This month's disc features System 7.5 in 31 different localizations, including Chinese (both Simplified and Traditional), Korean, and Ukrainian. System 7.1.2 is provided (when available) for those languages for which System 7.5 has not yet been localized. You'll notice that U.S. software is now shuffled in with the rest of the world, by language; look for the "English, U.S.", "English, British" and "English, Int'l" folders within the Worldwide System Software and System Extensions folders on this disc.
And, speaking of system software, last month's Question o' the Month remains posed: Does anybody out there need to access the Developer CD from a System 6 machine? Drop me a line at dev.cd@applelink.apple.com if you do, and tell me your story...
In addition to all of that system software, here's what else is new and revised for April.
AlwaysPreview: This simple application demonstrates how to force the preview enabled mode by installing a modal dialog filter proc in the QuickTime CustomGetFilePreview routine.
Debugging Modern Memory Manager: This package contains a debugging version of the Modern Memory Manager. Once installed on Power Macintosh machines it allows the developer greater control in detecting and eliminating memory manager bugs.
The debugging Modern Memory manager screens all handles passed to it, checking them for validity. Options also exist for robust heap validation before and after every call and filling of disposed blocks with garbage. A control panel is provided which allows for dynamic enabling and disabling of the debugging features.
Developer Notes Update: This developer note describes the Macintosh 630 DOS compatible computer, a Macintosh computer with a built-in 486-type microprocessor. This developer note describes the DOS compatibility features of this computer and the way DOS software can communicate with Mac OS software.
Dylan Update: This folder contains MacMarlais 0.5d28, an update to the "Dylan Related" folder on the February 95 Tool Chest CD. This is a port of the UN*X program Marlais (version 0.5.4) to the Macintosh. MacMarlais provides a nice, multiple window, text editing environment for creating Marlais programs. Marlais is a language not unlike Dylan™, from Apple Computer.
Inside Macintosh Errata Update: This Technical Note documents errors or omissions in the Inside Macintosh book IM—Files.
Inside Macintosh Update - Thread Manager: This document describes how you can use the Thread Manager to provide threads, or multiple points of execution, in an application. You can think of the Thread Manager as an enhancement to the Process Manager, which still governs how applications work together in the Macintosh multitasking environment. Therefore, you should already be familiar with the concepts in Inside Macintosh: Processes and Inside Macintosh: Memory before reading this chapter.
Read this chapter if you are interested in developing an application with more than one thread (called a threaded application in this document). If your application uses no Thread Manager functions, the Process Manager treats it as a single-threaded application (called a nonthreaded application in this document).The Process Manager does call the Thread Manager at launch time to create the main thread for the application, but it does this transparently and in no way affects the performance of your application.
This chapter begins by describing the advantages of using threads within an application context. It describes the scheduling model that the Thread manager provides, the context information that the Thread Manager saves when it switches one thread out and another one in, and it describes thread stacks. It then shows how to
• create threads and thread pools and set them up to run
• turn scheduling on and off
• work with stacks
• create dialog boxes that yield control to other threads
• pass information between threads
• install custom scheduling and context-switching functions
• use threads to make asynchronous I/O calls
Mac Tech Notes Update 04/95: Technical Notes are a collection of short (and not-so-short) articles dealing with specific development topics. New and updated notes for April 1995 include:
AO03 AOCE AppleTalk Address
NW29 File Sharing 7.6.1
PT38 PPC Compat. & Perf.
PT39 The DR Emulator
TB33 Color, Windows & 7.0
MIDIConverter: MIDIConverter is an application for converting general MIDI files (file type 'Midi') to QuickTime movie files. To convert just select the MIDI files and drag them on top of this app. When the conversion is done, the movies files can be found in the original file folder.
ShrinkWrap™ 1.3: ShrinkWrap is a utility to create and mount DiskCopy images. It will also mount DART disk images and can utilize the StuffIt™ Engine for compression. See the file "ShrinkWrap™ Read Me" for more information. Note: This is NOT AN APPLE PRODUCT. It is provided on an AS-IS basis. Apple is not responsible for any problems you may encounter in its use.
Thread Manager Extension 2.1: The Thread Manager is a System 7 Extension which allows applications to make use of multithreading within their application context on all Macintosh platforms. Version 2.1 supports both 68K and PowerPC applications. Please read the file 'Software Licensing Info' for information on contacting the Apple Computer, Inc. Software Licensing Group.
Coming Next Month: The return of the HyperCard Toolkits; the very latest fashions from the Rinaldi Collection; and, assuming the Dance of the Lawyers comes to a successful conclusion, a preview of the Document Reader Of The Future.
