Preferences on first start-up

[Richard Gaskin]

william humphrey wrote:
> Has anyone built a preferences stack which can be used in any livecode app
> and which checks on start-up specialfolderpath("preferences") to see if the
> file is there and creates it if not? I just noticed an app in Apple's new
> app store which views the preferences file for any application (they are all
> xml files with .plist) and wondered if someone has built a stack which
> adheres to this standard that everyone can use in their applications?

One of the slow-but-ongoing projects at the Rev Interoperability Group 
is stdLib, a library of common handlers and functions needed by most apps.

stdLib includes handlers to get and set prefs, both of which use a 
function that returns the path to the prefs file in an appropriate place 
on both OS X and Windows (needs to be extended to include Linux too).

That function first checks if the prefs stack already exists, and if not 
it creates it.

The RIP home page is:
<http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/revInterop/>

I'll take this opportunity to draw attention to another intiative there 
that's very valuable IMO but has so far garnered little active support:

- the creation of a behavior script for fields to handle data input 
validation and masking.

The goal of RIP is to identify needs for components and tools that are 
useful enough to be worth doing, and focused enough in scope that they 
could actually get done.

If you can spare any time to contribute to such things, the aim is to 
release anything made there under the ultra-flexible terms of either the 
MIT license or public domain, so all can benefit without concerns about 
licensing for use in commercial work.

I hope to see some of you there.  Most of the current members have been 
so busy on other projects that we could sure use some fresh blood. :)

--
  Richard Gaskin
  Fourth World
  LiveCode training and consulting: http://www.fourthworld.com
  Webzine for LiveCode developers: http://www.LiveCodeJournal.com
  LiveCode Journal blog: http://LiveCodejournal.com/blog.irv