Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!cis.ohio-state.edu!pacific.mps.ohio-state.edu!linac!midway!ux1.cso.uiuc.edu!rs6000.cmp.ilstu.edu!ejbehr
From: ejbehr@rs6000.cmp.ilstu.edu (Eric Behr)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.system
Subject: Re: Aliases again
Message-ID: <1991Jun01.033937.8241@rs6000.cmp.ilstu.edu>
Date: 1 Jun 91 03:39:37 GMT
Reply-To: ejbehr@rs6000.cmp.ilstu.edu (Eric Behr)
Organization: Central Illinois Surfing Club
Lines: 34

rmh@apple.com (Rick Holzgrafe) writes:
>In article <1991May31.194622.4942@rs6000.cmp.ilstu.edu> 
>EJB writes:
>> Here is a little problem I've encountered: some ASCII files can be
>> successfully opened by "dropping" them onto the Word application icon, 
>but
>> *nothing happens* when I drop them onto a Word alias. Shouldn't aliases
>> behave (in this regard) exactly like the application they point to?
>
>They do, a feature I find terribly convenient. I suspect your trouble is 
>that those files, although ASCII, were not marked as being of type 'TEXT'.
>

Here's the setup: two volumes in addition to the boot volume: say Apps and
Docs.

Application (Word in this case) on Apps; its alias on Docs.

A TEXT file dropped on Word (on Apps) opens fine; it does not open when
dropped on Words alias (on Docs). This is weird, since the document is on
Docs, i.e. it likes the application on a different volume, but doesn't like
its alias on *the same volume*!

Now an experiment: copy Word to Docs; same document dropped on this Word
opens - no surprise. Make an alias which points to that local copy of Word
- now dropping works with that "local" alias too!

There may be some simple reason for this, but I stand by my gripe: aliases
*do not* behave like applications, unless everything is on the same volume.
This may be particularly important in network situations. Am I nitpicking?

-- 
Eric Behr, Illinois State University, Mathematics Department
Internet: ejbehr@rs6000.cmp.ilstu.edu    Bitnet: ebehr@ilstu