Subject: RE: Save as "text file" as a default & bug 665
From: John Selby (a.selby@paradise.net.nz)
Date: Tue Nov 13 2001 - 21:05:43 CST
At 20:06 13-11-2001 -0500, "Tim LaDuca" <tjl@141.com> wrote:
>Basically all that does(on windows, at least) is determine what is already
>selected for file type when you go to the "save as" dialog. When you click
>on the save button it apparently still reverts to the native abiword format.
>I'm not sure if Abiword is yet smart enough to know when it is dealing with
>just a plain-text file.
>I have forwarded this to the developers list, just so they can ponder a real
>life word processing dilemma that someone is in.
I would like to offer an opinion on this topic because to me it is another
symptom of bug number 665 which has attracted sporadic discussion over some
time. This problem isn't just restricted to plain text, but applies to any
format which AbiWord can open, other than its own .abw format.
I think this bug can have quite a serious effect on practical use of
AbiWord, and can cause the creation of "masquerade" documents, or in some
cases the accidental over writing of files. (My comments refer to the
Windows version noted on Win 95 and Win ME machines).
Bug 665 is entitled "AbiWord does not append suffix before checking if file
exists"
The bug can cause at least two different problems from my observations:-
Example 1 - Accidental overwrite of existing files.
Open Abi, create a file and save it with the name "trial". Close Abi.
Open Abi, create a new file (with different content to the previous one)
and, using "save as", save it with the name "trial".
At the point of saving Abi appears to compare what you've typed in the
"file name" slot with existing files in the chosen directory, so it finds
nothing called "trial" even though there's one there called "trial.abw". So
it will give the new file an automatic .abw extension then save the new
file, overwriting the old one without giving a warning.
Example 2 - creation of files masquerading under wrong identity.
Open a file with (for example) a .doc extension (say, "test.doc" previously
created by Wordpad) - say it has some material in it you want to use without
retyping it all, and you intend to keep the resulting edited document as an
Abi document.
Edit the content to create a different document, and hit "save" to save it
when finished.
Here, Abi "protects" you from accidentally overwriting the original by
bringing up the warning dialogue box, but this is because it is trying to
save the file under "false pretences" as "test.doc". I believe what it
should do is the same as other word processors and replace the .doc
extension by the .abw extension before checking for an existing file.
If you go ahead and save the file anyway, you get a file in .abw format but
with a .doc extension. Later this can lead to problems - double clicking
the new file, Wordpad opens it, and cannot display it properly because it is
really not in the original .doc format any more (all the more serious if
you've sent the file to someone else who doesn't have AbiWord).
I think this behaviour has the potential to create a lot of confusion
amongst inexperienced users, and offhand I can't think of any real benefits
in having Abi behave in the way it does, unless people wish to deliberately
create files that masquerade under a different format identity.
I think AbiWord should always attach the appropriate extension to the file
when it is saved from the "save as" box (to match the format you have chosen
to save in) - that is, any file created by AbiWord should be true to type,
as indicated by its extension.
It would also be useful if AbiWord "remembered" what type of file it was
working on, and would ask the user what format the file should be saved in,
if a simple "save" instruction was used.
(eg open a .rtf file, do some work on it, select File/Save, AbiWord asks
what format you wish to use, and by default opens the dialogue box with the
original file name (with .rtf extension) shown, and .rtf automatically
selected as the format to use). If you decide to convert the file to .abw
(or some other format) then Abi should automatically modify the file name
and append the .abw (or other appropriate) extension.
I'm just hoping that others might see this bug as being worthy of attention.
The developers have heaps of work to do, so may not see this bug as being
significant unless people express their opinion in a practical way by
commenting on it and voting for it in Bugzilla??
Cheers, and again thanks to the hard working development team.
John Selby.
PS, if there's seen to be any merit in the above, maybe some kind soul could
direct it to the developers' list. It could be that someone is working on
this anyway.
__________________
John Selby
selby@paradise.net.nz
__________________
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