Path: utzoo!utgpu!attcan!uunet!garfield!john13
From: john13@garfield.MUN.EDU (John Russell)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Nobody programming for Workbench
Keywords: workbench
Message-ID: <4988@garfield.MUN.EDU>
Date: 8 Nov 88 03:46:37 GMT
Organization: CS Dept., Memorial U. of Newfoundland, St. John's
Lines: 46


Just now I decided that it would be a good idea to provide some actual
Workbench support in a program. I had already hacked in some defaults
that would be used if the program was called from the Workbench, but
these settings really need to be customizable -- I use half a dozen
sets of command line arguments regularly -- so that wasn't really suitable.

The last 6 disks I've filled with PD stuff, most of which includes source,
had _not one_ example of parsing Workbench arguments. To be fair there are
some programs I know do support the Workbench that I haven't been able to
get source to, but the fact remains that most of what is floating around
either contains the warning "must be run from CLI" or is a CLI-based
program that was given an icon and that's it: no parsing of arguments
passed via tooltypes.

Come on, what with all the complaints about how Mickey-Mouse the Workbench
is, I don't see programmers doing a great deal to make their own
improvements to it... not necessarily by re-writing it from scratch but by
writing all their programs to take maximum advantage of the icon interface.
That way, if CBM does come out with a super-fantastic Workbench for 1.4
the support programs will already exist to give it that professional
flavour.

Speaking of which, I've yet to see many itty bitty Workbench programs
for doing the usual CLI grunge work, unless you count those that let you
run a batch file from an icon. Programs like the special directory-assign
programs supplied with Grabbit and Calligrapher. Mac people complain about
their font/da movers, but we lack a lot of that specialized object-oriented
software entirely. Installing fonts and devices, or re-assigning the
system directories, is still a chore that I always do from the CLI, even
though that always involves excessive typing. The batch files that
come with distributions to install their special resources are _never_
appropriate for my setup, but an icon-based program for doing this could
be made far more flexible (eg., should a font be copied to FONTS:, or
should FONTS: be re-assigned to a certain directory? What should the
mountlist entry for this device be named?).

I know about the DirUtils and the CLImates. But it seems to me they all
try to duplicate almost the exact same set of functions, while plenty
of others remain unaddressed.

John
-- 
"If ignorance ever goes to $40 a barrel, I want the drilling rights on
 George Bush's head."
			-- Jim Hightower of Texas