Font_ApplyFields problem

[David J. Ruck]

On 1 Nov 2001 "Jonathan Coxhead" <jonathan at doves.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>    But that could never be the only version, because to support the older 
> versions of the OS, which have 8-bit file handles, we'd still need to 
> distribute the os_f functions.

Why? Using 32bits for file handles works on all RISC OS machines.

>    But as all versions of RISC OS use 8-bit file handles at present, the
> valid  range for both the 8- and 32-bit forms is "Arthur 1.0--present". So
> even if we  had such a scheme, it wouldn't cause the veneers for the 8-bit
> handles to go  away, unless they were artifically flagged as "obselete in
> RISC O S 4". 

There is no such thing as 8bit file handles, as far as the user is concerned
all the file API's return a 32bit opaque values, always have and always will.

Howver with your knowledge from working at Acorn you knew the OS currently
only used an 8 bit range, but this is not a formal specification, and no
library definitiom should have assumed this. This is not a personal
criticism, its all water under the bridge now, but the sooner the possibility
of this problem being perpetuated in new code is removed, the better.

Many people here now are using OSLib for cross platform development and
require the use of full 32bit file handles. This is what brought the issue to
my attention, because the pervious version of OS Lib were violating the API
requirements. It has cost a considerable amount of to rectify the legacy of
the 8bit file handles, which is ongoing as people are still using the old
OS_Lib functions in new code, due to lack of awareness.

Cheers
---Dave

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  David J. Ruck    Phone: +44- (0)7974 108301    Email: druck at freeuk.com
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