Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!rutgers!ames!sdcsvax!ucsdhub!jack!crash!ford From: ford@crash.cts.com (Michael Ditto) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga Subject: Re: Telling Workbench about new icons Message-ID: <2051@crash.cts.com> Date: Sat, 28-Nov-87 15:42:08 EST Article-I.D.: crash.2051 Posted: Sat Nov 28 15:42:08 1987 Date-Received: Tue, 1-Dec-87 02:07:48 EST References: <1076@sugar.UUCP> <2826@cbmvax.UUCP> <1103@sugar.UUCP> Reply-To: ford%kenobi@crash.CTS.COM (Michael Ditto) Organization: Crash TS, El Cajon, CA Lines: 48 Keywords: Workbench Icon Summary: Please make general-purpose icons available In article <1103@sugar.UUCP> schaub@sugar.UUCP (Markus Schaub) writes: >In article <2826@cbmvax.UUCP>, carolyn@cbmvax.UUCP (Carolyn Scheppner CATS): > >> One probable future enhancement will be a way for other programs to tell >> Workbench to reread a directory and refresh the icons. >> [ ... ] >Please offer also a faster way then just rereading the directory! To write the >icon I have my DiskObject structure already set up, there is no need to wait >until Dos found all .info files. Or at least let me tell Workbench to look >for 'myicon.info' only. While you're giving workbench the ability to communicate, here's an extremely powerful capability that could be added: Have workbench maintain other icons besides the ones read from ".info" files. These icons could be given to workbench be any program, and workbench would notify that program when anything interesting happened to that icon. This seems like something that the workbench's internal routines must already have support for, less the communication aspects. It should be pretty easy for workbench to check the type of an icon when it is double- clicked (or dropped on another one, etc.) and if it is not a ".info" icon, just send a message to a message port associated with that icon, rather than do the normal open/launch. The first application that comes to mind is an "iconify" command for programs that open their own windows. When the user selects "iconify", the program just closes its window, (saving away the bitmap if it wants to), sends a message to workbench, and waits for a reply. The user would see the window be replaced by a small icon that could be moved out of the way like normal workbench icons. When the icon is selected, the program wakes up, opens its window again, and restores its bitmap or refreshes it in the normal way. It sounds like a great user convenience that's consistent with the Amiga user interface, easy for programmers to implement, and doesn't require fundamental changes in workbench. In fact, most of the work involved will be in setting up the method of communication between random programs and workbench, and apparrently, that is happening already. Of course, as with all these "easy, backward compatible improvement" suggestions, SOMEONE will find something wrong with it, so let's hear it! -- Mike Ditto -=] Ford [=- P.O. Box 1721 ford%kenobi@crash.CTS.COM Bonita, CA 92002 ford@crash.CTS.COM