Re(2): A simple request
Re(2): A simple request
- Subject: Re(2): A simple request
- From: Jens Bauer <email@hidden>
- Date: Thu, 6 Dec 2001 18:12:03 +0100
Hi Mark,
On Mon, 3 Dec, 2001, Mark T <email@hidden> wrote:
>
>Can cocoa developers please not set a default path for open and save
>
>dialog boxes? Instead set nil. This will go to the last folder the
>
>user used in the application, which is what he may want to do if he
>
>has to open multiple files.
>
>
I think you mean @"". Setting these to nil will cause your
>
application to crash, as stated in NSOpenPanel and NSSavePanel docs.
>
And while I'm not saying whether this is a good or bad suggestion(it
>
depends a lot on the situation - a user preference might not be a bad
>
idea), your own statement's use of the word may indicates that this
>
is merely a possibility, not a definite. I don't mean to be critical,
>
but this admission seems to take some weight away from your initial
>
suggestion(if the user only *may* want that, why *should* all cocoa
>
devs obey this?).
You are both right, I think it depends on the circumstances.
If an application is started for the very first time, freshly installed,
and you want to open, -say- a sound, it would be a good idea to point
the path to...
/sounds/
but the next time the user is using the application, (s)he might prefer to
have the sounds in $home/sounds/
-It could be that the user have the sounds in ./sounds/, but want to load
one sound from a CD, and then later store the modified sound in ./sounds/
Since it depends on what the user want, it might be a good idea to make
a preference option for it. Maybe even a preference that could be reached
from within the open panel. A simple version could be:
"[x] Use this as the default directory." or "[x] Remember folder for next
time."
-But also consider that one application may have more than one "Open" style,
for instance: "Select sound for new mail" and "Import message from SlowMail",
it would be handy to save these as 2 different preferences:
com.mygreatsoftware.openpanel.soundsfolder
com.mygreatsoftware.openpanel.importfolder
-Furthermore, it may not be all applications that have the ability to support
this, so it should be possible to *show* this checkbox, only if you
support it,
to stay backwards-compatible. I'm thinking of a user pressing such a
button would
expect it to work, and if it's an older application, the application does not
know the new feature.
Love,
Jens