Re: Interacting with other applications
On Mar 23, 2007, at 9:56 AM, David Cantrell wrote: Consider what happens if I'm busily typing away, and the dialogue box pops up and grabs focus, and then whatever its default is gets selected because i hit space or enter. That's exactly what a couple applications do on my machine (Backup.app and a shareware reminder for SideTrack), and I agree it's annoying. A better behavior would probably be a bouncing dock icon that defaults to yes after 30 seconds or whatever. Still annoying, but it wouldn't actually cause problems. -Ken
Re: Interacting with other applications
--As of March 24, 2007 3:31:56 PM -0500, Ken Williams is alleged to have said: Consider what happens if I'm busily typing away, and the dialogue box pops up and grabs focus, and then whatever its default is gets selected because i hit space or enter. That's exactly what a couple applications do on my machine (Backup.app and a shareware reminder for SideTrack), and I agree it's annoying. A better behavior would probably be a bouncing dock icon that defaults to yes after 30 seconds or whatever. Still annoying, but it wouldn't actually cause problems. --As for the rest, it is mine. How about calling Growl? You can have it call you back on click or timeout... http://growl.info/documentation/developer/ Daniel T. Staal --- This email copyright the author. Unless otherwise noted, you are expressly allowed to retransmit, quote, or otherwise use the contents for non-commercial purposes. This copyright will expire 5 years after the author's death, or in 30 years, whichever is longer, unless such a period is in excess of local copyright law. ---
Re: Interacting with other applications
On Thu, Mar 22, 2007 at 05:55:18PM -0400, Sherm Pendley wrote:
On Mar 22, 2007, at 1:01 PM, Andrew Brosnan wrote:
I'd like to run a daily backup script on my laptop, but I'd like it to
ask permission first. I'm wondering what is the best way to do this.
First off - can you always depend on a user being logged in? If so,
the simplest ideas tend to be the best. For a full-blown GUI app I'd
use CamelBones, but for a simple OK/Cancel dialog the old MacPerl
module is still the easiest:
#!/usr/bin/perl
use MacPerl;
my $verify = MacPerl::Answer('Do you want to run backups?', 'OK',
'Cancel');
print $verify, \n;
Consider what happens if I'm busily typing away, and the dialogue box
pops up and grabs focus, and then whatever its default is gets selected
because i hit space or enter. So not only have you annoyed me by
popping something up and then removing it before I get a chance to read
it, you'll now take an action without the user knowing about it but on
the assumption that he does, *and* you've eaten an arbitrary amount of
what I typed, which I'll have to type again.
Needless to say, this is a Very Bad Idea.
--
David Cantrell | Nth greatest programmer in the world
It's my experience that neither users nor customers can articulate
what it is they want, nor can they evaluate it when they see it
-- Alan Cooper
Re: Interacting with other applications
On 3/23/07 at 2:56 PM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] (David Cantrell) wrote:
On Thu, Mar 22, 2007 at 05:55:18PM -0400, Sherm Pendley wrote:
On Mar 22, 2007, at 1:01 PM, Andrew Brosnan wrote:
I'd like to run a daily backup script on my laptop, but I'd like
it to ask permission first. I'm wondering what is the best way
to do this.
First off - can you always depend on a user being logged in? If
so, the simplest ideas tend to be the best. For a full-blown GUI
app I'd use CamelBones, but for a simple OK/Cancel dialog the
old MacPerl module is still the easiest:
#!/usr/bin/perl
use MacPerl;
my $verify = MacPerl::Answer('Do you want to run backups?', 'OK',
'Cancel');
print $verify, \n;
Consider what happens if I'm busily typing away, and the dialogue box
pops up and grabs focus, and then whatever its default is gets
selected because i hit space or enter. So not only have you annoyed
me by popping something up and then removing it before I get a
chance to read it, you'll now take an action without the user
knowing about it but on the assumption that he does, *and* you've
eaten an arbitrary amount of what I typed, which I'll have to type
again.
Needless to say, this is a Very Bad Idea.
I think that was meant as a rudimentary example, at least that's how I
took it. I appreciated the info. shrug
Andrew
Re: Interacting with other applications
On Mar 23, 2007, at 10:56 AM, David Cantrell wrote:
On Thu, Mar 22, 2007 at 05:55:18PM -0400, Sherm Pendley wrote:
On Mar 22, 2007, at 1:01 PM, Andrew Brosnan wrote:
I'd like to run a daily backup script on my laptop, but I'd like
it to
ask permission first. I'm wondering what is the best way to do this.
First off - can you always depend on a user being logged in? If so,
the simplest ideas tend to be the best. For a full-blown GUI app I'd
use CamelBones, but for a simple OK/Cancel dialog the old MacPerl
module is still the easiest:
#!/usr/bin/perl
use MacPerl;
my $verify = MacPerl::Answer('Do you want to run backups?', 'OK',
'Cancel');
print $verify, \n;
Consider what happens if I'm busily typing away, and the dialogue box
pops up and grabs focus, and then whatever its default is gets
selected
because i hit space or enter. So not only have you annoyed me by
popping something up and then removing it before I get a chance to
read
it, you'll now take an action without the user knowing about it but on
the assumption that he does, *and* you've eaten an arbitrary amount of
what I typed, which I'll have to type again.
Needless to say, this is a Very Bad Idea.
If this were something that might pop up at any random moment, I'd
agree. But it's a daily backup script - it's not unexpected, and
presumably it's scheduled to run at the same time every day. Andrew
doesn't need to be notified that it's going to run, he knows that
already; all he needs is veto power over it.
sherm--
Web Hosting by West Virginians, for West Virginians: http://wv-www.net
Cocoa programming in Perl: http://camelbones.sourceforge.net
Interacting with other applications
I'd like to run a daily backup script on my laptop, but I'd like it to ask permission first. I'm wondering what is the best way to do this. I thought I would have the script open Terminal.app and use STDIN/OUT? If so, what is the recommended way to do this? IPC::Open? One of the Mac::X modules? Thanks, Andrew
Re: Interacting with other applications
On Mar 22, 2007, at 1:01 PM, Andrew Brosnan wrote:
I'd like to run a daily backup script on my laptop, but I'd like it to
ask permission first. I'm wondering what is the best way to do this.
First off - can you always depend on a user being logged in? If so,
the simplest ideas tend to be the best. For a full-blown GUI app I'd
use CamelBones, but for a simple OK/Cancel dialog the old MacPerl
module is still the easiest:
#!/usr/bin/perl
use MacPerl;
my $verify = MacPerl::Answer('Do you want to run backups?', 'OK',
'Cancel');
print $verify, \n;
sherm--
Web Hosting by West Virginians, for West Virginians: http://wv-www.net
Cocoa programming in Perl: http://camelbones.sourceforge.net
