FreeLists / openbeos / [openbeos] Re: File format support in Haiku

["Axel Dörfler" <axeld@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Ar18@xxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
> 1. Can the Translation kit be extended to handle other file 
> categories
> (vector, bitmap, raw, image editor specific formats, word processor
> formats, etc...).  I assume it already handles a few of those, but 
> not all.

It could, but it always needs a native type format all other can be 
converted to.
Since there is none for vector images, we would need to specify one 
(like SVG).

> 2a. What does the Translation kit do when a format needs special
> options in the UI?  For example, when you save a gif file, various
> parameters about the compression must be set.  Does the translation
> kit provide the UI with these options?

It does, every translator can export a settings view.

> 2b. Can the UI be overwritten with a custom UI by the app developer
> yet still pass the options to the translation kit so the translation 
> kit can
> be used for the save process?

Yes, configuration works using messages. Unfortunately, there are not 
many commonly defined settings available, so you could only override it 
in a useful way if you know the translator well.

> 3a. Can the translation kit handle complex formats like word 
> processor
> files?
> 3b. Can it convert from Word to Open Doc format?

Same as with vector files - the only usable word processor format is 
the one of Gobe Productive, but as far as I can tell, it has never been 
published.
There is definitely room for improvement concerning the translation 
kit.

> 4. Does the translation kit require including a dll into the program 
> at
> compile or is it separate from the program (and thus you can add in
> more file support long after the program has been made)?

Your application only links against libtranslation.so, the file format 
support is delivered by add-ons that you don't have to care about. Much 
like the datatypes library on the Amiga in case you're familiar with 
that.

Bye,
   Axel.