Re: Translators (Re: State of the X clipboard, andperhapsasolution)

["Eugenia Loli-Queru" <eloli hotmail com>]

> Because where does the translator run?
> Say you are translating from FormatA to FormatB.
> ProgramA is running on ComputerA, ProgramB is running on ComputerB.
> ProgramA supports FormatA, ProgramB supports FormatB.
> Where does the A->B translator live? ComputerA or ComputerB?

I think you have a few things messed up. Translators are not (just) about
exporting from one format to another. "Translator add-ons" (that's their
proper BeOS name) is simply a library abstraction layer where it provides
file format support for all applications in the system that support the
format family in question. For example, a PSD translator will enable support
for PSD files for all image-related applications in the system that support
the Translator architecture. Translators are not (just) about exporting e.g.
PNGs to PSDs or the other way around (of course this is what it can do too,
but it's not in the core & their reason of existance).

To directly answer your question:  Could be on either side, depending
whether you use an output or an input translator (or one that supports both
importing/exporting). Typically, there's a translator on either side,
because very few applications work directly on file formats (on BeOS at
least).

Eugenia