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From: paulb@cbnewsk.att.com (paul.l.bidwell)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.introduction
Subject: How to Create Icons for Files?
Keywords: icons files
Message-ID: <1991Mar4.140119.10901@cbnewsk.att.com>
Date: 4 Mar 91 14:01:19 GMT
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories
Lines: 36

I recently got an A3000, and after reading  the manual, I began trying to do
something useful with it.

In order to impress my wife with how easy it was to use (from the WB), I tried
to do the following task:

 She needed to type a letter. Since I don't have any word processors yet,
 I was going to use ed or memacs. My goal was to create a file and a icon
 for the file such that when she double-clicked on the icon, it would take
 her directly into the editor. Also, when she wanted to print the file, she
 could click on it, then double-clock on the "printfiles" icon.

 I was able to do it, but things seemed real awkward.

 First, I created the file using ed. But then, I had no icon for the file.
 What I finally ended up doing was using IconEdit. Is there an easier way?
 Do commerical word processors automatically generate the icon?    

 (One of the schemes I tried was the "show all files" menu selection - this
  created the icon, but wouldn't let me type anything in the default tool
  field).

 After creating the icon, then I wanted to have a double-click on it invoke
 an editor. First I put the string "ed" in the default tool field. When I
 double-clicked, nothing happened - just a message "Attempting to load ed",
 next I tried "more", and lo and behold, that worked just fine. Then I
 tried "type", and the machine guru'ed. Then I put in "memacs", and that 
 worked.

 Why do some programs work in this manner and others don't?

 In any case, I got the job done, but I was wondering if there were easier
 ways to accomplish this?

Paul Bidwell
p.l.bidwell@att.com