Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!bbn!apple!well!ewhac
From: ewhac@well.UUCP (Leo 'Bols Ewhac' Schwab)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.tech
Subject: Re: Supporting the clipboard
Message-ID: <11055@well.UUCP>
Date: 22 Mar 89 10:14:51 GMT
References: <lotza articles> <1989Mar19.023257.20564@ziebmef.uucp>
Reply-To: ewhac@well.UUCP (Leo 'Bols Ewhac' Schwab)
Organization: Slow-Witted Weapons Experts, Ltd.
Lines: 41
Quote: "Oh no.  I'm getting amnesia and deja vu at the same time."  -- S. Wright

In article <1989Mar19.023257.20564@ziebmef.uucp> cks@ziebmef.uucp (Chris Siebenmann) writes:
> I can't comment on why everyone seems to ignore the clipboard, though
>I have a pretty good idea. I can tell you why ComicSetter doesn't use
>it, and it's very simple.
>
> There's no IFF routines that will write to the clipboard, and it's
>not at all obvious how to write them.
> 
	Well, there are now (though admittedly this was of no use to you
during ComicSetter's development).

>And the clipboard.device doesn't appear to support random seeking around
>to write data [ ... ]

	Guess what?  It does.  Just fiddle with the io_Offset field, and it
works.  We have internal clipboard support in our library.  We do this and it
works positively great.

> This makes it remarkably difficult to write a complicated recursive
>data structure out in IFF chunks to the clipboard, of course. You
>basically have to "write" it twice, once to find out the sizes of all
>the hunks, and the second time to do the real writing with the real
>sizes.
>
	Even with non-seeking streams, we can write a file in one pass.  For
non-seeking streams, we buffer it in memory until the whole file's written,
then blast it out.  Not exactly elegant, but it works.

> So (to turn this into a comp.sys.amiga.tech topic), having listened
>to my tale of woe, does anyone have any suggestions? [ ... ]
>Does anyone have a clever idea about how to do this, or nifty code?
>
	We have what I think is highly nifty code.  Unfortunately, it's in
Alpha test right now, and we're (Stu and I) kind of reticent about handing
it out capriciously.  We'll let y'all know when it's solidified.

_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_
Leo L. Schwab -- The Guy in The Cape	INET: well!ewhac@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU
 \_ -_		Recumbent Bikes:	UUCP: pacbell > !{well,unicom}!ewhac
O----^o	      The Only Way To Fly.	      hplabs / (pronounced "AE-wack")
"Work FOR?  I don't work FOR anybody!  I'm just having fun."  -- The Doctor