Re: Application roles

[Dirk Olmes]

> The modern Windows right-click approach offering an "open with..." option
> seems adequate for most users who are not willing to open command lines.
>
> There's no reason a Finder/Workspace application can't offer a selection
> of applications capable of opening the document in response to a user
> gesture, and even allow arbitrary choices too.

In fact that's already implemented. You have to enable a special default
(which I don't remember right now) and GWorkspace will give you a PopUp
Menu with all Applications that are registered for a specific file
extension. I use this feature quite a bit and like it.

> It seems clear to me that we are talking about a couple of different kinds
> of things:
>
> 1. MIME type database
> 2. File type (and extension) database
> 3. Application role database
>
> Each of these are subtly different but with overlaps - application roles
> seem to me as a set of systemwide defaults used when an application
> chooses to launch another "helper" application (ie, need a help viewer,
> jpeg editor etc).
>
> File types and extension handling are useful for file open activities,
> especially in Finder/Workspace applications.

In the realms of file types I've always played around with the thought of
integrating the unix 'file' command into GWorkspace. This would allow for
better determination of a file's type apart from its extension.

-dirk

-- 
Anyway kids, have fun, play nicely, be good. And remember - if it ain't
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