Conference jamin::vms-for-mac

4009.0. "System 7.6 and the new APPD & APPC exeutable types" by UNIFIX::HARRIS (Juggling has its ups and downs) Thu Feb 06 1997 17:51

    Warning, Warning, Will Robinson!
    
    System 7.6 has a new feature that may start to have an impact with the
    PATHWORKS for OpenVMS (Macintosh) DECshare file server.  Apple has
    created 2 new types of applications.  They have types of 'APPD' and
    'APPC'.  The Mac only used to have a single type 'APPL'.
    
    How does this affect the file server.  Well the file server when doing
    a full verify will rebuild the MSAF$APPL file for a volume.  The
    current algorithm _ONLY_ looks for 'APPL' files and ignores all the
    rest.
    
    Now the original information get stuffed into the MSAF$APPL file by the
    Finder.  The Finder will later use this information when a user double
    clicks on a document.  The Finder looks in the MSAF$APPL file to find
    the application that is associated with that document.
    
    If the DECshare file server rebuilds the MSAF$APPL file and does not
    include the 2 new types of applications ('APPD' and 'APPC'), then after
    a full verify, the user may get errors such as "Application not found".
    
    The code is trivial to fix so that it will look for all 3 types of
    applications, but someone will need to CLD this and get the support
    team to make the changes.
    
    Attached is the release note information which describes this new
    feature.
    
    					Bob Harris
    
    extracted from:
    
        <http://devworld.apple.com/dev/technotes/tn/tn1090.html>
    
    
    System 7.6
    Finder 7.5.6

    The new Finder recognizes two new application file types: 'APPD' and
    'APPC'.  Both file types are used to store application code in the same
    way as normal applications; however, they have special meaning in the
    context of the Finder.

    When a user drags a file of type 'APPC' to the System Folder, he or she
    is asked whether to have the file placed in the Control Panels folder
    just as users would be prompted for the old control panel files of type
    'cdev'.

    Files of type 'APPD' are auto-routed to the Apple Menu Items folder in
    the same way control panels are auto-routed to the Control Panels
    folder.  APPD type applications are the new way to implement desk
    accessories, as the older DRVR method may not be supported in future
    system software releases. 

    Note: Although both APPC and APPD files can be run in System 7.5.3 and
          7.5.5, APPC's are not completely supported under system software
	  releases prior to Mac OS 7.6 (see the Control Panels section
	  below).  Also, since users won't be able to launch application
	  files of type 'APPD' and 'APPC' from the Finder under versions of
	  the Mac OS prior to system 7.5.3, it is strongly recommended that
	  developers include 'hfdr' -5696 balloon help resources in such
	  files, so users can use Balloon Help to discover what they are
	  for.