[gnome-love] what if data files were active objects ?

[Benoit Rouits <brouits free fr>]

HELO,
I just wondered this night why user data files are still passive 
files in GNOME.
Here are some ways of reflection:
bonobo provides us a way to see a component quite like an object but the
component just have methods to handle some data which is actually separated
to the component. A good thing for GNOME would be to provide standards bonobo
component (not particularly graphic) to handle any of classic type of files,
with a common interface for a common data structure.
E.G: 'word document' would have the same methods whatever its raw data format
(pdf,TeX,rtf,abw...)
Yes, it is idealistic, but it is just to encourage us to make more reusable
code, such that applications could delegate some work. Also, a contextual menu
of a graphic representation of a file could just call the bonobo methods to its
type. Of course, one have to define a stable class hirearchy to handle any kind
of document structure.
t's all.
BEn

--
no sig today