A small example and GC-API

[Hassan Aurag <aurag crm umontreal ca>]

 Enclosed, you will find a small ill-written python script that wants 
to make a point.

 The point is the following:

 I have looked as a user at gnome equivalents of WinZip .... to no 
avail.

 Gxtar et al. Are all particularly ugly and incredibly slow.

 Indeed, these tools all use GtkTree, because it is easy even though 
on big archives it can become quite ugly.

 Now try with script attached to this mail and you will notice a 
visual enhancement. This is not even an app, just a way to show Big 
Fat Archives in a better way.

 Btw, nothing forbids you guys from actually unarchiving the tar.gz in 
some /tmp and have user manipulate it in a speedy way. 

 Now to the serious part of my post:

 Again I will take an unexisting situation. For now at least.

 I use GnomeZip and GnomeWord (please insert any names you like)

 I open a tar.bz3(4,5,6) with GnomeZip. 

 Take my little script as example. Imagine I have actually enabled you 
the user to open files by clicking on them. It is easy with mime 
types. Now I open it with GnomeWord, change some lines, save and close it.

 In Windows world, somehow Word or Winzip knows about it, and it will 
automagically update your archive accordingly. 

 If I want to implement this under Gnome, the only way I could think 
of is an inter-app callback mechanism for gnome compliant apps.

 Example in python for simplicity's sake:

  def double-click(file):
   gnome_open_foreign_whatever_name_you_wish({"GnomeWord", "file", 
"open"},{"update", optional_data})


 Of course I'd as GnomeZip creator implement update, but all gnome 
compliant apps would be able once done with "file" to do the same and 
launch
 gnome_open_foreign({"GnomeZip", "file", "update"}, None)

 None here is because GnomeWord doesn't want anything to do with that 
file anymore.


 Am I babbling here or what?