Problems setting a player object to an alias in a script
Richmond Mathewson
richmondmathewson at gmail.com
Mon May 31 16:03:34 EDT 2010
On 31/05/2010 22:14, Richard Gaskin wrote:
> Howard Bornstein wrote:
>
>> On Mon, May 31, 2010 at 8:36 AM, J. Landman Gay <jacque at
>> hyperactivesw.com>wrote:
>>
>>> Try using the aliasReference function to get the real file name and
>>> set
>>> your player to that instead.
>>
>> Thank you thank you! This is exactly what I was looking for and
>> solves my
>> problem nicely. Since I may have a mix of aliases and normal files, this
>> function makes it easy to tell if the file is an alias as well as
>> providing
>> the valid reference to the actual file.
>>
>> This was one of the multitude of Rev functions I didn't even know
>> existed.
>
> Another example of the value of the Rev Dictionary's See Also section. :)
Mmm, mmm, mmm, merr, merr, merr, so there!
Really? I found aliasReference by typing in 'alias' into the search box
in the top right-hand corner.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The problem is not with the dictionary, Ding An Sich; but knowing
exactly what
term to type in the search box:
Let's consider the word 'alias' (quite apart from the fact that in the
context of WIMP
GUIs on computers it has been radically resemanticised from its
prototypical meaning
in the non-computer world):
Macintosh: Alias (actually 'alias' with the meaning of a graphic
object which opens a pathway
to a directory elsewhere is a Mac-specific term that I remember learning
when I cracked open
my first Mac with OS 7 - a bit confusing, having only worked with
BBC-MOS and UNIX before that).
Windows: Shortcut / reparse point (whacked-out or what?)
Linux: symbolic link
[I see that UBUNTU 10.04 has "Make Link" in its menu system - that's not
going to help
what Steve Jobs calls "the switchers" that the South African Astronaut
obviously
envisages converting from Windows to Ubuntu in droves.]
UNIX: Symbolic Link / Soft Link / symlink
and they don't all behave in the same way . . . :)
---------------------------------------------------------------
Now, let's suppose I am a Windows-only sort of chap (I'm not); so on
Iooking up Shortcut (not knowing
the term 'alias' or 'symbolic link'; I will get:
short "Specifies a format for the date and time functions, the convert
command, and the name, ID, and owner properties."
and shortFilePath neither of which equate to 'alias'.
Similarly with Linux; on looking up 'symbolic' the dictionary draws a
complete blank.
This means that, while the IDE may be, moderately, cross-platform; the
dictionary is not.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
There are other things one can do with aliases, I see.
>
> Sometimes in my spare time I just browse around in the Dictionary
> clicking See Also links, and almost always learn something new.
Nice to have spare time . . . :)
Personally I prefer my Sanskrit dictionary; it has, among other things,
the advantage that it can
be propped up next to the chopping board in the kitchen when I'm getting
supper organised; no
real problem with splashing ghee on the keyboard either!
Mathewson.
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