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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