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From: jkeegan@hawk.ulowell.edu (Jeff Keegan)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.programmer
Subject: A suggestion for Apple (AppleEvents/Finder).. Please Read (Apple)
Keywords: Finder, AppleEvents, Apple Events
Message-ID: <1991Jun2.112418.27577@ulowell.ulowell.edu>
Date: 2 Jun 91 11:24:18 GMT
Sender: usenet@ulowell.ulowell.edu (News manager)
Organization: University of Lowell Computer Science, Lowell MA
Lines: 66
Originator: jkeegan@hawk.ulowell.edu

I've been thinking recently about how the finder's interface works now..
A lot more of the things that sounded impossible in the past are becomming
implementable, and I think it's worth making the following suggestion I've
been thinking about...

Many times when in the finder I'll select certain files, wanting to do
something with them (for this example I'll say they were all text files, but
with different creator types that existed on the hard drive currently, and
that the thing I wanted to do with them was to open them in one specific
application they weren't necessarily created in). I usually curse after
realizing that there was no real purpose for selecting them all, if (as in
this example) I specifically wanted them all opened in ONE specific
application..  I then go run the application I should have run in the first
place, and just as I go to open the files, I grit my teeth at the fact that
the files are still selected there in the finder, and wouldn't it be nice if
the application I'm in simply "knew" that, instead of asking me to pick them
one at a time, in a standard file dialog. (I don't actually grit my teeth,
it's only a computer, right? :)  , I am just adding that for dramatic effect).

Well this happened to me last night, after using the release of Sys 7 for a
week or two (how long has it been now since release date?), and after skimming
through most of the AppleEvent chapter of Inside Mac VI.  Now I'd been trying
to think of some other good examples of AppleEvent uses (besides the obvious
ones we hear every day.. open a document, quit your program, spellcheck this
word for me, lets play hunt on the network, etc) since the Alpha version a
year ago, and it took that long to hit me.. Since AppleEvents are here (and
documented, now), it'd be really easy (with Apple's help, of course) to add
a potential feature to many future programs..

If Finder were to accept a high-level AppleEvent requesting knowledge of which
file(s) were selected (icons highlighted), and broadcast back to the sender
(via AppleEvents) an answer, programs could have a "Open files selected in the
Finder" choice (though maybe not commonly used, the feature would exist).
It may be that AppleEvents wouldn't be the best way (the PPC toolbox instead,
maybe?), but that's not terribly important..

I'm not trying to get a hack feature suggested here, what I'm actually doing
is suggesting an idea that I think would at the LEAST be a stepping stone
to a point where someday standard-file isn't the only option (though sometimes
it sure is preferable.. I don't know about you, but I FLY through modal dialogs
now that we can tab from the Save "name" field to the list, and page through
that).. Anyway, I was almost expecting to see a sub-chapter in either
Finder Interface or AppleEvent Manager describing some server-based services
provided by the Finder, such as this.. (Why should the /Finder/ have all the
fun of sending AppleEvents to everyone..  Hey you, open this file.. and print
this one too.. now Quit, I feel like shutting down..) 
(If there is such a sub-chapter that I missed, forgive me, I must have missed
it.)

Comments?

..Jeff Keegan

p.s.  Is anyone else out there concerned that Addison Wesley [Crusher (I like
that!)] hasn't taken into consideration the number of PAGES in Inside Mac VI?
I've got the paperback edition (I heard a hardcover might exist), and leaving
the thing OPEN for more than 10 minutes practically rips the binding..
(not a complaint, just a comment)

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| Jeff Keegan                | I clutch the wire fence until my fingers bleed |
| jkeegan@hawk.ulowell.edu   | A wound that will not heal                     |
|----------------------------| A heart that cannot feel                       |
| This space intentionally   | Hoping that the horror will receed             |
| left blank                 | Hoping that tomorrow we'll all be freed  -RUSH |
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