RE: Folder Actions Shortcomings...
RE: Folder Actions Shortcomings...
- Subject: RE: Folder Actions Shortcomings...
- From: Hellum Timothy <email@hidden>
- Date: Sun, 8 Apr 2001 19:13:41 -0400
Many thanks indeed for a clear and concise description. I understand
better now how it works. The pop-up folder idea seems like an excellent try
- I will do so.
Regards,
Timothy
Photodesk
The Globe and Mail
www.globeandmail.ca
(416) 585-5375
_______________________________
Once again the thought strikes me:
Even half is quite a bit of wit.
~ Tom Waits
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From: Chris Nebel
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Reply To: email@hidden
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Sent: Sunday, April 8, 2001 5:16 PM
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To: Hellum Timothy
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Cc: applescript-users
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Subject: Re: Folder Actions Shortcomings...
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Hellum Timothy wrote:
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> It has been suggested to me that Folder Actions Plus is "hard" on the
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> system, but I was not in a position to inquire further into this
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"hardness."
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> Anyone have any ideas? And anyone know why scripts will not trigger
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except
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> when items are dragged into/out of folders? This seems so limiting!
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The basic problem is that Mac OS has no efficient way for a program to say
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"tell me when this arbitrary file/folder changes." (To be fair, very few
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operating systems do -- it's tough to do without penalizing file system
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performance tremendously.) Folder Actions Plus gets around this by
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checking
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every actioned folder every few seconds and asking "have you changed?" If
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you've got a lot of actioned folders, or if some of them are actually on a
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network, this can seriously affect the performance of the rest of the
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system.
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Mac OS 9 solves the problem a different way: because the Finder is already
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aware of changes in any folder you've got an open window for, it's very
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little
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additional cost for it to trigger an action. Of course, this means that
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actions don't work on closed folders, but on the other hand, it won't bog
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down
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your system. You might well ask: "Why doesn't the Finder know about
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things I
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drop on a closed folder?" Well, it does, but that's not the real problem.
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The
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thing that makes folder actions hard is that you aren't the only person
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who can
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change a folder: an application could put something in there (e.g. a
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download
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or log file), or -- and this is the really hairy one -- the folder could
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be
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shared over the network, and another user could put something in there.
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(A
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small tip, by the way: pop-up folders are considered to be open windows.
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If
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you need an actioned drop folder, make it a pop-up window -- then it's
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small
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and unobtrusive but easily available, and an "on added items" action will
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still
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work.)
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Naturally, we'd like to provide the best of both worlds, but the necessary
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underpinnings aren't there, and what shape they might take is still under
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debate.
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--Chris Nebel
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AppleScript Engineering