Re: import/export interface for Bonobo

[Michael Meeks <michael helixcode com>]

Hi,

On 16 May 2000, Maciej Stachowiak wrote:
> > I did not like it because it was bloating an otherwise perfectly clean
> > interface.  If an application supports this it seems like it should be
> > QI-ied for, and not just aggregated into an existing interface that is
> > simple to implement.

	Ok; I agree with you, shoehorning it onto the Persist interface is
inelegant, and I don't like it overmuch; however it seems to me that if we
want to have sensible meta-data such as mime type on all persisted
objects, then in order to get the PersistFile interface to play ball it
needed to be there. However, users of PersistFile have it coming already,
and they can probably generate type information from the filename,
so perhaps it is best to put the typing information on the stream.

> So it seems to me like the right place to put typing information might
> be the Stream interface, not PersistStream. A Stream could have an
> optional associated MIME type which the component implementing
> PersistStream could check when reading. Typing on an output stream
> could be considered purely a hint, perhaps.

	This is an alternative and worth of consideration. The R/W typing
issue is a pertainant one, but ned only add a boolean to the get_types
method [ which could be renamed query_types perhaps ].

> I don't think this will complicate implementing PersistStream any, and
> in some cases may simplify doing so.

	Sure; can we move to a consensus quickly on this so Dan can get on
with his life ?

	Regards,

		Michael.

-- 
 mmeeks@gnu.org  <><, Pseudo Engineer, itinerant idiot