Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!cs.utexas.edu!sun-barr!texsun!pollux!ti-csl!m2!holland
From: holland@m2.csc.ti.com (Fred Hollander)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.hypercard
Subject: Re: Text File Creator
Message-ID: <81007@ti-csl.csc.ti.com>
Date: 14 Jun 89 20:42:34 GMT
References: <808@cf-cm.UUCP> <800001@zaphod>
Sender: news@ti-csl.csc.ti.com
Reply-To: holland@m2.UUCP (Fred Hollander)
Organization: TI Computer Science Center, Dallas
Lines: 39

In article <800001@zaphod> liberte@zaphod.ncsa.uiuc.edu writes:
>
>> /* Written  4:06 am  Jun  8, 1989 by ralph@computing-maths.cardiff.ac.uk in zaphod:comp.sys.mac.hypercard */
>> Best would be some way of doing it using hypertalk, 2nd best would be for
>> the creator string to be in a resource which could be resedited, and least
>> good of all is the current dodgy idea where I patched the code resources of
>> HyperCard directly. 
>
>I would prefer that any creator type may be associated with any other
>creator.  So no programs would have to be changed, hundreds of documents
>would not have to have their creator changed, etc.  Just change the
>association in one place between, for example, a MacWrite creator and
>WORD, or TEXT and TeachText etc.
>
>The Finder would have to be changed to support this feature.  Perhaps
>someone could write an INIT to do the job though.

It just so happens that an INIT that does this will soon be released.
It's currently in beta testing and the marketing plan is not yet
definite.  Let me tell you a little bit about how it works.  Whenever
you try to open a document from the Finder and the Finder can't find
the application that created the document, you will be given the
opportunity to choose a substitute application.  You can also set it
so future encounters with documents created by the same application
will automatically open the substitute.  Another feature is that you
can map generic documents by file-name extension.  In other words,
".txt" files could be treated as MacWrite documents, ".wks" as Excel
and so on.

It's not ready for an official announcement yet, but, if you'll send
me your mailing address, I'll send you information as soon as it's
available.

Fred Hollander
Computer Science Center
Texas Instruments, Inc.
hollander@ti.com

The above statements are my own and not representative of Texas Instruments.