[openbeos] Re: File format support in Haiku
- From: "Axel Dörfler" <axeld@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: openbeos@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 03 Apr 2007 22:04:59 +0200 CEST
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.
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