Re: SWI-Prolog MacOS app

On 16 Aug 2013, at 13:16, Jan Wielemaker <[email protected]>
 wrote:

My previous comments notwithstanding, if there must be an
Mac OS app, then :-

> Hi,
> 
> A real Prolog MacOS app is getting close to testing phase.  One of
> the remaining issues is integration with the finder.  Below are
> some thoughts about that.  Comments from Mac users is welcome.
> 
>  - Currently, I register Prolog for .pl and .prolog files (still need
>    to figure out how to get an icon there).   More?
> 
>  - Double clicking always sends a message to the already running app,
>    while I think you want to load the file into a new instance.  So,
>    if a running app gets a file-open-event, it now runs
> 
> 	open -n -a <myself> <file>
> 
>    Does that make sense?

Generally, multiple instances are the not the Mac OS way of 
doing things. I think the standard behaviour would be keep
just one instance, open a new window or a new tab with the new
file source, and optionally consult the file. There could be a
preference: "automatically consult opened source files".
There could also be a 'consult', 'reconsult', or 'use as module'
button' on each editor window/tab.

> 
>  - What if you just start Prolog from the Applications folder, it
>    now starts in this directory.  That is most likely not what you
>    want.  In Windows it creates a Prolog directory under the
>    `personal' folder and starts there.  Is there a similar convention
>    for the Mac?

I think that on the whole, GUI apps should not rely on the
concept of a 'current directory', but if the Prolog engine requires
one, it should/could be (a) the user's home directory, (b) some
other user selectable default, or  © the directory of the last loaded
file. Again, there could be a 'move to parent directory' action on
a source file window.

Samer.

> 
> 	Cheers --- Jan
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