble did I have with the File Type Sets Editor ?
The value set in the "Display Name" is - by design - what the user see. I do
not think that a user have to see "application/txt". After spending some days
in this area, I am in the beleiving that this have to be:
Display Name: MP3 audio file
Object Name: application/mp3
MacType: empty
MacCreator: empty
Icon: at your will
Why ?
When I ask "Get File Info" from the Finder, he gives me: "Fichier audio MP3"
(French Finder, translatable to: "MP3 audio file")
I just made a simple survey from the installed applications (mostly Apple):
they all display the informations in that format. Preview displays PDF (for
example) but he provides an explanation text below!
Even AppleWorks (who is not conform in many ways to Mac OS X new applications
defaults: what an application have to do, display under Mac OS X) display the
informations using spaces, a true "display name"; Texte (text in French), "Word
6 Mac", nothing related to application/txt (as an example).
I just saw another example: open a window in the Finder, set its view "by
list", and watch the type column (the last one): it displays (for mp3 files and
my French Mac OS X): "Fichier audio MP3".
Last, for the Finder Search function (no, I do not talk about Spotlight, "the
function that justify by itself Tiger's price!" and the function I never
used...), you can use the information stored in the "Display Name" field as a
search parameter (I've do it and I was surprised when I saw my Thumbs.db file
type!).
At that point, I was somehow happy and I have added a Constant to hold the
English and French values and tried to place "#MP3iTem" in the "Display Name"
field... No way baby, it does not works! No error message, just the code does
not do what I wanted he does.
It is possible to place Constants (two or more languages / platforms) in
PushButtons, but not there.
This is at that moment that I started to think that either I misunderstand
something or something is not accurate somewhere...
BTW: I am not here to point the part that hurts. I only try to expose what can
be improved (IMHO). If the points above are not valid, just tell so; if these
points are valid (and I think so, else I will not spend more than one hour of
precious time), a simple mail to say so and you will take care for the next
version will be fine for me. I will be happy to know that I helped a bit and
that the next version will be better for all (and for me too). [*]
Regards,
Emile Schwarz
A last one for the road:
I have created a File Type in the "File Type Sets Editor" as follows:
Tab Name: FTMusic
Display Name: "Fichier audio MP3"
Object Name: "FichierAudioMP3"
Mac Type: ""
Mac Creator: ""
Extensions: "mp3"
Icon: ""
"" stands for empty, remove the quotes for the other fields contents.
The Object Name contents was generated automatically by REALbasic.
And in the code, I use:
If ItemFI.Type = "Fichier audio MP3" Then
// Code removed
and it worked fine. In the previous version, I had "application/mp3" instead of
"Fichier audio MP3" and that worked fine too.
[*] Do not worry, if there is an error somewhere, it will be for me; when I
seek a price for the product I have on my hand in a supermarket, most of the
time there is no price, or the box with the price is the one before the last I
take (if I take from left to right, it will be the second one; but that day I
took the box from right to left). And if I do not walk in dog’s gifts, it is
because I take care of whare I place my shoes ;)
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