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From: ph@ssd.kodak.com (Pete Hoch)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.programmer
Subject: Is there a defacto standard for 'drop ins'?
Keywords: code filters, how to, suggestions
Message-ID: <1991Mar21.223638.4346@ssd.kodak.com>
Date: 21 Mar 91 22:36:38 GMT
Sender: news@ssd.kodak.com
Organization: Eastman Kodak
Lines: 33
Originator: ph@bashow

Hi all,

I have noticed lately that more and more applications are
supporting 'drop in' code resources.  Perhaps the most
famous example of this is PhotoShop.  However StuffIt now
supports drop in filters and even Apple's own Communications
tool box will run seperate code segments.

So I was wondering, do they all do it the same way?  Should
Apple step in and provide a filter manager?  Is this hard to
do today without Apples help?  Also, is this a good idea?

It seems to me that it would be hard tocome up with a general
toolbox interface that would handle any filtering need that
application programmers could come up with.  However there
are some basic concepts of piping and filtering that have
stood the test of time in UNIX.  Would it be usefull to say
have a filtered read command so that when an application
reads a disk file that byte stream passes through a filter
on its way in?

Perhaps I have not phrased my questions well but if you have
some ideas on how to go about doing this I would be very interested.

Pete Hoch



-- 
Pete Hoch                                  | ..somewhere..!kodak!ph   ..or..
Color Systems ISPD. 3/65/RL		   | ph@ssd.kodak.com         ..or..
Eastman Kodak Co. 	   		   | ph@kodak.com
Rochester, NY 14650-1805                   | 716-722-????