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Re: FileMaker under Executor
Dear Folks,
Originally Executor *did* have drives, although they were a pain to
configure and you didn't have the option to access the entire UNIX
filesystem. People didn't like that and I don't blame them.
However, with the exception of the problem of apps that want to write
on the "top" of volumes, you can to some extent emulate volumes just
by grouping your files into a directory and double-clicking on a
".appl" file to start a given program in a given directory. Then,
when you use the Mac dialogs for opening or creating files, they'll
start out in the directory that contains the ".appl".
The problem then becomes how do you get between them. Drag and drop
is a possibility as is implementing some sort of special key sequence
or menu. I like the idea of a shortcut to get to various parts
within the UNIX filesystem better than having separate volumes,
although that will mean that we'll still need to do something with
rogue programs that want to write scratch files at the top of a
volume. When I said that "I haven't figured out anything yet" I
really overstated the case. I haven't finalized our plan, but I have
thought over a few strategies.
I don't think HFS_XFer will ever be a "NeXTSTEP app". I do think
that HFS_XFer will be integrated into a smarter Executor and that the
smarter Executor will have some handy features:
1) Not go away when you quit
2) Allow you to double-click and start another ".appl" even
when one's running already
3) Provide a way so that arbitrary programs can open
open documents the way ".mxl" and ".msw" currently work
for Excel and Word.
Tentatively this is slated for 1.4, which is ostensibly due out in
March, but since 1.3 has slipped (we're still having trouble getting
sound support to work and we're waiting on Microsoft for a copy of
Word 5.1a and we're waiting on NeXT for some hardware), 1.4 will
probably also slip (it's hard to make up lost time with our current
resources).
Please keep sending suggestions. Executor's been available for a
year and a week now, and 1.3 is head and shoulders above 1.0, thanks
to all your suggestions (and all of our hard work).
Happy New Year!
--Cliff