[openbeos] Re: Preferences/File Help
- From: "Nathan Whitehorn" <nathan.whitehorn@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: openbeos@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2002 14:05:17 -0600
> The whole XML <-> BMessage discussion can be simplified by just
> > having Text
> translators like the image translators (mentioned by others too).
>
> ::Convert( const BMessage & msg, BString & text );
>
> BString text;
> BMessage msg;
> BTextTranslator *translator = be_roster->Find( "text/xml" );
> if( translator )
> {
> translator->Convert( msg, text );
> // then save to file or send as stream
> }
>
> AND
>
> ::Convert( const BMessage & msg, BDataIO * stream );
>
> BMessage should not go directly to XML since the translator may
> support
> other formats.
> One of the strengths of the BeOS API is its flexibility. You can do
> things
> with the API that the authors did not intend for it to do, but it
> could.
>
> Now preference files can be saved in any format supported by
> BTextTranslators. The application decides which format to save it
> in. The
> preference file would have its MIME type set so the appropriate
> translator
> would be used to return it as a BMessage. The application would only
> need
> to archive and restore from a BMessage. BTextTranslator can be able
> to
> convert from one format to another. Usually you don't want the end-
> user to
> tweak with the preference file directly. The application should the
> only
> one doing that. But nothing would stop a utility to read in a
> preference
> file and display the hierarchy in a outline list view.
>
> Enforcing an application developer to maintain something in a certain
> file
> format may get resistance. This solution would keep both camps
> happy.
I really don't think this is a good idea. Text translators can be great
(Word -> Plain Text?), but this is not, IMHO, an appropriate use.
> First, translators use data streams, not objects. You could use a
flattened BMessage, but then you are asking the dev to do a three step
process, which is pointless. Why not a seperate XMLStorage class (which
GE will have), that works like a BMessage? I really don't like
balkanized settings formats.
-Nathan
--
Fortune Cookie Says:
Any stone in your boot always migrates against the pressure gradient to
exactly the point of most pressure.
-- Milt Barber
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