Re: [HIG] instant saving

[Dave Bordoley <bordoley msu edu>]

Greg thanks for clarifying (as you probably know, I'm not a hacker so
this is helpful).

On Sun, 2002-11-03 at 06:15, Gregory Merchan wrote:
> 
> Apps will also need code to save periodically. I can only guess what
> that might involve. One obvious question is, "When should the program
> save the file?"  It could be at regular intervals or maybe even based
> on some signal from the OS.

I know gedit creates regular backup files of the file it is being used
to view, this is why i was curious if we could actually do this.
Nautilus also saves "notes" metadata as instant save.

> 
> There is so much I don't know about implementing this, that I'm uneasy
> recommending it; even for the simple cases like an addressbook.
> 
> What I would feel comfortable recommending is a check item on the File
> menu to enable auto-save. Programs that have it should (of course) have
> code to do it. There will probably be a few implementations and many bugs
> to work out at first, but eventually there should be good common code
> in a library. I am opposed to forever having an auto-save checkitem and
> I am opposed to making UI changes that will just be undone later, but
> with this change we get needed code written; so I think we have a net gain.
> 

That seems like a good start, what does everyone else think?

dave