Main stack and substack order in the message path

[Scott Rossi]

Recently, Jim Bufalini wrote:

>> The workaround might be to have stack A call "start using stack ABC"
>> (and
>> the same with the other stack) to make sure the substack is used first
>> when
>> necessary.
> 
> This is done and it is actually the problem.
> 
> I actually discovered this in two ways working on an update for ListMagic.
> When you first install a ListMagic widget into your project, ListMagic
> clones its lib, renames it, and places the renamed lib stack as a substack
> of the main stack of your project and adds a start using statement to your
> project's main stack's preOpenStack.
> 
> When a new version of ListMagic comes out, and you add a new widget, or
> modify an existing widget in a project, ListMagic checks, and if it sees
> that it is a newer version than the one you have in your project, it asks
> for permission to update the lib in your project and all widgets.
> 
> But, if you don't do either and just have your project and ListMagic running
> at the same time in the IDE, then it is possible to have two different
> version libs running at the same time and there is no way to control if a
> user has launched their project first or ListMagic.
> 
> Or, for that matter, two of their own projects, where one has been updated
> to the latest lib and one has not. Which one did they launch first?

Perhaps I didn't explain the above well enough, or maybe I'm not
interpreting your situation accurately, but what I meant was, you call
"start using stack ABC" *EVERY TIME* you need to reference the library of a
specific stack, not just at startup.  This (should) ensure that the library
you need is the first one to be accessed.  I do this with certain
frontscripts that I need to be "really" in front at all times.  If you're
doing this already, then I don't have any alternate suggestions other than
to reconsider your update strategy.

Regards,

Scott Rossi
Creative Director
Tactile Media, Multimedia & Design