DataStack in Mixed Environment

[Richard Gaskin]

R. Hillen wrote:

> I put the programs win_splash.exe, mac_splash.prog and the data-folder 
> with the datastack data.rev into the same folder on a server, which can 
> be reached from the mac- and windows-user, so both, mac- and 
> windows-users can use the data in the datastack.
> 
> But now in OSX the distribution-builder makes only application-packages, 
> so my fine method doesnt work on OSX. Do you know of another simple 
> solution to use the same datastack form Win, OS9 and OSX?

There is a disparity in the engine which could be either a feature or a 
bug depending on one's perspective.

When you set the stackfiles property of your app's maintstack, it will 
be relative to the application file itself.  This means that in OS X is 
will start in appName.app/Contents/MacOS/

But the default folder is initialized to begin at the folder in which 
your .app bundle resides, which is the same place the stackfiles will be 
looked up on all other platforms.

Here, I've been countering this by adding a routine at startup that 
checks if running in OS X, and then alters the paths in the stackfiles 
accordingly.

Others may prefer to move their component stacks into the OS X bundle, 
but I prefer to have my distributions appear the same to all users 
across platforms, and do not hide other stack files in the OS X bundle.

Whether this special handling of OS X paths with regard to the engine's 
location in the bundle directory structure is a feature is a matter of 
opinion.  But there are ways to work with it no matter how you prefer to 
handle it, so it needn't be a show-stopper.

-- 
  Richard Gaskin
  Fourth World Media Corporation
  ___________________________________________________________
  Ambassador at FourthWorld.com       http://www.FourthWorld.com