Changing file formats by changing file names

On 12 Sep 2006, at 06:22 , Jason. wrote:
> If I were saving a file named "i.dont.like.gzip", why should BBEdit
> assume it's a gzip file? While I think it's great that I can open
> such a file, and edit the text directly, the choice to save it as a
> gzipped file should not be based on filename.

Wow. I have to disagree 100%. This is one of my favorite things
about Graphic Converter. Glad too see it's in BBedit too, though I,
for one, will rarely use it.

> Changing "SomePicture.jpg" to "SomePicture.png" to convert the file
> to a png?

That would be awesome!


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At 5:22 AM -0700 2006/09/12, Jason. wrote:

>One of the new features it added was the ability to open and read
>gzipped files directly, without the need to expand it first, which
>is quite handy.
>
>It also added the ability to save documents as gzipped, simply by
>saving the file with a ".gz" or ".gzip" extension.
>
>I think this is a terrible idea.

>If I were saving a file named "i.dont.like.gzip", why should BBEdit
>assume it's a gzip file? While I think it's great that I can open
>such a file, and edit the text directly, the choice to save it as a
>gzipped file should not be based on filename.

        I see this as Bare Bones simplifying the Save As interface.
In Office, you'd choose a file type, and it would automatically
append the appropriate suffix. You could change the suffix, and that
wouldn't change the type, though.

        I don't have 8.5 yet, but it sounds like they removed the
direct control over file format, which is a UI simplification;
arguably there should be an option to use .gz as a suffix without
compressing the file, but it would confuse some people.

        If you're working with the file in BBEdit, why does it matter
if it's compressed? BBEdit will read it the same as a plain ASCII
file, so you just save some disk space. If you're working with other
people, sending them ASCII files with a .gz suffix is just going to
cause your correspondents headaches.

>I didn't like it when Stuffit had this feature in the Finder (add
>".sit" to make the file a sit archive), and I don't like it now.
>What's next? Changing "SomePicture.jpg" to "SomePicture.png" to
>convert the file to a png?

        I never used this feature of Magic Menu. But that's
*changing* a file on disk, not controlling creation of a new file
(which was never saved in plain text format).


                                                Chris
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This may be a terrible idea for you but to me it is a real help. I edit/read a lot of pre-existing files that have been gzipped, including apache logs and (on occasion) Keynote/Pages document files. This little feature is very handy.

This is one of my favorite things about Graphic Converter.

Er, I just tried this in GraphicConverter 5.9.1 and it does not do this (thankfully). Sure, it saved the filename I asked it to; but reopening it & checking properties, I see that my GIF98a file is still a GIF98a file.

Kendall

On 20/9/2006 12:27 AM, "kendall" <kendallhis.com> spake thus:

> Er, I just tried this in GraphicConverter 5.9.1 and it does not do this
> (thankfully). Sure, it saved the filename I asked it to; but reopening it &
> checking properties, I see that my GIF98a file is still a GIF98a file.

At the bottom of the save dialog there is a check box "Set format from
extension". It's turned off by default. Turn it on and try changing the file
extension; you'll see that the format popup menu updates accordingly.

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It's turned off by default. Turn it on and try changing the file extension; you'll see that the format popup menu updates accordingly.

Ah! I missed that checkbox, thanks for pointing it out. An option like that, off by default, seems fine to me. Especially for a special program like GrapicConverter, where one of the biggest features is converting between almost every graphic format on the planet.

Just doing it built-in, between totally unrelated formats -- like text & gzip -- doesn't make sense to me. (But I'm always in favor of options, esp. if the weirder ones like this are off by default.)

On 20 Sep 2006, at 04:22 , Nigel Stanger wrote:
> On 20/9/2006 12:27 AM, "kendall" <kendallhis.com> spake thus:
>> Er, I just tried this in GraphicConverter 5.9.1 and it does not do
>> this
>> (thankfully). Sure, it saved the filename I asked it to; but
>> reopening it &
>> checking properties, I see that my GIF98a file is still a GIF98a
>> file.
>
> At the bottom of the save dialog there is a check box "Set format from
> extension". It's turned off by default. Turn it on and try changing
> the file
> extension; you'll see that the format popup menu updates accordingly.

WHy would you want a gif file saved with a png or jpg extension
though? Security through obfuscation? Most reader will look at the
file headers anyway, so what's the point?

This is one of the best things about Graphic Converter as far as I am
concerned.

Now, if I can just get R*ch to extend BBEDit to work with bz2 files too.

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