Subject: syntax for the color property
From: Paul Rohr (paul@abisource.com)
Date: Wed Jan 10 2001 - 13:07:49 CST
At 06:18 AM 1/10/01 -0800, Leonard Rosenthol wrote:
>At 3:05 PM -0800 1/9/01, Paul Rohr wrote:
>>I'm not sure this additional color flexibility is really needed in a simple
>>WYSIWYG word processor, but I'd have no objections to parser (and/or
>>exporter) patches here which didn't break file format compatibility.
>
> I'm not saying that it is needed either for Abi's use of the
>file format (though it is for mine ;), BUT the fact that there isn't
>a # before the color spec means that there is no easy way for me to
>check "is this an RGB color spec or a name" as I do in my "color
>parser".
>
> This is one thing that I REALLY would like to break though.
>I think that if we don't make this change (put the # in there), we
>are limiting ourselves in the future - and making my life hell ;).
Sounds like somebody needs the same bit of code that all web browsers have.
You need to discriminate between two disjoint sets of color specifications:
- six characters that look like hex
- a discrete match in some lookup table
Sure, if we'd cleanly prefixed the first with a # from the get-go, there
wouldn't be an issue now. Oh well, that just means a bit more code now, and
this is the perfect place to debate whether that code belongs in your
project or in AbiWord.
Are people willing to break compatibility as follows?
Colored content from versions >= 0.7.13 is ignored by earlier versions of
AbiWord. (Without crashing, of course.)
If so, make sure we export with the # sign and can still recognize (and
convert) the old format when we run across it.
Paul
PS: No, I'm not volunteering to write that code. Unless someone's
volunteering to take care of my twins while I do it. ;-)
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b25 : Wed Jan 10 2001 - 13:59:43 CST