Re: [MacPerl] dropping aliases on droplets

["Doug McNutt" <dmcnutt@macnauchtan.com>]

>I'm fiddling with writing a file-renaming droplet.  At this point, it
>just prints out the names of the items dropped on it.
>
>As a test, I tried dropping an alias on it.  To my surprise, the name
>that got printed was the name of the item that the alias referenced!

A quick look at Inside Macintosh Files indicates that the OS does not
resolve aliases without a specific request to the Alias manager
(ResolveAliasFile). Something inside the finder or in the called Perl module
is doing the job "for" you.

The act of dropping an alias sends a high level event to Perl which contains
the information about the dropped file. The finder resolves the alias before
Perl even sees it. (Inside Macintosh -Toolbox Essentials 7-39) This is also
true for the StandardFile interface so that won't be a workaround.

It's another good reason for an easy-to-write CODE module which would not
require a lot of setting up in the MacPerl way. Calls to PBGetCatInfo and 
PBSetCatInfo should do the job you want.

MPW has switches on many commands to suppress alias resolution. You might
get there more quickly with an MPW script. Donno about an AppleScript...


-->From the USA, the only socialist country that refuses to admit it.


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