At 20:06 13-11-2001 -0500, "Tim LaDuca" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >Basically all that does(on windows, at least) is determine what is already >selected for file type when you go to the "save as" dialog. When you click >on the save button it apparently still reverts to the native abiword format. >I'm not sure if Abiword is yet smart enough to know when it is dealing with >just a plain-text file. >I have forwarded this to the developers list, just so they can ponder a real >life word processing dilemma that someone is in.
I would like to offer an opinion on this topic because to me it is another symptom of bug number 665 which has attracted sporadic discussion over some time. This problem isn't just restricted to plain text, but applies to any format which AbiWord can open, other than its own .abw format. I think this bug can have quite a serious effect on practical use of AbiWord, and can cause the creation of "masquerade" documents, or in some cases the accidental over writing of files. (My comments refer to the Windows version noted on Win 95 and Win ME machines). Bug 665 is entitled "AbiWord does not append suffix before checking if file exists" The bug can cause at least two different problems from my observations:- Example 1 - Accidental overwrite of existing files. Open Abi, create a file and save it with the name "trial". Close Abi. Open Abi, create a new file (with different content to the previous one) and, using "save as", save it with the name "trial". At the point of saving Abi appears to compare what you've typed in the "file name" slot with existing files in the chosen directory, so it finds nothing called "trial" even though there's one there called "trial.abw". So it will give the new file an automatic .abw extension then save the new file, overwriting the old one without giving a warning. Example 2 - creation of files masquerading under wrong identity. Open a file with (for example) a .doc extension (say, "test.doc" previously created by Wordpad) - say it has some material in it you want to use without retyping it all, and you intend to keep the resulting edited document as an Abi document. Edit the content to create a different document, and hit "save" to save it when finished. Here, Abi "protects" you from accidentally overwriting the original by bringing up the warning dialogue box, but this is because it is trying to save the file under "false pretences" as "test.doc". I believe what it should do is the same as other word processors and replace the .doc extension by the .abw extension before checking for an existing file. If you go ahead and save the file anyway, you get a file in .abw format but with a .doc extension. Later this can lead to problems - double clicking the new file, Wordpad opens it, and cannot display it properly because it is really not in the original .doc format any more (all the more serious if you've sent the file to someone else who doesn't have AbiWord). I think this behaviour has the potential to create a lot of confusion amongst inexperienced users, and offhand I can't think of any real benefits in having Abi behave in the way it does, unless people wish to deliberately create files that masquerade under a different format identity. I think AbiWord should always attach the appropriate extension to the file when it is saved from the "save as" box (to match the format you have chosen to save in) - that is, any file created by AbiWord should be true to type, as indicated by its extension. It would also be useful if AbiWord "remembered" what type of file it was working on, and would ask the user what format the file should be saved in, if a simple "save" instruction was used. (eg open a .rtf file, do some work on it, select File/Save, AbiWord asks what format you wish to use, and by default opens the dialogue box with the original file name (with .rtf extension) shown, and .rtf automatically selected as the format to use). If you decide to convert the file to .abw (or some other format) then Abi should automatically modify the file name and append the .abw (or other appropriate) extension. I'm just hoping that others might see this bug as being worthy of attention. The developers have heaps of work to do, so may not see this bug as being significant unless people express their opinion in a practical way by commenting on it and voting for it in Bugzilla?? Cheers, and again thanks to the hard working development team. John Selby. PS, if there's seen to be any merit in the above, maybe some kind soul could direct it to the developers' list. It could be that someone is working on this anyway. __________________ John Selby [EMAIL PROTECTED] __________________ ----------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe from this list, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word unsubscribe in the message body.
