Re: [Pythoncard-users] Platform specific restrictions.

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On 26/5/06 14:45, Alex Tweedly wrote:
 >
> It would be good to not only document this somewhere, but (since it will 
> be an easily overlooked footnote in the docs) also make it more obvious 
> to a user when they try to set properties that will not be reasonably 
> honoured cross-platform. This would be especially helpful if they are 
> setting a property while on a system that doesn't really support it - 
> but I think should be done anyway to help people design cross-platform 
> apps if they so desire.
> 
> Would a dialog / preference be too intrusive ?   Something like
> 
>   You have set a property that is not supported on your current platform.
>   [ ]  Don't give this warning again.                         ( OK )
> 
> and also same thing but "... supported on some other platforms."
> 
> If that was a preference - should it be per-user, or per project ?
> 
> Or would it be better to simply document it as prominently as we can ?
> 

IMHO I would just create a page in the documentation and on the site (or 
wiki) that lists what does or doesn't work on each platform, and try to 
keep that up-to-date. If you do add it, I would vote for per-user, so I 
can switch it off once and not see it again. My PythonCard projects 
currently just target Windows, but I do some early design and coding on 
my Mac, so the warning doesn't help me.

Of course, if at some point I target OSX as a release platform and 
forget about the limitations it's my own fault.

I would have thought that adding the dialog could end up being an 
ongoing chore you'd rather not have to deal with. Who knows what might 
happen in the future, e.g.
1) Microsoft suddenly starts following Apple's ideas and starts 
restricting what properties can be changed in a late Vista beta;
2) Apple continues it's "do as I say, not as I do" approach when it 
comes to its HI guidelines, and suddenly 10.5 comes out with some of the 
properties now available for amending;
3) The wxWidgets team replaces some of the Apple components with their 
own versions in which you can start setting the properties.

OK, none of the above could happen, but who knows - you might end up 
having to implement a dialog that needs to test platform, OS version and 
wxPython version. And having to release a new version of PythonCard 
whenever one of the above possible scenarios happens, unless you 
implement a list of affected components that are held in a config. file.

Of course, it's at this point that you tell me you've already added it, 
it does all the above and it only took a few minutes.....;-)

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