Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!van-bc!rsoft!mindlink!a347
From: a347@mindlink.UUCP (John Miller)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.programmer
Subject: Re: Gripes about System 7.0
Message-ID: <4535@mindlink.UUCP>
Date: 23 Jan 91 01:53:41 GMT
Organization: MIND LINK! - British Columbia, Canada
Lines: 55

In message <20283@unix.SRI.COM>, Matthew Mora writes
> 1) WHY IN THE WORLD WOULD APPLE WITH ALL THEIR AWESOME PROGRAMMERS
>    AND UNLIMITED R&D FUNDS CHOOSE TEACH TEXT AS THERE DEFAULT TEXT EDITOR!!!!
>    THAT IS TRUELY ASSININE!

Because it is the only text editor that Apple knows every Mac owner
uses.

I think TeachText serves its primary function rather well:  a small
application for reading small "Read Me" files.  I'm not so happy
with its secondary function:  Apple uses it as the example application
to teach users how to use Mac programs.  An example Mac program that
doesn't support Undo?  Come on!

> Even if they don't add an editor to the finder they should at least
> make the default program that it launches configurable. "I'm sorry,
> that file is to big for teach text to display" will probably be the
> message a user will get if they try to open a big read me file.

I suspect one reason that Apple has not made it configurable is they
are not sure what to do about the user interface issues.  After all, if
we're not supposed to let user see evil things like file type
signatures and the Finder can't translate the file type into English
without access to the Bundle (stored, of course, in the missing
application), how does the user specify "Open files of type 'wxyz'
with application Y."  Of course, the user interface wouldn't
have to allow for all file types:  many people (???) would be satisfied
with a solution that only dealt with text files.  There would
still be the problem of the user specifying a program that couldn't
handle text files:  program crashes are so user unfriendly.
(Perhaps only allow programs that specify the TEXT type in their
bundles ... but even this has problems)

... actually, I guess the Finder translates the creator into
English, rather than the file type.  Is there no English
for the file type?  Will the Finder's designers ever allow
the file lists to say: "text document" rather than the generic "document"?

In any case, this is comp.sys.mac.programmer and we don't
have to worry about little details like a lack of user
interface.  A quick probe with MacsBug and ResEdit reveals
that the solution (for version 7.0b1) is the 'fmap' resource
with ID 17010 of the Finder:  a list of file type and default creator
signatures.  MPW is now my default for text files.  I added
an entry that makes MacWrite files open Microsoft Word.
The possibilities are endless.  (Actually, I only tried
that one extra entry ... they may be some limit on the number of
entries built into the code.)

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John Miller                         (604) 433-1795
Symplex Systems                     AppleLink (rarely)  CDA0461
Burnaby, British Columbia           Fax: (604) 430-8516
Canada                              usenet:  john_miller@mindlink.uucp
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